Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President? | Hacker News Reader

Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President?

vanityfair.com

18 pointsZeljkoS21 comments

Only in the wet dreams of California ultra liberals is this even a remote possibility. To get people to vote for you you need to speak their language, understand their problems, connect with them. Never once have I seen Zuck demonstrate any of those qualities.

I wasn't under the impression that Zuckerberg had a sterling reputation among the ultra liberal crowd in California.

That's why I said "remote" possibility. He strikes me as a fairly ordinary dude with a bit of asperger's who over the course of his entire adult life got his ego inflated by sycophants on a daily basis. As a result he seems to think he's some kind of leadership genius, whereas in reality he's essentially in the same position as Kim Jong Un, except he's much smarter. I don't know if he realizes this and just plays along, or doesn't even see it, but that facade will fall over immediately after he enters any kind of adversarial environment, which is something you kinda have to do if you want to run for president.

I'm definitely not a member of the ultra liberal crowd in terms of my politics, I'm friends with many who are. The remote possibility that he'd be president is more of a nightmare for them than a wet dream.

Let me put it in more obvious terms: if he were to run against Trump in 2020, who would you vote for? What's a "possibility" is largely determined by circumstances.

The democratic candidate obviously.

Cause he wouldn't win the primary.

> Only in the wet dreams of California ultra liberals

why would they want Zuckerberg?

Why wouldn't they? I mean, they'll do whatever DNC tells them to do. Once DNC told them they didn't want Bernie, they decided they want one of the most corrupt candidates in recent history (what a bizarre coincidence, BTW: Clinton Global Initiative is shutting down).

If Zuck plugs himself into the DNC really well (something he has the money and power to do), the rubes can be convinced he's the anointed heir to the throne and "it's his turn". It's not like the Democratic bench is otherwise rich in candidates right now. There's just no way he'd win the election, especially the one in 2020 which will be MMA-like in sheer savagery.

I'm reminded of pg's essay on charisma: http://www.paulgraham.com/charisma.html. Zuckerberg appears to have many incredible qualities but charisma does not seem to be among them, and it's hard to see him overcoming that challenge.

He's overcome similar sorts of challenges in the past. Early in his career, Zuckerberg was notoriously awkward on any kind of stage. (His 2008 appearance at SXSW was, by almost all accounts, a debacle.) Now, he's pretty good in those kinds of forums. He hasn't yet gotten crowds cheering on a regular basis, but hasn't yet had to, really. And as a bunch of people have noted by now, the 50-state challenge seems designed in part to help him practice speaking to non-technical audiences of the type he'd have to rally in any run for office.

(And if it takes hiring an acting coach, well, he's got the money. And he certainly wouldn't be the first politician to quietly take that kind of professional advice -- even setting aside the ones like Fred Thompson and Ronald Reagan who already had personal theatrical experience.)

I think it's more likely that he runs for CA governor. I think he knows that the electoral map for someone like him is limited.

Zuckerberg may be President some day, but if so mmn it's almost certainly not going to be by winning one for the next two elections (he's got a lot of work to do to be a credible candidate even to the portion of the electorate most likely to be favorably inclined outside of a very narrow group), so he's not going to be the next President.

anything is possible but i doubt it. how is he going to convince lower middle class america to elect the first Jewish president who used to be an atheist? Bill Gates should run though. He'd make a great President.

too bad he is focused on real issues.

Middle America wouldn't vote for Mark.

Like great football players, tech geniuses like him never have anyone say no to them. This is the result.

If he really pushed it, how much of a swing could he generate by biasing Facebook to increase his likability?

that's assuming people still use Facebook at that time

No, he won't.

Maybe he'd be president of the new California Republic. But, I don't see him in high regard, don't agree with his politics, and don't agree with his willingness for mass surveillance.

Putin v Zuckerberg - who do you think is gonna win?

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