Andy here, since it’s my original post that’s being reposted here, let me comment further.
My post is talking about Gail Slater, who is by all measures, actually a good pick, with a solid track record of being on the right side of the antitrust issue. Yes, she happens to be nominated by Trump, but her record speaks for itself.
This is not going to be a popular opinion, but on the specific issue of antitrust, Democrats fell short. In 2022, we campaigned extensively in the US for anti-trust legislation. Two bills were ready, with bipartisan support. Chuck Schumer (who coincidently has two daughters working as big tech lobbyists) refused to bring the bills for a vote. In the aftermath of this failure, great people like former Democratic rep David Cicilline left congress, leaving few strong voices for antitrust left in the Democratic party. In the meantime, at a 2024 event covering antitrust remedies, out of all the invited senators, just a single one showed up - JD Vance.
By working on the front lines of many policy issues, we have seen the shift between Dems and Republicans over the past decade first hand. And that’s a missed opportunity for Dems, because by and large, support for cracking down on corporate monopolies is popular on both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, corporate capture of Dems is real and in the end money won. It is hard to see how this changes, and Republicans are likely to lead the antitrust charge in the coming years.
From that perspective, and going back to my original post, Gail is a great pick. One should not equate our support of Gail for Proton not being neutral anymore. We continue to call out bad behavior from both sides, whether it’s Dems or Republicans, on our core issues. Just a few weeks ago, we were called out for being in bed with Soros because we gave money to too many “liberal” organizations: https://proton.me/blog/2024-lifetime-fundraiser-results No, the Proton Foundation isn’t the new Soros either (even if we may coincidentally fund some of the same things sometimes). We simply stick with our strongly held core believes, and leave politics out of it, because the issues we care about, should be apolitical.
The thing about people like Andy is they see everything through the lens of how it affects their business. Gail Slater could be the most evil person in the world, but as long as she’s “good on antitrust” then he thinks she’s a good pick. Someone not being in thrall to a fascist is more important.
In an updated version of his post he talks about how JD Vance agreed with Lina Khan on tech antitrust. He doesn’t mention (either through ignorance or explicit neglect) that Vance is behind tech antitrust because he believed that they were “woke” and would fact check obvious lies by him and his party. He wants them broken up based on viewpoint discrimination, not because he has a problem with large tech companies spying on us and violating our privacy. Vance probably doesn’t believe that anymore given the right turn the big tech companies have made in the last 2 months. As long as big tech is doing what the Republican party wants, they’re going to get a free hand.
Either Andy is too stupid to understand this or he thinks we’re stupid enough to believe him.
I’m having a hard time believing anything they say when the incoming administration they seemingly support is constantly making threats of invading our country.
The thing about people like Andy is they see everything through the lens of how it affects their business. Gail Slater could be the most evil person in the world, but as long as she’s “good on antitrust” then he thinks she’s a good pick. Someone not being in thrall to a fascist is more important.
In an updated version of his post he talks about how JD Vance agreed with Lina Khan on tech antitrust. He doesn’t mention (either through ignorance or explicit neglect) that Vance is behind tech antitrust because he believed that they were “woke” and would fact check obvious lies by him and his party. He wants them broken up based on viewpoint discrimination, not because he has a problem with large tech companies spying on us and violating our privacy. Vance probably doesn’t believe that anymore given the right turn the big tech companies have made in the last 2 months. As long as big tech is doing what the Republican party wants, they’re going to get a free hand.
Either Andy is too stupid to understand this or he thinks we’re stupid enough to believe him.
I’m having a hard time believing anything they say when the incoming administration they seemingly support is constantly making threats of invading our country.
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