Trump Promises To Defund The Entire Military, If Congress Won't Let Him Punish The Internet For Being Mean To Him

from the this-is-why-we-can't-have-nice-things dept

President Trump has continued to throw his little temper tantrum in response to #DiaperDon trending on Twitter. When that happened, he suddenly demanded a full repeal of Section 230 -- which would not stop Twitter from showing #DiaperDon trending when the President throws a temper tantrum like a 2 year old. Then, yesterday, we heard that the White House was really pushing for the Senate to include a 230 repeal in the must pass NDAA bill that funds the military.

Late last evening I heard from people in touch with various Congressional offices saying that this entire effort by the White House was dead in the water, because almost no one had an appetite to even try to attempt it, and despite the whackadoodle conspiracy theories from the President and Senators Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, and Josh Hawley, it turns out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't care about 230 reform.

Of course, even later last night, things took an even stupider turn, as Trump declared on Twitter that unless the NDAA included a full repeal of Section 230, he would veto it. This is all sorts of stupid and we'll break it all down in a moment, so bear with me.

That says:

Section 230, which is a liability shielding gift from the U.S. to “Big Tech” (the only companies in America that have it - corporate welfare!), is a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity. Our Country can never be safe & secure if we allow it to stand..... Therefore, if the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk. Take back America NOW. Thank you!

We'll get into why nearly everything in that statement is wrong, dangerous, and stupid, but I want to be crystal clear about what is happening here.

President Donald J. Trump is threatening to defund the US military, because he's upset that enough people mocked him on Twitter that it started trending.

That's it. That's the reality. This is the world we live in. And it's so insane, it needs to be repeated.

President Donald J. Trump is threatening to defund the US military, because he's upset that enough people mocked him on Twitter that it started trending.

Oh, and it's even stupider. On so many levels. First off, taking away Section 230 wouldn't stop #DiaperDon from trending on Twitter, because that's protected by the 1st Amendment and has nothing to do with Section 230. If anything, it would give much more incentive for Twitter to remove Donald Trump and his followers accounts entirely to avoid the suddenly increased legal liability.

But, now, let's take a deep breath, take a step back, and look at how incredibly stupid Trump's statement is.

Section 230, which is a liability shielding gift from the U.S. to “Big Tech” (the only companies in America that have it - corporate welfare!), is a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity.

None of this is even close to reality. This is pure nonsense. Section 230 applies to all websites for any 3rd party content they host. The claim that "big tech" are the only companies that have it is belied by this simple point: Donald Trump himself has invoked Section 230 in court. Multiple times. Incredibly, in 2017, he argued that he shouldn't be liable for the content of a retweet he did, because of Section 230. In fact, in court, Trump argued that Section 230 "should be given an 'expansive' reading" in order to protect himself from defamation claims. He's right. Section 230 should protect him in those cases, but it also highlights how it's absolutely bullshit to claim that it only protects "Big Tech" and that big tech companies are "the only companies in America that have it." It's just not true.

As for the claim that Section 230 is a "threat to our National Security," let's play a little thought exercise: which is a bigger threat to our national security: a law that says internet websites are not liable for the actions of their users or defunding the entire military? I'll give you a minute to think about it.

Because here's the point where I remind you that President Donald J. Trump is threatening to defund the US military, because he's upset that enough people mocked him on Twitter that it started trending.

Oh, and then there's the claim about "election integrity" and... what? What the fuck does election integrity have to do with Section 230? The answer is absolutely nothing. He's just spewing words.

I could go on, but it's all just incredibly stupid. It's one thing to say that Trump is an blundering fool, but here is a legitimate threat to national security, entirely because people are making fun of him. It's frightening beyond all belief.

And this is the point that in a functioning Congress, everyone would stand up to the President and say "no, this is not how this works." Congressional Republicans need to stop enabling this utterly dangerous nonsense. Because President Donald J. Trump is threatening to defund the US military, because he's upset that enough people mocked him on Twitter that it started trending. That should not be allowed to happen.

Filed Under: donald trump, insults, intermediary liability, military spending, ndaa, section 230

Is Military Spending the Key to the Next Silicon Valley?

from the sources-say-no dept

At the end of an interesting post about the changes in the American economy during the latter half of the 20th century, Dane Stangler has an interesting aside about the role of the military in the early development of Silicon Valley. He notes that the Silicon Valley started out as a hub for defense contractors and only later became a center for the private semiconductor industry and (still later) for the software and Internet industries. Stangler suggests that a city looking to become the next Silicon Valley might want to view military spending as a key driver for regional growth. He's right that the military was crucial to Silicon Valley's early growth, and of course it never hurts to have the military creating jobs in your city, but I'm not sure a city today could repeat Silicon Valley's route to high-tech prominence. A big reason the military was so important to Silicon Valley's early development was that a lot of the technologies pioneered there were so expensive that only the military could afford them. Silicon Valley firms were building radars, guidance systems, communications systems, and other stuff that was totally out of reach for ordinary consumers. And the Internet, of course, started its life as a military research network because each connection cost tens of thousands of dollars. But prices dropped steadily, and eventually, Silicon Valley firms created commercial spin-offs that became cheap enough that ordinary consumers could afford them, and the rest is history.

Today, private capital markets are a lot deeper and the consumer market for high-tech products is a lot larger than it was 50 years ago. As a consequence, the military just isn't as important to the semiconductor and communications industries as it was a few decades ago. The military still spends a ton of money on high-tech toys, but private firms also spend billions of dollars on R&D, and their spending is more squarely focused on consumer and business markets. Smart technologists don't have to chase military contracts, they can raise capital and go straight for the consumer market. Of course, it's entirely possible that the military is currently incubating some other category of technology that will become an important private industry in the coming decades. But if you want your city to become an important center for the IT sector, luring military contractors to your area is probably not going to do it.

Filed Under: markets, military spending, silicon valley