
Telling Photos from the Mark Zuckerberg Presidential Campaign Trail - moonka
http://observer.com/2017/05/mark-zuckerberg-running-for-president-photos/
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cmahler7
Zuckerberg has the charisma of a damp rag, he'll embarrass himself if he
actually runs for president. Clinton had experience and all the data in the
world thanks to Eric Schmidt and still lost to a novice because she lacked any
charisma at all.

The fact he thinks corny stuff like this actually makes him more relatable to
the average american really says it all about how out of touch he is.

~~~
chillingeffect
Could you explain further?

I was very impressed with his ability to learn Chinese and speak it semi-
formally in a room filled with Chinese. I think that showed a certain
charisma.

I'm not personally a fan of him and I agree that this stuff is representative
of being out of touch, yet this behavior does win elections.

I think he would actually be a decent centrist (Obama-style) candidate. He's
mildly progressive (not full out Bernie) has no serious negative legacy (this
imperfect pledge to run a mile a day stuff is a non-starter) like HRC.

~~~
cmahler7
The reason trump was successful is because he didn't apologize for being rich.
On the other end you have hillary clinton pouring beer terribly and spending
hours planning which meal to get a chipotle to appeal to the most voters.
People aren't dumb and they see right through that type of stuff.

As for charisma nearly every interview I've seen of him has been painfully
awkward and it's pretty hard to learn something like that.

On paper he's a great candidate, but on paper nobody thought Trump would make
it past the Iowa primaries and now he's in the white house.

~~~
sverige
Trump was successful not because he was unapologetic for being rich, but
rather because he said things that a large plurality of voters wanted to hear
and was able to win states that gave him a big victory in electoral college
votes. The only people who didn't think he had a chance are those who cannot
hear or understand those voters, and what's disturbing about that is that
inability to understand those voters is supposed to somehow delegitimize his
victory.

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asdlllkasdasd
What delegitimizes him is that he is a notorious lier.

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bedhead
He would/will get slaughtered. The guy lives in a bizarro world, surrounded by
a legion of handlers and yes-men. I strongly believe that history will be
very, very unkind to him.

~~~
soared
Replace "he" with Trump and I would've agreed with you 6 months ago.

~~~
ninv
Now imagine Zuckerberg 2020 VS Trump 2020. Who has better chances?

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synicalx
I'd have my money on Waldo 2020, much more loveable

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iamthepieman
"In regards to finding a family to visit, the local newspaper The Vindicator
reported he asked his staff to find Democrats who voted for Donald Trump."

No doubt an easy task using GraphQL or whatever more powerful version they
have internally.

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dcre
I keep saying this to anyone who will listen — I doubt very much that he's
interested in running for anything. As CEO of Facebook, if he's not as
powerful as a US president yet, he very well might be in 5 or 10 years. He
hinted in his globalization "manifesto"[1] that he wants Facebook to become
what the UN could not be. I recommend everyone read it in full, as well as
some critical commentaries.[2][3][4]

If anything, it's much scarier to think he sees this as a necessary part of
his job as Facebook CEO.

[1] [https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-
glob...](https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-global-
community/10154544292806634/)

[2] [https://medium.com/@CharlieBeckett/facebook-grappling-
with-p...](https://medium.com/@CharlieBeckett/facebook-grappling-with-
political-reality-4a18999f12aa)

[3] [http://www.roughtype.com/?p=7651](http://www.roughtype.com/?p=7651)

[4] [https://stratechery.com/2017/manifestos-and-
monopolies/](https://stratechery.com/2017/manifestos-and-monopolies/)

~~~
obmelvin
I completely agree. I think people like Zuck and Gates are better off doing
work via the private sector and philanthropy.

Also, regarding the types of people he's meeting. Yes, they are people one
would expect a politician to meet with while campaigning. However, given our
past election I don't think it's surprising that a man as intelligent as Zuck
would want to meet them. He seems to genuinely care in his mission statement,
even though I believe he's out of touch, and this tour does truly make sense
as it is stated.

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pdelbarba
Does anyone have any information on what his political views actually are? I
assume he'd run as a Democrat but that provides me with little comfort given
his history.

~~~
kyledrake
Please don't consider the facts-loose movie based on the tabloid hit piece as
history. It's a great movie, but it intentionally washes the story out in ways
make the characters look absolutely horrible.

I highly recommend _The Facebook Effect_ by David Kirkpatrick. It's a great
read and a far more accurate book on the history of Facebook and who Mark
Zuckerberg really is. [https://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-
Connec...](https://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-
Connecting/dp/1439102120)

~~~
pdelbarba
I'm not concerned about any arbitrary depiction in a movie ( _The Social
Network_?), I take issue with the move fast and break things attitude taken by
the platform he created regarding news distribution, privacy, individual
liberties, and mental health.

~~~
kyledrake
I'm as big of a critic of the implications of social networking as anybody,
but:

> news distribution

Increased people's ability to share news with their friends.

> privacy

Made changes to give users nearly complete control over it (outside of the
very legitimate concerns around advertising targeting, but does anyone really
think running a successful advertising company disqualifies someone to be
president?)

> individual liberties

Hasn't yet formed a paramilitary group of SA-like jack booted thugs to hit
opponents with billy clubs, confiscate their guns, and replace their health
insurance with death panels.

> and mental health

Is working on hiring more staff to deal with suicide intervention issues,
which they have to do either way because the police ultimately get involved
and start issuing subpoenas, and it's illegal to not respond to valid
subpoenas in a timely fashion.

~~~
pdelbarba
> Increased people's ability to share news with their friends.

So they can now share a filter bubble. Also, the US 2016 Election debacle
followed by a push to become the arbiter of truth on the internet (after
significant complaint and shaming from users)

> Made changes to give users nearly complete control over it

After significant complaint and shaming from users.

> does anyone really think running a successful advertising company
> disqualifies someone to be president?

I do? I'd prefer someone with his skill level in solving the worlds problems,
not telling the world about how he's solving them.

> Hasn't yet formed a paramilitary group

I'm not arguing they're using physical violence. They're an ad company.

> Is working on hiring more staff to deal with suicide intervention issues

After significant complaint and shaming from users.

Notice a trend? I've watched them exploit people over the past decade. I don't
like what facebook has done to my more vulnerable friends. Elected office is
the same deal, only you (inexplicably) get to ignore the public outcry every
time you screw up.

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HoppedUpMenace
Imagine what our country would look like if the guy who owns every bit of
people's digital legacy and information is now running the country of people
who depend on his services? Now imagine if someone like Trump, who appears
just a bit upset anytime he is criticized, had access to everyone's Facebook
account in this country and others?

Just my two cents but, would anyone truly believe that Zuck has the public's
best interest in mind? If so, what if his interpretation of the public's best
interest is built around a growing dependence on platforms he's created?

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code4tee
I get that the whole thing smells like overpolished PR, but personally I think
it's a neat idea and more power to him for just getting out there and meeting
so many people.

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jjgoldman
I will believe this is a genuine and earnest attempt to connect with people,
because what other options do you think he really has?

It's all too easy to find some way to criticize his actions: Meet with Kids? -
FB shouldn't and doesn't target kids for privacy reasons. He's the CEO of the
most massive and influential social media company, he'd better do more than
just sit behind a computer, but he also can't spend all his time socializing
either.

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HugoDaniel
According to wikipedia facebook has 17,048 employees. Couldn't he have chosen
50 of those instead ?

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joezydeco
All 17,048 employees are in the same open-plan office. Wouldn't be much of a
tour.

~~~
HugoDaniel
I meant that he could easily find one from every different state there. Not
much of a tour indeed but it would fulfill the objective he set himself.

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MS_Buys_Upvotes
Corporate CEO goes on cross-country tour to show "regular folk" how relatable
he is.

Barf. What shit "news".

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dbg31415
I don't think anyone wants him to run... and he's young. 2020 he'd be barely
old enough to be on the ballot. Lots of time left...

I think this is some sort of weird "I'm a billionaire and I make money by
selling your secrets, here let me show you pictures of me doing human things
so you won't think I'm creepy" tour.

