The $28M to Melania personally is the tell. Amazon could've made this documentary for $5M and marketed it for $10M and still gotten whatever political cover they wanted. Instead they structured a deal where most of the money flows directly to the president's wife. That's not sloppy negotiating, that's the point. Someone at Amazon legal signed off on creating a paper trail that looks exactly like what it is.
As this is HN, I wonder what this implies for technology companies as a whole. It's easy to see how the Trillion dollar companies are engaged in this e.g. Tim Cook attended the premiere.
And we see how crypto companies court the Whitehouse through various mechanisms.
How might this factor into "mere" unicorn startups? I think it does but not sure how.
My guess is that if you're an early stage startup that isn't an AI company already worth billions, you can probably ignore this as noise and focus on building product. It's reasonably likely that by the time your startup is sufficiently large, there will be a new administration (because it takes a few years and presumably he will not be president in 2029).
I think one implication is that ad-driven tech companies are at great risk. In a political system where National Champion businesses are selected/assisted on the basis of bribery, advertising becomes irrelevant. Why spend money advertising Widget X when this widget is already the only one that's officially sanctioned?
In the last decade, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that bribery is de facto legal and impossible to prosecute (Kelly v. United States, McDonnell v. United States, FEC vs. Ted Cruz). And those were against relative nobodies, they certainly aren't going to permit charges against anyone in this administration.
"Now isn't the time for recriminations for behavior long in the past, now is the time for forgiveness. Time to reach across the aisle in unity, time to heal the nation." - Democrats
I've heard that one of the advantages of this administration is that you don't need data or convincing arguments -- just bribery and flattery. If you're OK with bribery and flattery then you'll find this administration much easier to work with. Getting your way is a simpler path.
There's enough to allow their followers to pretend it's all on the level, and for people who aren't paying much attention to ignore it. A direct bribe would make that quite a bit harder.
Even if it was, there are other ways to go. The emoluments clause would be my guess. This term is the auction off America plan. Go read the NPR article on the gutting of nuclear safety rules. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/g-s1-107650/up-first-newslett... Who needs easy access to nuclear reactors? Tech billionaires possibly... Would you want to live next to a Grok data center? Iterate quickly and fail fast is not really compatible with nuclear reactor design. At least rocket debris a relatively short window of danger.
it turns out all you need to do is 1) blatantly ignore/violate the law, 2) have appointed justices to the court who will provide you will full immunity while in office (Trump vs United States)
Yeah, the mods usually hide behind “light moderation actions” while letting the “special” subset of audience they have cultivated run rampant and unchecked with quasi moderator abilities.
Readit News
Sell: To transfer to another for an equivalent; to give up for a valuable consideration; to dispose of in return for something, especially for money.
Selling, even for free, implies demand.
And we see how crypto companies court the Whitehouse through various mechanisms.
How might this factor into "mere" unicorn startups? I think it does but not sure how.
My guess is that if you're an early stage startup that isn't an AI company already worth billions, you can probably ignore this as noise and focus on building product. It's reasonably likely that by the time your startup is sufficiently large, there will be a new administration (because it takes a few years and presumably he will not be president in 2029).
Deleted Comment
It’s not. And it will probably be investigated by a future administration when we do a Nuremberg-style review of this term.
Dead Comment
"Now isn't the time for recriminations for behavior long in the past, now is the time for forgiveness. Time to reach across the aisle in unity, time to heal the nation." - Democrats
Only because no one can prosecute it without retaliation from petulant man-children.
Sadly, small beer now that nuclear containment has also expired and been cleared from the table.
The Last Nuclear Deal Is Expiring. Does Anyone Care? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46821225
Nuclear Arms Race 2.0: Ready, Set, Already Go .. You're Late!
emolument clause be dammed.
it turns out all you need to do is 1) blatantly ignore/violate the law, 2) have appointed justices to the court who will provide you will full immunity while in office (Trump vs United States)
Dead Comment
No points for guessing which social media company got the bulk of that ad spend.
In a Berlin shopping mall.
Tech CEOs attend Amazon-funded "Melania" screening at White House
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46761370