Re:The U.S. Is Driving Away Young Scientists
by ModernMech on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @10:32AM
(#50441802)
That's not exactly true when you look at the history of how fascism works. Actually, capitulation is futile, as there is no bottom to what the autocrat will demand. If you give in, all it shows is you are an easy mark. Resistance is the only winning move.
Timothy Snyder put out a great book about this called "On Freedom", which explains most of the power an autocrat has is given freely by people who anticipate what he would want and just offer it without being asked, precisely because they have a notion that resistance is futile. Tech leaders were right there at the inauguration, they didn't even try! So the role these tech guys played early on was teaching Trump the extend of his power.
If you look at how Trump handled schools and law firms, you see an excellent case of capitulation vs. resistance and how that played out. Take the situation with Columbia compared to Harvard. With Columbia, they capitulated to Trump illegally withheld $400m and agreed to all sorts of demands, only to be met with more demands. Harvard faced similar pressure, but decided to fight it and won in court.
In the law world, Trump made demands to several high-profile law firms. Paul Weiss, Skadden, and Kirkland & Ellis all capitulated to the demands, other firms saw these law firms capitulate and just offered up settlements themselves. 11 law firms entered into agreements with the administration, and they didn't even have to ask all of them! Meanwhile, every firm that challenged demands made by the Trump admin, including Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block, won in court.
Tech giants didn't capitulate to the Trump administration because they felt they had no other choice, they did it because they felt it would be best for their bottom line. They have no principles, no backbone, and are opportunists who will say anything if a dollar is on the line.
Timothy Snyder put out a great book about this called "On Freedom", which explains most of the power an autocrat has is given freely by people who anticipate what he would want and just offer it without being asked, precisely because they have a notion that resistance is futile. Tech leaders were right there at the inauguration, they didn't even try! So the role these tech guys played early on was teaching Trump the extend of his power.
If you look at how Trump handled schools and law firms, you see an excellent case of capitulation vs. resistance and how that played out. Take the situation with Columbia compared to Harvard. With Columbia, they capitulated to Trump illegally withheld $400m and agreed to all sorts of demands, only to be met with more demands. Harvard faced similar pressure, but decided to fight it and won in court.
In the law world, Trump made demands to several high-profile law firms. Paul Weiss, Skadden, and Kirkland & Ellis all capitulated to the demands, other firms saw these law firms capitulate and just offered up settlements themselves. 11 law firms entered into agreements with the administration, and they didn't even have to ask all of them! Meanwhile, every firm that challenged demands made by the Trump admin, including Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block, won in court.
Tech giants didn't capitulate to the Trump administration because they felt they had no other choice, they did it because they felt it would be best for their bottom line. They have no principles, no backbone, and are opportunists who will say anything if a dollar is on the line.