Rodric David

Inventor&Founder at Amplivy | Designing the Infrastructure That Reshapes How Identity, Attention & Commerce Interacts USC grad- Go Trojans! Aussie in LA 🇦🇺🦘.

[Rodric David @Rodric_David]

@NotAvgLiberal Well done Mate.

[😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 @aintscarylarry]

If you’re pissed at US Olympic athletes for having opinions against your cult leader and you’re watching a separate Super Bowl halftime show because you’re terrified of hearing another language, it’s time to reflect on the decisions you’ve made to have such a sad, fucked up life.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

Musk and Thiel are the loud ideologues, but Bezos and Zuckerberg are the indispensable enablers.

They are the infrastructure of the new fascism.

Whether through cowardice or greed, they have done almost as much to dismantle democracy.

Stop giving them a pass

[AnthroVet50 @spooked75]

Why is MAGA so hateful?

I get asked this a lot. The short answer is: because hate is the point. But let me break it down.

Grievance as identity

MAGA isn't a political movement built on policy. It's built on resentment. The core message has always been "you've been wronged" — by elites, by immigrants, by cities, by universities, by the media, by women, by minorities, by anyone who isn't you.

This isn't a coalition that comes together to BUILD something. It comes together to tear things down. Hate isn't a byproduct of the movement. It's the fuel.

Zero-sum thinking

They genuinely believe that if someone else gains, they lose. Rights for gay people? That's an attack on Christians. Immigrants succeeding? They must be stealing from "real Americans." A Black president? He must be illegitimate.

There's no concept of shared prosperity or expanding opportunity. Just winners and losers. And they're terrified of losing.

The dominance hierarchy

A lot of MAGA is rooted in evangelical and authoritarian psychology. There's supposed to be a natural order: white at the top, Christian at the top, male at the top, straight at the top.

When you've been at the top of a hierarchy your whole life, equality feels like oppression. Giving others a seat at the table feels like theft.

The media ecosystem

Fox News → OANN → Newsmax → podcasts → Twitter/X. It's a 24/7 rage machine. Every algorithm rewards outrage. Every host competes to be more extreme than the last.

These people are literally addicted to anger. Neurologically. They get dopamine hits from feeling righteous fury. They wake up and immediately check their phones to find out what they should be mad about today.

Turn it off for a week and they go through withdrawal.

Economic anxiety — weaponized

Here's the thing: a lot of the underlying pain is real. Deindustrialization gutted their towns. Opioids killed their families. Wages stagnated while costs exploded. The American Dream stopped working for them.

But instead of blaming the corporations that shipped jobs overseas, or the billionaires that rigged the economy, or the politicians that deregulated everything — they're taught to blame immigrants. To blame welfare recipients. To blame Black people in cities. To blame trans kids.

Classic fascist playbook: take legitimate economic anger and redirect it at the vulnerable.

The permission structure

Trump didn't create the hate. He just gave it permission.

For decades, these people were told to keep the quiet part quiet. Be polite. Use dog whistles. Then Trump came along and said the loud part loud — and nothing happened. No consequences.

He showed them they could be openly racist, openly cruel, openly contemptuous of democracy — and not only survive, but win.

"He fights" doesn't mean he fights for them. It means he's mean to people they don't like. The cruelty is the point.

Community built on enemies

This is the part people miss: MAGA is a community. For a lot of these people — especially older, rural, isolated Americans — it's their entire social world. Their friends are MAGA. Their family is MAGA. Their church is MAGA.

The hate is the membership card. The shared enemies are what bind them together. Leaving the movement doesn't just mean changing your politics. It means losing everyone you know.

So they double down. And double down again. Because the alternative is being alone.

The bottom line

Why is MAGA so hateful?

Because scared people + relentless propaganda + permission to be cruel + community built on shared enemies = hate as a lifestyle.

They're not going to be reasoned out of it. They weren't reasoned into it.

The only thing that works is making it socially and politically costly to be part of it. Outvoting them. Out-organizing them. And building something better that gives people a different place to belong.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🚨 Pete Buttigieg nails it:

“In a country that amended the Constitution to ban beer… then fixed it when we realized it was dumb… surely we can amend it again to say corporations aren’t people and money isn’t speech.”

Translation:

We corrected Prohibition.
We can correct Citizens United.

Democracy shouldn’t be for sale.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Don’t compare yourself to men like your grandfather—you haven’t earned it.

Europe honors them deeply. Memorials, cemeteries, statues, remembrance days scattered across the continent—all testaments to what they endured.

But that respect belongs to their sacrifice, not to a MAGA generation that mistakes inherited glory for personal achievement. Their legacy isn’t a credential you can claim.

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

Bruce Springsteen on Trump: “I couldn't care less what he thinks about me. He's the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for. If Congress had any guts, he'd be consigned to the trash heap of history."

RETWEET if you stand with @Springsteen!

[Chris Olah @ch402]

I try to not talk about politics. I generally believe the best way I can serve the world is as a non-partisan expert, and my genuine beliefs are quite moderate. So the bar is very high for me to comment.

But recent events – a federal agent killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation – shock the conscience.

My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy: freedom of speech, the rule of law, the dignity of the human person. I immigrated to the United States – and eventually cofounded Anthropic here – believing it was a pillar of these principles.

I feel very sad today.

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

No new funding.

Kristi Noem must RESIGN.

Greg Bovino must be FIRED.

Suspend the LAWLESS mass deportation raids nationwide NOW — ICE is no longer just deporting dangerous criminals.

Send the border patrol back to the border.

End the militarization of ICE + the sick racial profiling.

End the perverse cash incentives that are bounties to perpetrate Trump’s cruel agenda.

Require thorough, real background checks for everyone, and 2+ years of training before even setting foot in the field.

INVESTIGATE and PROSECUTE every single federal agent who is breaking the law.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

Tech oligarchs are funding Trump for three reasons: lower taxes, deregulation, and a clear shot at permanent monopolies.

These idiots are perfectly happy to trade democracy for those reasons. They are dangerous fascists who value profit more than anything else

[PoliticsVideoChannel @politvidchannel]

BREAKING: Australia has passed a Bill that will limit the total spending on a party by billionaires like Elon Musk to Just $50,000

This will ban billionaires from single-handedly buying Elections in Australia.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

https://t.co/ZW3bnxdgEG

[Lars Christensen @MaMoMVPY]

The problem isn't Trump. The problem is the US.

When the outside world observes Trump's insane behaviour and his threats against allies, and we at the same time observe that there is no real action from the US public, Congress, the US Supreme Court, or the US media about this insanity, we will all have to conclude that the US accepts this behaviour.

The public in the US think the US is entitled to a certain position in the world where there is no room for decent behaviour and where there are no norms and rules.

That means that we all have to conclude that the US — not only Trump — has betrayed the international order that the US, with its Western partners, were the main architects of after the Second World War.

This is the conclusion that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney so clearly laid out in his speech at Davos yesterday. We simply cannot trust the US to play by the rules any more. Therefore, we also fundamentally have to ask ourselves — should we trust the financial and economic structure which is an integral part of the global rules-based order?

Americans live in the illusion that the US can do everything on its own, despite the fact that the US for nearly 20 years has lived beyond its means.

US private and government consumption has been funded by, among others, European central banks and pension funds. But we now have to ask ourselves — why would we trade in dollars? Why would we put our savings into US Treasury bonds?

If the US is not a rules-based society, we cannot trust the dollar to be a stable currency, and it would be insane to hold dollars. As domestic US institutions are eroded and governance structures destroyed, the US will be turned into an emerging market economy — or more accurately, a de-merging economy.

If the US threatens the territory of allies, then the US acts as an authoritarian bully nation. Nobody in their right mind would lend money to the US government. If the US doesn't live up to its international obligations and respect the sovereignty of other nations, why would we expect the US government to honour its debts?

If Trump can tariff nations that will not give up their territory, then there is certainly no reason to believe that the US will not introduce capital controls. And if that is a risk, why would you risk investing in the US?

It is not a question about Europe standing up to the US. It is a question about being prudent with our investments — about reducing risks.

Every day Trump remains in office, distrust of the US increases, and the cost for the US will go up day by day. And this is irreversible. It takes years to build trust, but you can destroy it by your actions in minutes.

Europe has now completely lost trust in the US. And so has Canada. It is up to the people of the US to demonstrate that Trump is an 'outlier', and it is up to the American people to stop him.

If you don't do that, we will have to assume that this is what the US is about — whether the name of the President is Trump or something else, whether the President is a Republican or a Democrat.

[Fareed Zakaria @FareedZakaria]

As Washington treats allies as transactional customers and turns long-standing commitments into shakedowns, the world is looking elsewhere for trade and cooperation.

The US is no longer the global trendsetter.

My take:

[Acyn @Acyn]

Buttigieg: In a country that amended its constitution so you could not purchase a beer and then realized it was a bad idea and amended it back, surely we can have an amendment clarifying that a corporation is not a person and money is not speech.

[Beefeater @Beefeater_Fella]

The consequences of the United States attacking / invading or annexing Greenland: Here’s just a few possibilities of how it plays out for the US.

The geopolitical equivalent of committing state suicide.

The first effect is this: The US seizing territory from a NATO country, won’t be letters of protest or Ambassador recalls.

It will trigger the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which provides at its core - a treaty between member nations. At the heart and design of this treaty is the collective defence obligation “an armed attack on one, is an attack on all”.

This treaty has kept the peace for over 75 years, and it will cease to exist immediately, as the aggressor is a member of NATO. The organisation will lose a principal ally, while creating a new enemy.

Potential repercussions: If only a few of these materialise - it will be catastrophic for the USA.

Europe will immediately demand the closure of every U.S. military base on the continent. Ramstein in Germany, Aviano in Italy, Lakenheath in the UK.

The US’s ability to project power into the Middle East and Africa vanishes overnight. They will be evicted from the very soil they helped liberate and defended for decades, and forced to retreat to their own shores as a fortress nation, isolated and friendless. Perhaps Trump may even forge new alliances with Russia and China.

Economically, the European Union is the largest single market in the world, and they will immediately be compelled to respond to it, under Article 47.2 TFEU - which is the EU’s own mutual defence treaty and framework.

Europe will likely move to call in U.S. debt and dump their dollar reserves, sending the value of our currency into a death spiral.

The U.S. economy, which relies on the dollar being the global reserve currency, will collapse. Inflation will make the post-COVID spikes look like a rounding error. US citizens savings will be worthless before the ink dries on the invasion orders.

Corporate America will face an extinction event. U.S. companies will be expelled from the European market. Apple, Google, McDonald's, and Tesla will see their assets seized or their operations banned.

Trillions of dollars in market capitalization will be incinerated in minutes. The stock market will not just crash; it will close. We are talking about the complete de-globalization of American industry, cutting them off from the wealthiest consumers on the planet.

The skies will go silent. European aviation authorities will almost certainly ground all Boeing jets and ban U.S. airlines from their airspace. Transatlantic travel will cease. If US citizens are in Paris or Berlin, they are stuck there. The logistical arteries that feed our supply chains will be severed.

The US will be cut off from European medicine, machinery, and technology. They will be an island nation in the worst possible sense.

The cultural isolation will be just as stinging. The International Olympic Committee and FIFA will have no choice but to bar the United States from competition, just as they did with Russia.

For individual Americans, the consequences will be personal and painful. Visa-free travel to Europe will end immediately. Americans currently living or working in Europe will lose their legal protections and residency status.

This is the end of trust, and it does not reset.

You cannot invade a democratic ally and then say "my bad" four years later. The psychological break will be permanent.

Europe will realize that the United States is no longer a partner but a predator. Europe will build its own defense architecture, their own financial systems, and their own alliances that specifically exclude the US.

The West will continue, but the United States will no longer be part of it. This is by design of the Trump regime and it’s army of social media influencers acting as officially endorsed pseudo advisors.

Invading or annexing Greenland is not a show of strength; it is an act of national suicide.

[Glenn Tunes @glenn_tunes]

My Norwegian opinion is that If your country opens a department of war and closes the department of education, then you live in a shithole country 🖐️🖐️🖐️ 🖐️🖐️🖐️

[Rodric David @Rodric_David]

@mattvanswol You’re right but your conflating two issues - endemic fraud in the digital economy is separate to funding government services for its citizens.
The solution is verified presence infrastructure- and it’s coming.

https://t.co/yELT9RA4IE

[Rodric David @Rodric_David]

@TheTrojanBlade Why when TCU scores is there an air horn in the stadium but not for USC? I thought it’s supposed to be a neutral field.

[Rodric David @Rodric_David]

@InsideUSC You’re an idiot