Uber C.E.O. To Leave Trump Advisory Council After Criticism

I'm reminded of Eliot Cohen's response after trying to work with the administration in good faith:

After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming "you LOST!" Will be ugly. https://twitter.com/EliotACohen/status/798512852931788800

There is a non-zero chance Elon Musk might have a positive effect here, but I think the problem is not Trump. I actually think DJT can be reasoned with and he's just not used to the gravity of his office. I think the problem is some people in his inner circle that have flagrantly admitted to using him for their own personal gain to advance an agenda of white nationalism and racial purity politics.

> That's exactly why someone should want to advise the President: to have the opportunity to advise the President against such things, or at the very least temper them.

Nothing about the last 18 months should make you think that he thoughtfully weighed input from advisors on both sides of the refugee issue and came to a reasoned decision. He used fear and demagoguery to appeal to xenophobes from the start.

To help him tread water for 4 years and eke out a reelection would be some really bad short-term thinking. We have a unique moment to teach voters that electing a reality TV host has negative consequences.

On a smaller scale, a similar social media backlash forced Rep. Chaffetz (R, UT) to withdraw his western public lands sale resolution (HR 621). This bill had bad implications for hunters and other outdoorsmen and the hunting media reacted strongly on social media, setting off a large outcry amongst public land-loving Republicans. In truth, both the right and the left opposed this bill but it was the outcry from his constituency that had the leverage and forced him to kill it.

This got me thinking last night: if this was 1982, politicians would do what they please and it would be months before the public found out about it. Now days, a congressman or president can make a bad decision and face immediate backlash from their constituency. For all of the problems that social media has created, this increased accountability of public servants is world-changing.

That's great... but it's not even clear Uber did anything wrong.

They disabled surge pricing, and people interpreted it as trying to break the strike.

If they hadn't disabled surge pricing it would seem like they were profiting off the protests/strike, as has happened in the past.

Should Uber, the company, have forced it's drivers to strike by disallowing pickups at JFK? If so, why aren't people equally upset with Lyft for also not doing that?