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Comment by nubg | Hacker News Reader

This whole standoff could set a very important precedent of the Trump administration not getting what they want, and not in a "maneuvered out of the news spotlight" kind of way (e.g. Greenland), but in a public "FUCK OFF right in your face" kind of way.

The worst that can happen to Anthropic is one of the two things mentioned; loosing some contracts or some fake forced management from the Pentagon. maybe Dario having to leave, certainly a loss for him and people who believe in him but probably nothing world-changing.

The worst that can happen to the Trump administration is the beginning of its end, when people realize you can simply stand up to their bullying and with all the standoffs they have going on in parallel, maybe they will die a death by a thousand cuts?

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> The worst that can happen to Anthropic

The corporate death sentence usually goes something like "anyone who does business with Anthropic cannot do business with the US government". That pretty much means all the hyperscalers, major infrastructure providers, major software providers, and major corporations. They all have to choose between the entire US gov and all those contracts and a single AI company. That's the worst that can happen to Anthropic.

I hope this happens because it gives the next democratic administration more ammunition in abolishing corporate supremacy.

>not in a "maneuvered out of the news spotlight" kind of way (e.g. Greenland)

I what world has the Greenland stuff been anything but a fuckoff?

> I what world has the Greenland stuff been anything but a fuckoff?

The world in which Europe didn't respond, Americans didn't flip out and Congress didn't push back.

>Europe didn't respond

https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/danish-mep-tells-trum...

Right. We're in the world in which "the Greenland stuff" has not "been anything but a fuckoff."

US was told directly that its not happening. You had the military excisise that scared Trump so much that he ordered extra tariffs. Just because you don't follow the news doesn't make it that there wasn't any response.

He chickened out on the extra tariffs, too.

The executives at these huge corporations already know that they can stand up to the Trump administration, and that it will fold immediately. "TACO" is printed in the Wall St. Journal.

They willingly don't, because they know that they can use the administration to cement their market power. The surveillance state being built is one where would-be competitors, labor, well-meaning reformists, can be crushed on a whim for sham political reasons. A massive contraction of USA wealth, influence, and power, a loss of our living standard and place in the world -- that is the price everyone else has to pay, to keep the existing power structure in place. They will not release their grip on the wheel. Not until the ship hits the bottom of the sea.

If that is the bet they are placing, it is a bet they will lose. The power and capabilities of US corporations does not rest solely on those corporations, and as the wealth, influence and power of the USA undergoes "a massive contraction", they will find themselves similarly degraded. They might be the big fish in the big pond, but only because everyone knows there's a bigger fish (the US government). Once other countries, and other corporations, no longer care much what the US government thinks, US corporations will find themselves in a very, very different situation.

Of course! I think at some level the people at the top know that this American capitalism is not competitive. The last 5 years or so have been basically the whole country realizing that our system is not competitive. And, the last 1-2 years have been collectively, the world re-calibrating on this fact.

The monopolists don't care though. The power is too intoxicating.

I mean, listen to discussions here. "What's your moat?" -- that's how American capitalists think. Not "What value does your company provide to the customer", but what extra force, beyond simple-minded fair market competition, are you leveraging, to ensnare the customer. The game is to ensure that customers cannot choose another business over yours on its merits. That works in the short term but it's extractive. Eventually, the parasite must stop sucking blood for the host to survive.

> parasite must stop sucking blood for the host to survive

Biology doesn't work like that. Biological units are too selfish. It is an iterated game so evolution could affect how a parasite's children act. However defection is usually a winning strategy (because there's rarely enough coordination nor enough signals for cooperation to win).

Biology has amazing metaphors, but unfortunately most writers and readers don't understand biology well enough to use those metaphors as part of an argument.

The same issue occurs with other disciplines too.

> Biological units are too selfish

Indeed they are.

> "TACO" is printed in the Wall St. Journal.

Can you elaborate?

"Trump Always Chickens Out" is an acronym that went around after "Liberation Day", when Trump very quickly reversed his position in response to the bond market basically telling him, no, you can't do that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Always_Chickens_Out

I misattributed it to the Wall Street Journal -- it was the Financial Times, point still stands.

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