Donald Trump may "turn off the internet" if elected, former staffer says
Donald Trump may "turn off the internet" if elected, former staffer says
Speaking on MSNBC, Miles Taylor, who worked in Trump's administration, outlined the potential threats of a second Trump term.
All of the companies that would instantly start losing a billion dollars per second would never allow this to happen. This isn’t some 3rd world country where Google and Apple and Facebook aren’t headquartered. The internet will always be happening here. They’re completely dependent on it and their customer’s constant access to it.
102Our econnomy is heavily tied to the Internet at this point. Billions in commerce are conducted directly and many billions more in enabled ("what's the closest pizza place?"). Not to mention stock trading, banking, government services, healthcare, etc. You're very much on track here and I don't think it's hyperbole.
While it could technically happen that our government could legally shut down the internet, it wouldn't last long or it means we are under attack (perhaps internally) and need to control damage/messaging.
25Aren't all 3 of those actually headquartered in Ireland (for tax reasons)?
10
I’m seeing a lot of Newsweek posted here and that is disheartening, to say the least. Newsweek is half a step from the dailymail’s level of bombastic misrepresentation. Continued use of Newsweek as a source is not ideal as a result.
89I'm surprised how many users upvotes click bait headlines.
7
41It's possible that he saw the episode and thought it was real.
3
Miles Taylor, Trump's former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, was asked on MSNBC about what potential damage the former president, who is the frontrunner in the GOP primaries, could do in government without breaking the law.
"The possibilities are almost limitless," Taylor said. "The biggest concerns for me are on the national security side. I think Americans still don't understand the full extent of the president's powers and things Donald Trump could do, bubble-wrapped in legalese, that would be damaging to the republic."
"He could invoke powers we've never heard a President of the United States invoke—potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil," he added. "We don't know because the things that are in there, the emergency powers of the president, aren't widely known to the American people.
39I doubt the president who lives on the internet & relies on it to connect with his superfans would disable it.
16Not for the people he likes.
4
So no one said that he would or even may turn off the internet, but that he may use legalize and his emergency presidential powers, if elected, to do something crazy. The person talking about it was spitballing and included turning the internet off as a example of something crazy that he might do.
Edit: He indeed talked about geoblocking countries with groups like ISIS operating within them. At least that is what I assume he meant with his word salad. This is from post below mine. Still not turning off internet.
14Oh Trump has blubbered about it enough that I would take it seriously.
It wouldn't be a legal mechanism if there was something stopping him from doing it.(from the article)
"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet," Trump said. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people."
"ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the internet better than we are using the nternet and it was our idea," Trump said. "I want to get the brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS can't do what they're doing. I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet."
When challenged, he added: "I'm not talking about closing the internet. I'm talking about closing parts of the internet where ISIS is."
16
Quick, hide that internet button so that grandpa can't switch it off!
36"Go ahead and pull the internet plug, gramps! I'll be pulling your plug soon enough anyways"
6
All i can say good luck. If you turn off the internet nothing will work and shit will hit the fan for the gov too fast.
35Well, he’d pretty much turn off the government if he turned off the internet anyway
17Stores and banks aren't stocked or staffed for turning off e-commerce. Banks hate when customers walk in the door instead of doing everything online. And the stores woods have to find a drastically different equilibrium without internet advertising or orders. It would be absolute chaos.
7
I think he is too much of a narcissist to do something that would reduce the amount of attention he could receive.
Also:
24Will he personally pull the plug off the wall so that ISIS stops being a meanie?
22he learned that idea when he visited his buddy Kim in North Korea
20To be clear this is unlikely to be a long term nation wide internet blackout. Rather, e.g., turn off the Internet in a section of a city and send in troops to deal with a protest.
18Oh, that's okay then!
31Phew for a minute I was worried
I would have accepted this take in 2016 but not anymore. He's running again to avoid the consequences of his shitty stupid choices. If he wins he's gonna feel completely unshackled.
Oh and his allies have already been stacking the bureaucracy with loyalists. There won't be any voices of reason in second administration because they already chased those people off.
2
Title of the article is misleading. Should say "Pundit guesses blindly at damage Trump could do as President"
It's not necessarily a bad guess, but it's not based on anything Trump or any of his team actually said.
17My balls might turn off the internet
17Lol every country on the brink that has tried this has incited their own revolution. When people loose their distraction machines they tend to aim anger in the right direction. I say turn it off.
16Hmm, covfefe was just him trying to remember how to quit out of VIM. it tracks.
1
Is this enough dictator behavior to call him an aspiring dictator for you yet?
15“Just on day one”
10No no baby, just the tip
-1
It’s dick tater
4Only if he actually does it.
-1
ROFL!!
If anything would get people fired up for a coup, it's that.
12How would you communicate about it? Lol
-6In secret like we use to.
3Bluetooth
Building meshnets
We never actually needed corporations to maintain the internet. The people have just been too lazy and selfish to bother searching out alternatives.
2
Good luck.
11I'm pretty sure the only way to turn off the internet is remove humans from the ultimate equation. We have a stubborn little habit of maintaining the status quo or ignoring the rules, especially when porn and/or money is on the line.
11sounds like what he wants to do is block certain countries by ASN or something but doesn't know how to say it properly
10Trump was thinking about how he’s going to edit the nation’s .htaccess file in vim. He’s got a few new rules to add in
4Hmm, covfefe was just him trying to remember how to quit out of VIM. it tracks.
2
Trump breaks things because those things cost tax money. Given his other choices and reasons for those choices, it's likely that some people on the internet has attacked him, and he wants to retaliate. Having control of the internet would be immense power. That would definitely appeal to him, too.
2
This is literally just “the president has a lot of emergency powers, these are some of them”
9Finally.
Finally a candidate who bases policy around the objectively correct take away from Ready Player One, the most culturally significant sci fi statement on society of our generation.
(/s if that is somehow needed)
7(/s if that is somehow needed)
Always keep Poe's law in mind.
3
I see a lot of dismissal of this idea here. I think a lot of people think the statement means just arbitrarily turning it off. Maybe it does, he is an incompetent moron. However, if we look at real life historical precident on how countries have disabled internet access in their countries, it usually immediately precedes a coup. So I could see him (or another R in the near future) attempting such a strategy at the end of term in order to seize control and stay in power.
6"CHECKMATE, NERDS!!!"
4That's a good way to get the entire country in Washington DC at the exact same time. I work from home (ironically for the government), and I can't do that without an internet connection.
3Would anyone even know how to schedule a flight or buy plane tickets without the Internet at this point?
Never mind scheduling a mass protest.
1We could all just drive, and use paper maps if necessary. Even the old people would be pissed if they could get on Facebook suddenly.
Honestly, the situation isn't all that likely since the internet in the U.S. is fairly distributed. I read an article at one point that there isn't just a single switch you could flip to do an internet blackout in the U.S. (at least I hope that's true)
1
Wasn't this some aspect of the qanon stuff? I swear I've heard this shit in those fringes
2Can we please stop multiplying every fart this guy is letting out? That stinks. Stop giving reach to this bullshit, that's exactly what is intended by this provocative garbage.
2I don't think he means it in the way we think. It's more likely he means "turn off" like the sleazy guy at the bar in sweatpants and a stained shirt who hits on all the women. I'd say "mission accomplished" Mr. Trump.
-10