European by birth, American by choice | Tech Entrepreneur | Innovation Enthusiast | Free Speech & Markets Advocate | Atlanticist | In Dutch on @lucvanbraekel
Austin, Texas, USA
Joined March 2007
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Luc Van Braekel retweeted
SpaceX and Tesla have prospered in Texas, because we were not constantly operating under an oppressive and extractive state government.
And I need to be close to the factories, so that I can walk the floor in person. That’s why the first major SpaceX factory was in LA and first major Tesla factory was in SF Bay Area.
As California became increasingly difficult, due to extreme taxes and overregulation, we moved our major domestic expansions and HQ to Texas.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
The Atlantic blames @HarmeetKDhillon for the “destruction” of the DOJ’s civil rights division on the grounds that 70% of the Biden-era lawyers who worked there quit during her tenure.
What The Atlantic does not tell you is that Dhillon’s predecessor was progressive activist Kristen Clarke, an extremely controversial Biden appointment who, prior to joining the DOJ, was best known for antisemitism. She famously invited the author of a hate tract called “The Jewish Question” to speak on the Harvard campus under the auspices of the Black Student Union.
At DOJ, Clarke used the Civil Rights division to force state and local governments to adopt illegal DEI programs and dismantle policing and criminal justice enforcement. She was the threat of government legal action pushing the adoption of the most noxious woke policies during the Biden era.
She did immense damage to the DOJ and the country, she forced the adoption of unpopular and ineffective policies and she filled her department with ideologues, activists and diversity hires who do not belong anywhere near the levers of power.
The transformation of the Civil Rights Division and the removal of Kristen Clarke’s loyalists is one of the biggest accomplishments of the Trump administration. Dhillon is a hero and has done a great service to her country.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
One thing I've learnt about American voters is that they're not ideologues. They just vote on who they think will improve America's current situation. It's not because they're "Independents" either. They could well have deep political convictions. But they see past them.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
I don’t believe in censorship… people should say what they want and own their words — I certainly have over the years (and paid the price at times!).
However, if a podcaster suggests they want to *execute* a tech CEO because they *disagree* with them, and an advertiser on that podcasts decides “Why am I paying for this podcaster’s private jets with my sponsorship dollars?!” —- well, that’s the advertiser’s choice.
I respect @perplexity_ai for their decision — and I personally use and love their products. You should really try their browser COMET and Perplexity Computer.
We stopped all upcoming placements on prof g markets and existing placements are being removed.
We acted immediately when @KatieMiller flagged it. (these were part of small test by 3p agency)
Source, I’m responsible for Perplexity’s marketing.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
"The two most prominent invitees were philosopher of science Maarten Boudry and Member of Parliament Sam van Rooy (Vlaams Belang)."
I implored the organizers to invite politicians from other parties, not just the radical-right @vlbelang. They tried their best, but couldn't find anyone willing to participate, not even from @MR_officiel or @de_NVA (though, to be fair, they're in the midst of a government crisis).
I don't mind sharing a stage with @SamvanRooy1, but it makes me uncomfortable that his is the only political party represented. My friend Joel Kotek from @ULBruxelles, an expert on antisemitism and genocide (for whose new book I just wrote a foreword), even cancelled his appearance because of Van Rooy's presence.
That's his call, and I respect it, though I think it's unfortunate. This is becoming a self-reinforcing dynamic: the more progressives and moderates abandon the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and even side with its enemies, the more right-wing parties rush to fill the vacuum. And the more Israelis and Jews accept the overtures of these far-right parties, the more they reinforce the association between being pro-Israel and being right-wing.
And then, when I show up at one of these events, my enemies triumphantly exclaim: "Aha! You're sharing a stage with Sam Van Rooy! You've finally shown your true colors!" Never mind that I loathe the far-right fanatics in the current Israeli government and want nothing more than to see Netanyahu gone (Van Rooy, by contrast, is a fan). But just as I'm pro-American despite Trump, I'm a Zionist despite Netanyahu.
The truth is that if politicians from other parties weren't such spineless cowards, pandering to the antisemites among their constituents, we wouldn't need people like @SamvanRooy1 to stand up for Israel.
"Exact location shared with registered attendees before the event."
How awful that peaceful pro-Palestinian activists have to hide from murderous Zionists!
Just kidding, of course it's the other way around. It's always Jews and Israelis who have to hide, and deep down you know this. But you’ve just grown so accustomed to it that you no longer notice.
(I'll be speaking there. And don't fucking complain about Sam Van Rooy. If politicians from other parties were not such spineless cowards, we wouldn't need @SamvanRooy1 to stand up for Jews and Israel.)
why-israel-leuven.vercel.app…
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
Yesterday, I heard from a young Belgian woman that she’s not proud of her country because it produces weapons. “I don’t understand why we would need to produce weapons”. I gave a calm explanation, but: Belgium REALLY needs to educate the youth better in that sense. Pacifism is all nice, but there are limits to it, especially in the current world.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
Exactly 😂
Tesla has no government contracts and President Trump ended federal incentives for electric vehicles.
SpaceX contracts with the government are BOTH the best product AND the lowest price! Moreover government revenue will be less than 10% of SpaceX revenue this quarter and less then 5% a year from now.
Happy to cancel any that the government doesn’t want. Just say the word!
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
“On our terms” says Gov-Elect Hinojosa
Why is it that suddenly she is qualified to run the entire Texas innovation economy? This is a bad start
Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, the first Democrat to win the state's governor's race in 36 years, in a new interview tonight on Elon Musk and AI data centers:
"We can have a strong working relationship with Elon Musk and his companies, but it has to be on our terms. We have always been a pro-business state, but data centers have moved into mostly rural communities and there are no rules to protect Texans, so the difference is we will have laws to protect Texans. We can have a strong economy and strong industry, and protections for Texans."
It sounds like Gina is not going to stop the construction of data centers that have already started are received all permits, but that there will be a pause on any new permits once she is Governor until some sort of "laws and protections" are put in place. This would be good news for SpaceX and other companies that have already secured permits for big data center capacity expansion in 2027. Beyond that, we'll see. Seems like these new elects are open to work with companies.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
I wish Belgian newspapers spent half as much energy holding our own politicians accountable as they do covering American politics.
Our government is in crisis over a €10 BILLION budget package while running a €33 BILLION annual deficit and carrying nearly €700 BILLION in debt.
Belgium’s largest newspaper this morning:
The biggest headline on its homepage is - coincidentally, of course - about Abdul El-Sayed winning in Michigan.
They could have chosen any of the countless races across the US, but of course, they picked this one.
And right below it, we get to hear what Barack Obama has to say about the elections.
I’m so tired of it.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
All modern Republicans are judged by how they compare to Ronald Reagan who won two presidential campaigns with overwhelming popular and electoral college support, brought double digit inflation down and in 1983, the first year his 25% tax rate cut took full effect America created 4 million jobs (with a smaller work force 2/3 the size our present workforce.) Oh, and he won the cold war.
The Republicans were crushed in the 1974 midterms. Reagan later delivered a speech explaining why:
♦️ “The meaning of the last election will not be found among those who voted. It will be found among those who stayed home—the biggest non-voter bloc in our nation’s history. And why did they stay home? Well, because they said they couldn’t see any difference between the two parties.”♦️
There’s a lesson in that worth remembering. You can’t win voters by simply telling them how bad the other side is. You have to give them a compelling reason to vote for you. Stand for something. Be bold, unapologetically conservative, offer a clear contrast, and most importantly, deliver on the promises you campaigned on. Voters need to see a real difference, not just hear about one.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
Mr. Vice-President,
Please allow me to present a different perspective.
The problem was not the Iran War. It was the cease fire.
If you start a war, you need to win it and finish it – otherwise don’t start it.
This war should have been over six months ago, with the Strait of Hormuz wide open and oil flowing. The second and third tiers of Iranian leadership should have been destroyed, and we should have supported the pro-western forces who could have taken leadership. We stood on the brink of a new, more peaceful Middle East - and then we blinked. We had a chance not only to deny Iran nuclear weapons, but to get rid of the world’s biggest supporter of terrorism.
Instead, we had a cease fire, which was followed by months of will we or won’t we finish the job. Every day was a different message. There still is. Is the war over? Is it about to begin? No one knows. There is confusion and inconsistency.
In June 2025, America was not involved. This was an Israel vs Iran issue.
No one forced the United States to attack Iran then, or in February of 2026. It was a decision made by President Trump. In my opinion, it was the right decision.
Once the decision was made, we should not have stopped until the regime fell. But instead, you negotiated a cease fire that didn’t last, didn’t work and left us in no man’s land, with higher prices and our troops still deployed.
Our troops could have been home, the Navy returned to its bases, a peaceful regime in place , new alliances forged, and gas prices below $3.00 a gallon.
No, Mr. Vice President. It’s not the war. It’s the so-called cease fire.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
After 20 years of being an Apple superfan, I made the full switch to @omarchy Linux. It has now been my sole setup for three months. Never going back.
Omarchy feels like a glimpse of the future. With AI, software is now free to write. It doesn't have to be one-size-fits-all anymore. It's now possible for your operating system to mold itself on-the-fly to your individual use cases and preferences. All you should ever have to do is ask it to do that for you.
Omarchy is the only serious effort fully embracing AI and on a sprint to make that vision real. Not to mention, this thing is fucking beautiful. @dhh + team + community really cooked here.
And sure, Apple products are also still beautiful. There's no denying that, but once you glimpse the world beyond, you will never again unsee the soft oppressiveness of their walled garden. Apple's ecosystem is governed by a brand of paternalism that doesn't trust you to handle your own machine. It believes that you will helplessly hurt yourself if—God forbid—you choose to change anything about how it works.
So you can't. They won't let you. And that was maybe fine back when Apple was an innovative company. At least the choices that they forced on you were good and on the cutting edge. Today, it just means that you're forever stuck with Siri.
So come join the movement 🚀
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
Ten Random Election Night Thoughts:
1. Democrats in power is good business for conservative media and podcasters. Take that for what it is worth.
2. Half of Americans have an IQ of 100 or less.
3. Why is a midterm loss for the Presidential incumbent’s party so common? Are people really that shortsighted and devoid of animating principles? And I mean this in a non-partisan way. Who votes for Obama in 2008 and then helps the GOP win in 2010? Who votes for Trump in 2024 and then helps the Dems win in 2026? Are Americans really that stupidly fickle?
4. Why can’t every state count its votes in a few hours like Florida?
5. Democrat voters are like locusts. They ravage one state, escape that state to a good and decent state, and then turn their new state into the same hellhole they just left. Don’t believe me? Ask Colorado. Now, Texas, apparently.
6. Thune is happy right now.
7. The silver lining is that the Dems are going to accomplish nothing in the next two years other than to run endless, silly investigations and impeachments, which will make them look impotent and weak headed into 2028.
8. Trump is about to be unleashed. He has no midterms to worry about and he probably could care less about the campaign of the 2028 GOP nominee, JD or otherwise. “Unitary executive” is about to take on a new meaning.
9. If I was whomever is in charge of Iran at the moment, I’d be looking at properties in the Cayman Islands.
10. The legacy media still has more power than most conservatives are willing to acknowledge.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
The US midterm results are very concerning for Taiwan.
The problem isn’t that Democrats won, it’s which Democrats were on the ballot and are now heading to Congress. The DSA is no friend of Taiwan, nor is it a friend of the American people.
Losing staunch Taiwan supporters like Thom Tillis and Susan Collins in the Senate is another major setback.
Luc Van Braekel retweeted
Esta noche los demócratas han ganado las dos cámaras del Congreso. Texas eligió a un senador demócrata por primera vez desde 1988, Kansas por primera vez desde 1932 y Carolina del Sur desde 1998.
Creo en impuestos bajos, en menos regulación, en un presupuesto balanceado y en un Estado que deje trabajar a quien crea riqueza. Pero desde mi punto de vista de una derecha libertaria, Trump cometió grandes errores en sus dos primeros años que llevaron a este resultado.
El primer error fue gobernar la economía como un intervencionista. Un arancel es un impuesto que pagan los consumidores del propio país: según el Yale Budget Lab, los de Trump cuestan 1.077 dólares al año a cada hogar. Y en agosto abrió una guerra comercial con Canadá, su vecino más amistoso. El Gobierno se quedó con cerca del 10% de Intel después de que Trump pidiera la dimisión de su consejero delegado, y en enero propuso limitar al 10% el interés de las tarjetas de crédito, un control de precios que podría haber firmado Mamdani. Un presidente que decide qué empresas ganan, cuánto pueden cobrar y quién las dirige se parece más a un socialista que a Reagan.
El segundo error fue la guerra con Irán. Se puede defender que Irán no debe tener nunca un arma nuclear y que es sin duda junto a Norcorea uno de los dos peores regímenes del planeta, pero aun así ver lo que costó una guerra que desde que empezó en febrero la gasolina ha subido casi un 50% y el gasóleo dos tercios. El 62% de los votantes cree que empezar la guerra fue una mala decisión.
El tercer error fue anteponer la lealtad a la calidad de los candidatos. En Texas, Trump apoyó contra el senador John Cornyn a Ken Paxton, al que la Cámara de Texas, de mayoría republicana, había sometido a juicio político por soborno y corrupción. Paxton perdió esta noche contra James Talarico, un exprofesor de 37 años. En Carolina del Sur empujó a presentarse a Darline Graham, hermana del senador fallecido, que nunca había ocupado un cargo público y perdió contra una pediatra. Un partido que castiga a quien discrepa acaba con candidatos que solo saben obedecer, y esos candidatos pierden en noviembre.
El cuarto error fue la corrupción. Según su declaración de bienes, Trump ingresó en 2025 más de 1.400 millones de dólares por los negocios de criptomonedas de su familia, y en enero el Wall Street Journal reveló que la familia había vendido en secreto el 49% de una de esas empresas a una sociedad respaldada por el consejero de seguridad nacional de los Emiratos. La derecha pasó años denunciando los negocios de Hunter Biden. Los de la familia Trump son mucho mayores.
Los votantes lo vieron. En la encuesta de octubre de Fox News, la corrupción era su primera preocupación, por delante de la inflación, y según NBC el 65% cree que las políticas de Trump empeoraron la economía. Ganó en 2024 prometiendo bajar los precios. Los subió.
Muchos republicanos dirán que el partido del presidente casi siempre pierde escaños a mitad de mandato. Es verdad. Perder escaños es normal. Perder Texas, Kansas y Carolina del Sur, no. El precedente más parecido es 2006, cuando George W. Bush, con otra guerra impopular en Oriente Medio, perdió las dos cámaras. Trump llega con un 38% de aprobación, menos que Bush entonces.
¿Alguien cree que Kansas, que no elegía a un senador demócrata desde 1932, se volvió socialista en una noche? Ganaron un pastor metodista, un exprofesor, una pediatra y un demócrata obrero de toda la vida. Ninguno es de la extrema izquierda. Hablaron de precios y de corrupción, y los votaron independientes y republicanos cansados de Trump.
Dicho esto, hay demócratas y demócratas. Josh Shapiro, reelegido esta noche gobernador de Pensilvania, es el ejemplo de los razonables: prometió bajar el impuesto de sociedades, agilizó los permisos a las empresas y criticó con dureza a la Universidad de Pensilvania por el antisemitismo en el campus. No está solo. Crece una corriente de demócratas pro empresa que culpan a la propia izquierda de que ya no se construyan viviendas ni centrales. Con demócratas así se puede discrepar y aun así gobernar un país.
El peligro está en otra parte: en los Socialistas Democráticos de América, DSA, el ala socialista del Partido Demócrata. Esta noche al menos cinco candidatos de DSA ganaron escaños en la Cámara, más que nunca. Su odio a Israel va mucho más allá de Gaza: su sección de Nueva York convocó una manifestación en Times Square el 8 de octubre de 2023, un día después de la masacre de Hamás, y Mamdani se negó a condenar el lema «globalizar la intifada». Eso es antisemitismo, con o sin Gaza. Son pocos, pero el Tea Party también empezó en 2010 con unos insurgentes en distritos seguros, y seis años después el candidato republicano era Trump.
Donde DSA ya gobierna se ven los resultados. Zohran Mamdani, de DSA, es alcalde de Nueva York desde enero, y en junio su junta congeló el alquiler de un millón de pisos regulados. Un piso cuyo alquiler no paga sus reparaciones se queda cerrado: los pisos regulados vacíos ya habían pasado de 49.000 a más de 57.000 en un año. Congelar precios destruye la oferta y liberarlos la crea. DSA quiere extender ese modelo a todo el país, y por eso me preocupa mucho más que Shapiro.
Esta mayoría demócrata puede incluso ser útil, porque Trump tendrá que negociar cada presupuesto. Lo que importa es quién manda dentro del Partido Demócrata. Si en 2028 eligen a alguien como Shapiro, Estados Unidos tendrá dos partidos que creen en la empresa privada. Si eligen a alguien como Mamdani, tendrá uno solo.
A los republicanos les toca bajar los precios, comerciar con sus aliados y elegir candidatos capaces de ganar en noviembre además de en las primarias. Esta derrota se la buscó Trump.
