This is one of those posts I don't want to write, but now I have to write it. I don't want to write it because I don't want to give anyone any ideas. But there's no avoiding it now.

First, it looks like Zuck is going to run for president. He's already started to campaign. A force because he owns the communication system so many of us depend on.

If you were a Republican money-person would you think, holy shit, I can't buy Facebook, Zuck made sure of that. He owns all the voting shares. So there's no way to do a hostile takeover, even if the price weren't ridiculously prohibitive.

But there is an even more interesting social network whose stock is in the tank, and is wobbling all over the place, and also happens to be the favorite communication tool of the Republican president-elect. Its market cap is $12.39B.

I've asked about this privately among friends who are investment bankers, and they all quote from TWTR's balance sheet. They don't see the upside of Twitter owned as a political tool, as a lever by which to influence, or to compete to run/own the US govt.

And own is the right word. If Trump gets in without divesting, then an election in the future will be more like a corporate merger. The guy who runs the US has no conflict of interest, and can keep his or her investments, they just have to steer clear of emoluments and they're constitutional. I bet Zuck and Bezos have lawyers looking into this. Also Bill Gates, Steve Case, Meg Whitman and Eric Schmidt.

Anyway, all this means the the political landscape in the US has been re-factored and owning a social net will be a big advantage going forward. TWTR is up for grabs even if the balance-sheet analysis says they're a bad deal. Sorry I wish this were not so.