"I cannot fathom how Sam Altman thought that it would be a good idea to be a source for this article, let alone provide the specific quotes that he did. How does YC benefit from this?"
@tptacek follow the money. The key to understanding this [0] is the YC relationship with Thiel. It has long been my opinion that Thiel is a protected species with YC. It was obvious almost 100 days ago on ^Political Detox^ day. (message to HN, 'don't make waves for us when Thiel is meeting president) [1] A key test: Positive political stories like this one are supported, negative ones flagged.
Reference
[0] "Y Combinator has no problem with partner Peter Thiel funding Donald Trump" https://qz.com/810778/y-combinator-has-no-problem-with-partn...
[1] "Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13108404