Is the opening sentence supposed to imply that Thiel (and Elon) are no longer outliers?
I thought 99% of the SV elite were still donating vast sums of money to the other party. Since, all of a sudden, everyone is concerned with billionaires why the obsession with Elon? It’s OK when big money donates to one side but not the other?
Of course when they talk about this in public fora, many people outside their cohort[0] will react negatively to them.
[0]: glibly, outside their bubble.
For those not familiar with American politics, virtually all large money donors donate to both sides to varying degrees. This is primarily to get both your favored candidate in the race and remove tough matchups from the opposing side via the primary process. The real difference is who you choose to vocally support.
Yes. People are reasonably permitted to form opinions based on causes that people fund.
I think it is bad when people pump money into a cause, campaign, or other endeavour that I think is harmful, and think people can reasonably be criticised for doing so. Funding the opposition isn’t something I think is bad; you are free to feel differently.
I don’t like the idea that we are somehow obligated to be neutral in all things. Trump is awful, any person contributing to his campaign deserves to be criticised, and that’s totally okay.
Elon is notorious for chasing the limelight and keeping it on him personally more so than the product. Most billionaires are content with doing this type of stuff fairly quietly, hence they attract less attention.
If you do shit for attention all the time you're probably going to get more of it, but it won't necessarily be flattering or directed in the way you want.