Amazing. Trump has stated that he wants to appoint supreme court justices who can reverse the legalization of gay marriage, and that he personally opposes it...
Even Nate Silver says Trump has about a 10% chance of winning. This could be as simple as Thiel expecting to get more than $12.5M worth of value out of the investment if that happens.
Kudos for putting the money where the mouth is but I think he is living in a capitalistic illusion or perhaps being stuck between devil and the high sea.
Thiel spent money on the Gawker suit. He receives nothing. Moreover, the plaintiffs have received nada yet and will probably receive nada after losing the appeal. Thiel will then be out a chunk of change but the Gawker flagship is out of business. Meanwhile Thiel is definitely out.
Stealthily bankrolling the Gawker suit seems like a pointless waste of money on his part. The Trump thing makes him look even more foolish.
And Bollea, who was the aggrieved party, is likely to receive nothing, either.
That whole affair left a dirty taste in my mouth. Denton and Gawker were textbook tabloid trash, but so many events pointed to Thiel being a puppet master pulling the strings (and Denton, however scummy, has a right to face his 'accuser'):
- after securing a win, withdrawing the cause that would have allowed Gawker's insurance to cover the damages (partially), thereby largely removing both Gawker and Denton's ability to pay damages, and;
- after Denton offered Bollea a share of Gawker, to be used so Bollea would get a share of the proceeds of the sale of Gawker (in light of the above), AND Bollea accepted this, a few words from Thiel-funded lawyers, and this, too, was withdrawn.
- Bollea settled with the person who actually leaked the tape to Gawker for FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. And instead got THIRTY THOUSAND TIMES that as an award from Gawker. Who wants to guess if his (or Thiel's, one and the same) lawyers didn't want a settlement?
But to pick just one pain point, I'm curious how he's going to square having a partner support the grab 'em in the pussy candidate with about a Crosby's worth of sexual assault victims and support for female founders.
I upvoted the story and then it got removed. Then I submitted it myself and it got flagged and killed despite getting many points. Then it was submitted again, made the front page, but just got removed from the front page... What's going on?
Guess Thiel is a single-issue voter?