He can say and do and present himself as this and that all he likes and everyone will run around hanging off his every word defending this and impugning that. He has money.
He has also not been hesitant to use his money to shut down Gawker by bankrolling Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit. When it became public which claims would make Gawker’s insurance pay for the defense and damages, they specifically dropped those claims so that Gawker would be responsible for the damages themselves.
Money is just one form of power, not the most powerful.
Putin for example has way more power than any wealthy Russian oligarch. They have money but they will do anything to avoid getting on Putin's bad side.
>> Money is power.
> Money is just one form of power, not the most powerful.
I've over thought this one a lot and happened on an anthropology book that confirmed my position:
Power is the ability to influence or induce action. Money is a medium of exchange which acts as a mechanism to induce economic activity. Entertainment companies, media companies, and even social media influencers have the ability to manipulate perception which may induce action. Money is an odd beast in the landscape of power because it grants access to "API's" of power. Lobbying, media buys, hiring employees, and even purchasing portions of the economy(i.e. businesses). My point, and where I agree with you, is that money, in and of itself, is not power... it is a medium through which one can express power.
This is an article from the NYT before they knew it was financed by Thiel: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/business/dealbook/gawker-...