[mindslight]

Maybe I've unfairly judged him. Last I remember seeing was some pearl clutching about how Trump/Musk needed to "be careful" with what DOGE cut or something. I took that assumption of good faith as an indication of being in the reality distortion field, like too many other VCs are.

[watwut]

That would be "enlightened centrists". You know having that thing where you do not condone apparent nonsense, but you will really really go far out of your way to sane wash and give absurd benefits of the doubt - but only to "the side you totally are not supporting no".

The opponents of "the side you totally are not supporting no" wont get any benefits of doubt, will have words super scrutinized and instead sanewashed will be exaggerated.

[antonvs]

Money makes them vulnerable.

They didn’t get to where they are without playing a conformance game. That limits the degree to which they can object to anything.

[wat10000]

Money should make them less vulnerable. They can lose their job, be blacklisted, whatever, and still be fine. Not like the ordinary person where this would mean homelessness.

If they’re vulnerable, it’s the psychological need to keep adding to their pile of money that does it.

[antonvs]

That’s not quite right. An administration like Trump’s can destroy people and companies if they really want to, and that’s the threat they’re using to get their way. Openly defying that is taking a big risk - for the targets, it’s not about “adding to their pile of money”, it’s about not losing much of what they have.

Keep in mind that “money” is not some sort of concrete thing like a pile of gold - it’s dependent on factors like the value of companies. The wealthier someone in the US is, the more their wealth depends on their ultimate cooperation with the prevailing powers.

[wat10000]

They could lose 90% of what they have and still be comfortable for the rest of their life.

And the only reason their money depends on factors like the value of companies is because they want to add to the pile. It could literally be a pile of gold if they wanted it to be, that's just not the best way to make it grow. More realistically, it could be invested in index funds or something similar that the administration can't selectively destroy.

Worst case the government finds a way to confiscate everything, or imprison/kill them, in which case they're exactly as vulnerable as a normal person.