Epidemic of Paranoid Billionaires I Robert Wright and Paul Bloom I Nonzero

you've seen these articles in the New York Times KLA Harris outraising Trump and they say she's up ahead by like 200 million or something Elon Musk alone is reportedly going to give Trump 180 million now not Trump per se but the super pack so okay so now back to uh current events which we haven't uh been to yet but we're going there so Bob do you think that if um if if camela is elected uh she will shut down nonzero podcast throw you in prison you have been a dissenting voice over the Middle East over Ukraine Elon Musk thinks she will put him in prison I know that was seriously like somebody tweeted that she would throw him in jail her first day in office and he quote tweeted and said yep why you and you know I mean we actually wrote about this a little in the latest issue nonzero newsletter um about the touched on the number of billionaires who seem crazy I mean uh there's him there's uh Bill Amman yeah who having finally let go of the multiple shooter theory of the Trump assassination uh attempt uh has now moved on to oh what was it was uh I'll TR it down stolen debate questions oh yeah an actual you know explicit conspiracy between ABC and the Harris team like contriving to fix the debate and look there may be all kinds of biases and all kinds of implicit even coordination but ABC is smart enough not to actually do formal communication I mean yeah he he's and then Peter teal I heard do uh this thing on Joe Rogan about he's got this theory about why about how Jeffrey Epstein advised Bill Gates to start the Gates Foundation so that he could keep Melinda his wife quiet and not give her half of his assets in the event of divor it's just no evidence these people and the reason it concerns me is because of the amount of uh Power these guys have now yeah I mean thanks to the citizens united ruling largely but you know you've seen these articles in the New York Times KLA Harris outraising Trump and they say she's up ahead by like 200 million or something Elon Musk alone is reportedly going to give Trump 180 million now not Trump per se uh but the super pack so these are technically different issues New York Times thing is about campaign contributions per se Elon is going to give 180 million reportedly to uh trump super packs but he could you know though obviously and there are these laws about well you can't coordinate between a super p and the canidate yeah and ABC News can't be biased in the debate but of course uh in the real world these things happen and there's I don't think there's any limit on what I mean seriously we got a guy who is so crazy he seems to think he'll be arrested the first day if she wins so he's kind of motivated to keep her from winning and our laws allow him to spend more than the total amount being spent by commus campaign plus super packs on Trump and he can do that without losing a night's sleep okay and that's where we are I'm not I mean if I sound agitated it's not a joke we are headed toward an oligarchy and these [ __ ] are crazy that's the worst part I could deal with like if I were the oligarch an enlightened oligarch fine what's not to like about that Paul you'd be a good oligarch I would you respect re but do they ask me to be the no I know no I think the thing about oligarchs is you can't just wait to be asked I think your way up to the top I mean what I'm saying is why doesn't some billionaire say to me Bob you'd be a great oligarch have all my money because they're not enlightened that's why because they're not qualified to be ol it all ties together yeah um so okay your brand you're many Brands but your one of your Brands is cognitive empathy getting in the heads of people and figuring out what they really believe and what they want you argue that this is essential for dealing with them dealing with your friends dealing with your enemies so let me try this out with regard to Elon Musk exercising my own cognitive empathy I do not think he honestly believes that he will be thrown into prison and have X destroyed if kamla Harris becomes president I think that if the election an election is coming and it looks like she's going to win he is not going to find himself some Island and some to escape from the clutches of the US legal system in fact imagine that if kamla Harris becomes president he will then direct

a lot of his money to ingratiating himself with her and so on I don't I think that this is very performative it is equivalent it is equivalent of trump of Trump's many pronouncements saying you know if I lose we are all going to go to the gulags if I lose Israel has two years before its Ultimate Destruction it's performative I think it's about 40% performing he's a troll and so on but I think he does believe that uh you know he's just bad at handling evidence it's like uh and I think he's a little paranoid and there is some reason to yeah look of course they don't like you Elon you're giving $180 million opponent you're right about that is there a danger that um you will get fewer contracts from the Pentagon and Harris Administration you better [ __ ] believe it and that's why if I were you I would just kind of shut my mouth during the election but it's up to you uh but um you know but I do think he he thinks it'll go much further than that if you remember one of his first crazy tweets years ago during the tie when those kids were trapped in the Tha the cave in Thailand and some guy who was like helping out there uh Heap disrespect on the submarine Elon was going to put together to save the day and Elon called him a pedophile or however it's pronounced and if you looked in the comments it like he was defend he wasn't kidding and there's you know he really defended he you can tell you know he's saying you can tell he doesn't look like a pedo to you and there was no evid it was a crazy projection to make and uh you know he's kind of deranged