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Tales from the PayPal Mafia: Elon’s Hatchet Man & Thiel’s Test

Notes on the B.Y.U. alum running Musk’s family office and Thiel’s next moves. Plus, new details on how Reid Hoffman plans to kneecap the Berniecrats.

Elon Musk
Photo by Patrick Pleul via Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
April 26, 2022

Truth be told, incredible wealth doesn’t guarantee incredible power. Many billionaires, in fact, have no discernible impact on public life whatsoever. But when the world’s wealthiest man buys America’s most influential media platform? You betcha. The 0.001 percent are now personally capitalized for vanity projects far beyond mere yachts or sports franchises, such as taking control of a social network with the power to set the daily news agenda and inflame our most noxious cultural debates.