To be fair a lot of people who are smart and willing to be blunt are called assholes. A lot of smart people become assholes because a lot of people are dumb to them and make no effort to learn or research topics so they get frustrated from having to constantly argue with people who just regurgitate what they heard on tik too or their social circle or the TV. A lot of people don't even deeply think about things. Not research, just second or third order thinking, common sense, and logic. If you think differently than others, especially on topics that have a strong taboo and institutional consensus, you're inherently considered to be arrogant by many. Also, elitists are often very shitty because they're hyper conscious of social status so they'll often use people. Not many can handle power well even if it's just social status. They did a study (Robert Frank positional goods) and found that the wealthier someone is the more they care about social standing (which is one of the reasons why rich people like socialism). That being said I have heard he is an actual asshole who gets into screaming matches with people over options trading strategies at weddings. Like I said before, he was also terrible on covid. Lots of people fail litmus tests when it's actually time to fight for freedom.