I don't see any reference to beliefs or positions in the GP comment, nor replies to arguments. "Luxury columnist" is obviously being used as a dismissive label in this thread. If you toss in "Yale" as more or less a bad word, then the entire comment reduces to name-calling. This was not a borderline moderation call.

(Btw the guideline against calling names isn't limited to people in the community.)

The fact that it's considered a epithet is more revealing than anything else.

Him being an elite - someone who knows he's intrinsically superior to everyone else by virtue of selection - is 100% relevant to his opinions being flawed.

I'm not making some deep point here. All your points could be entirely correct and the GP comment was still obviously against the HN guidelines.