The affair itself is not the problem. The problem is if his wife doesn't like it, that secret is worth billions of dollars to keep. What would Jensen do to keep it secret?

Well, when the NY Times floated the first blackmail attempt, he obviously didn't play ball, so I guess we already know the answer?

unless he's absolutely open with his partner and other people in his life, doesn't care or even wants them to know, this provides leverage that can influence his actions. It's almost like you're the one pretending to be out of touch to make a your point...

Yeah, 50 years ago this was a big deal; nowadays... meh. There are tons of people who have survived this and even worse. The public has become inured to infidelity, but so have the media and the various industry gatekeepers (it’s not bad enough to get someone blacklisted or made persona non grata). Except Epstein... those involved with him probably won’t recover. So there are lines that cannot be crossed, but cheating is not one of them. Hell, even beloved Patrick Stewart cheated on both of his first two wives, admitted it in his memoir, and no one cared.

Maybe I’m old but it doesn’t seem that long ago that Clinton got impeached for infidelity.

He got impeached over Perjury and Obstruction of Justice. For the coverup (a crime), not "the crime" (not a crime).

> Clinton got impeached for infidelity.

This is just blatantly false.

He wasn't impeached for infidelity, he was impeached for lying under oath and obstruction of justice[0].

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton

This is completely false and there are numerous public examples to pull from. If anything, it is worse now than it was in the past with how the mob can dogpile.

Case and point, caught at a coldplay? cheating? Both fired? Lives destroyed?

As for the actor, really? Totally dif industries and people do care. Execs make a company look bad and when actors do too, cheating or not, they also get smacked.

You may not care but most people do and if a tiny spark hits Patrick, his legacy will be destroyed. There are many actors that the public is well aware of how gross they are and are hated for it regardless of ability.

Patrick cheated twice and it amounted to a footnote in his obituary. no one cared.

> Except Epstein... those involved with him probably won’t recover.

What? Nobody involved with Epstein has gone to prison yet. One of them was even re-elected president. If I had to list the terrible things you could do when you're rich and not face consequences, trafficking and raping children would sadly be high up on the list.

reputational harm. You think Larry Summer's career will recover?

Cheating per se is not a problem other than showing a concerning lack of judgement. A strong desire to keep an affair secret is more dangerous.

Also imagine an intelligence agency is designing cover for someone to seduce YOU.

It is not just having an affair with some random person and using poor judgement. It is a person what was crafted with you as a target. The whole thing is weaponized.

I have never cheated in a relationship and it is not something I would ever consider. It is easy to say this though knowing I am not going to be the target of an intelligence agency honey pot.

I wouldn't expect his wife to excuse the infidelity just because the mistress was intentionally trying to seduce him. As an Nvidia investor, I don't excuse him for lying about it and opening himself up to blackmail even though I can understand how it came about.

> A strong desire to keep an affair secret is more dangerous.

I'm no expert on having affairs, but isn't secrecy key to the whole thing? At least secrecy from the spouse.

If you have no strong desire for secrecy, then is it even an affair at that point? Either the spouse tacitly supports the extramarital fornication, or the relationship is already in tatters.

I am not a puritan, so that's not the angle of concern for me at all.

I believe the actual larger concern here is "in case Jensen didn't want this to become public (whether it was due to the divorce potential or whatever other reason; that's not relevant), what lengths would he be willing to go to keep it under wraps?".

If it gets confirmed that Jensen simply had an affair (without a "shared/did things he wasn't supposed to share/do" component), then it is a nothingburger (for anyone except him and his family). But until we have that confirmed, the US government is concerned about what critical info he might have shared/done to avoid being blackmailed by an agent acting on behalf of PRC.

Bedding an adversarial entity's agent in a regulated field is a serious matter (for the company) with potentially serious consequences. It can lead to executive decapitation, it can even lead to / criminal investigations if the operative bypassed export controls using executive proximity.. the fallout can be great and widespread. It can also be a nothingburger and an amusing page six divorce story in the end where we all read how rich cry as well. Time will tell. What's telling of where this might lead and how serious it is, is that it was US federal government that warned about this.

This could be seen as lack of integrity, which is a problem

He lied about it to Bloomberg as a representative of Nvidia, so it goes beyond his personal life.