Tal Kopan at Politico explains:

Billionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins apologized for using the word “Kristallnacht” in a letter to the editor, comparing persecution of the wealthiest Americans to Nazi Germany, but he defended the analogy in saying the 1 percent is “threatened.”

First of all, here's a point that should be so basic that it doesn't need saying: You can't apologize for a statement and then defend that statement at the exact same time. That makes your apology meaningless.

Secondly, how the fuck can a billionaire make this comparison at a time when the wealthy in America are wealthier than they've ever been? Josh Marshall wrote a great explanation for Talking Points Memo:

There's a slice of the population, whether it's the top 1% or .01% or whatever, that doesn't just have more stuff and money. The sheer scale of the difference means they live what is simply a qualitatively different kind of existence. That gulf creates estrangement and alienation, and one of a particular sort in a democracy where such a minuscule sliver of the population can't hope to protect itself alone at the ballot box.

Let's call this socioeconomic acrophobia.

See? The poor dear is just afraid and confused, is all. He's a fearful, alienated, terrified, 81 year-old white man. Show a little sympathy.