How Dangerous is Peter Thiel?

Naomi Klein (0:00)

Though he may have identified as a libertarian, he'd already founded Palantir, which was founded with seed money from the CIA and is really a creature of the state. So I don't know how seriously to take a libertarian who is working to build a surveillance state.

John Johnston (0:16)

Peter Thiel probably really dislikes her. He might call her the Antichrist next.

Astra Taylor (0:21)

Peter Thiel says that the Antichrist is coming and that it will be someone like Greta Thunberg who wants to address climate change, somebody who wants to rein in the dangers of AI, and someone who wants to uphold international law.

Naomi Klein (0:33)

I think it was 2009 where he gave a speech saying he no longer believed in democracy, and he blamed women and black people essentially.

Peter Thiel (0:40)

They overcorrected for the mistake of the first term with all these loyalty tests. You got an administration staffed by not very smart, but very loyal people.

Naomi Klein (0:52)

The bunkers are a bit of a hedge if the rest of it doesn't work out.

John Johnston (0:55)

Hi everyone, JJ here. Welcome back to The Lounge. Well, Peter Thiel, how dangerous is he? Is he even more dangerous than Elon Musk? If you think that Elon is, and I do, and I know a lot of people watching my pod do.

Well, Peter Thiel is quieter on the down low, but he is probably know the backer of JD Vans.

We will hear from Peter Thiel about what he's thinking lately. He's just given an interview. He's talking about democracy and politics in the US. Now, he's very influential as one of these brilliant guys up there with Elon really. He is a multi-billionaire and also a New Zealand citizen, a fellow New Zealand citizen which he bought a few years ago.

But let's get into it. We're going to hear from Peter Thiel and from others. Naomi Klein has a new book out which talks about Peter Thiel quite a lot. But in this clip here, Peter Thiel reveals there's a global trend against democracy right now.

Wink, wink, nod, nod. Is he for that? I've noticed in this interview, he's backing away from some of the previous things he said. He's really responsible for JD Vance's rise. Gil Durand has detailed that in his new book, The Nerd Rike. And so he seems to be backing away. Is it a bit of a ruse though? Can he see the rising on the war? I mean, the midterm elections are coming up. That might have something to do with it. He can see the polls. He can see how unpopular Trump has become. So maybe he's shifting his stance here. So he may sound like he's for democracy here. He is asked about it. And then he explains in a pseudo philosophical way, you know, he's made out to be some great philosopher, but I don't think he is kind of fake. Again, his philosopher kind of protege, Curtis Yavin, has been freaking out a bit. And Peter Thiel has bought this place in Argentina. I mean, fleeing to Argentina if things co-pair shaped. I think that was the idea behind buying land in New Zealand. You know, these escape bunkers, these apocalypse bunkers, which is really, maybe if the pitchforks come out though, they want to escape to these places. He's just bought another place in Los Angeles, I see, as well, we've got a news item that popped up, I guess, algorithmically to show me that from a right-leaning publication, buying this massive mansion in Los Angeles. And so, you know, they're complaining about the tax in California, these brologaques in New York and in California especially, but they're still buying somewhere there. Probably not gonna live in it, but it's a very expensive place not to live in. I mean, it's interesting that they're crying about, you know, a few percent tax, more tax that they might have to pay in California, but still want to live there, still buying these expensive places. Anyway, I digress. Let's listen to what Peter Thiel says here about democracy.

Peter Thiel (3:47)

Sure, but look, I'm not a Hegelian, so we can always say there's a way where history seems to be going, there's a certain trend, and then it's not morally good. In Hegel, whatever happens, happens for the best.

And so yeah, I think there is a trend against democracy. There's a trend where these things are in some trouble. And what went wrong in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, it was two anti-democratic parties, it was the Nazis and the Communists. In the 1932 election, those two parties got over 50 percent of the vote. And once over 50 percent of the people vote for parties that want to get rid of the democracy, it's almost too late, you're really in trouble.