CLUB RECAP: Peter Thiel, The Billionaire Behind the Curtain

UNASBers work to understand billionaire Peter Thiel who bankrolls right-wing media and pushes a creepy, self-serving vision of the future that aims to benefit only himself and his ultra-rich buddies

Welcome back to Unfortunately Not a Sound Bath (UNASB)! For those who are new to us, we’re a group of people across the country who regularly come together to listen to conservative-leaning podcasts, analyze their messaging and themes, and brainstorm actionable ideas for how the Democratic coalition can strengthen its own approach. This newsletter serves as a recap of our meetings.

Taking a detour from our more ‘mainstream’ right-wing shows, last week, we listened to an hour-long NYT interview to learn more about the man behind the curtain, Peter Thiel. If you don’t already know, Peter Thiel is a billionaire, founder of PayPal and Palantir, infamous destroyer of the online publication Gawker, an early donor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign starting in 2016, and most importantly, one of the biggest investors in right wing podcasts and media right now. 

From start to finish, the interview was a pretty wild ride, including his claim that Greta Thunberg could be the anti-christ. But the main focal point, and driver of his investments, is his belief that since the 70s, we’ve lived in technological stagnation (I should also mention that hippies seemingly scare him). While I’m not here to point out why I think he is ignoring some pretty major innovations – ya know, the internet, artificial intelligence, and I don’t know one of the most important medicinal breakthroughs of, well ever, GLP-1s. But what he truly believes is that Trump is his best bet to ending stagnation through de-regulation, and that is why he has funded right-wing politics and media, particularly on content focused on reaching young people. 

Kind of like a MAGA Wizard of Oz (sorry Jeff Goldblum), Peter Thiel is the man behind the curtain. This begs the question, sir, why are you hiding? Because, well, it serves him to remain in the background. Generally, the more someone gets to know Peter Thiel, the more they start to kind of hate him. He has the opposite of mass appeal, he has a niche following of investors who’ve profited from his ventures, members of the red pill community who see themselves in him, and Gen-Z conservatives who idolize billionaire “dropout” myths. 

Billionaires like Peter Thiel should be at the forefront when we talk about villains in our society (certainly not each other) and in this way they offer us as progressives an opportunity. The goal of UNASB listening to this interview, and learning about Thiel, is to empower our members and folks reading this, to really understand who he is, someone who wants to focus on bettering the life of Peter Thiel and Peter Thiel only. Don’t let his intellectual simlish fool you, he is all performance and no logic. Here are some messaging we can use when talking about him with others.

Out-of-touch Technocrat 

Billionaires like Peter Thiel have no interest in helping real people here on earth, they will drain everything they can out of it before plotting their escape to another planet. He uses Christianity to frame his desire for technological advancement as if it's really to better humanity, when it’s really just about his getting more money, more power, and more control.

Peter Thiel puts his own short-term, self interest before anything else. He’s focused on conquering Mars so he can create a Libertarian paradise with his bestie, Elon Musk, and cryogenics because of his deep, personal fear of aging. During the interview, he paused for nearly 20 seconds when asked if the human race should survive, further proof that Thiel is completely out-of-touch with the issues that Americans are actually facing. We don’t need a new planet to live on or a bio-hacked body, we need good paying jobs and access to health care here on earth. 

The Creep State

Thiel’s a creep, Thiel’s a weirdo. He’s proposing Chinese government level surveillance of the American people while claiming to hate communism and/or a centralized government. His vision for an innovative future feels a lot less like progress and more like an episode of Black Mirror – creepy, dystopian, and designed to make people easier to control. 

Peter Thiel doesn’t come off as a visionary at all in these moments, he seems hyper-paranoid, unrelatable, and in all seriousness, like he should be wearing a tinfoil hat. It’s giving Disney villain in the worst way. 

Expose the Fraud 

Peter Thiel loves a government handout. He’s made billions of dollars off of the current administration, while he rails against the federal government and its workers. He constantly complains about stagnation while he continues to support an administration that is actively defunding scientific research, while pushing to roll back environmental protections, regulation, safety, and labor protections for workers. 

He tries to sound profound when asking questions like ‘is your life better than your parents’... when we know Peter Thiel is a rich guy who had a rich dad (although, not as rich as he is now) who has benefited tremendously from the structure of our current society. It’s a way for him to sound ‘cool and contrarian’ while completely side stepping accountability when it comes to wealth distribution and inequities in this country. 

The 2025 Version of an “Oil Baron” 

The left needs to find our version of an “oil baron” for billionaires like Peter Thiel and stick with it – and then say it over and over again. Tech baron, data lord, silicon overlord, absolute freak, take your pick. We need to shout it from the rooftops to have the term create a picture in people's mind and generate an association to the phrase. Repetition is our friend. 

Emphasize the Hypocrisy

If you haven’t gotten this from what’s been covered so far, Peter Thiel is pretty much a walking contradiction. He has some out-there views and his conservatism is often at-odds with his radical, almost science fiction-esque ideas. On one hand, he champions his businesses and investments with a complete lack of concern for morality and/or the broader impact on our environment and society. But then he conveniently slips into cosplaying a good Christian, when it’s convenient and fits into his ideological narrative. 

He also openly embraces transhumanism, literally enhancing or even redesigning the human body with technology to overcome aging, yet he doesn’t give the same respect to transgender people when it comes to bodily autonomy. In the end, Peter Thiel’s contradictions reveal what he really cares about, whatever happens to benefit him the most.

Peter Thiel is an out-of-touch, ultra-rich guy obsessed with power and control, to the point of paranoia. He is a part of a small group of technocratic oligarchs hell bent on replacing humans with robots and draining earth's resources before running off to mars to live forever. 

The progress Peter Thiel focuses on is completely short-term and only benefits his pockets and others at the very top. When we talk about him and billionaires like him, we need to tell the American people who they really are, and instead offer an optimistic future that can actually make life better for real people, like access to healthcare, affordable rent, and cheaper groceries (not putting people’s brains on cyberborgs or whatever).