Depending on who you are, you may find it hilarious, fascinating, insufferable, or horrifying that one of the world’s most powerful men is obsessing over a figure from sermons and horror movies. But the ideas and influences behind these talks are key to understanding how Thiel sees his own massive role in the world—in politics, technology, and the fate of the species. And to really grasp Thiel’s katechon-and-Antichrist schtick, you need to go back to the first major lecture of his doomsday road show—which took place on an unusually hot day in Paris in 2023. No video cameras recorded the event, and no reporters wrote about it, but I’ve been able to reconstruct it by talking to people who were there.
This is one of the most interesting articles I’ve read in a while. If I can summarize:
Peter Thiel (through his company Palantir and his protégé, JD Vance) is actively working to construct a police state centered on scapegoating marginalized people in order to reinforce American cultural unity in order to stave off the end of the world. This is based heavily on the ideas of a Nazi philosopher, Carl Schmitt, who misinterpreted and misapplied the thinking of a French-American philosopher, René Girard, who said scapegoating has become less and less effective in producing cultural unity since the time of Jesus (who personified the scapegoat and revealed its immorality). Schmitt later admitted he had backed the wrong horse (Hitler), and his actions had brought the world closer to a one-world government, which all agree is what will enable the Antichrist to bring about Armageddon.
Thus, my interpretation, the natural conclusion is that Vance is scapegoating immigrants, trans people, etc. in some deranged plan to prevent the end of the world.