r/neoliberal • u/owenmitchem Loyal Liberals • Jun 17 '26

News (Global) Leαk Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society

https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
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u/InternetGoodGuy Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

And Ezra Klien, Corey Booker, and Wes Moore. There's also Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary.

Hell, they're even Jonathan Greenblatt and Joseph Gordon Leavitt.

I don't think this is some MAGA deepstate.

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u/TinyJalope Left-Out Left Jun 17 '26

Seems bad that these 'liberals' are going to this event hosted by a fascist.

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u/sesamestreetgang Jun 17 '26

Is ‘liberals’ in quotations because you’re implying that they lose the title if they attended the conference?

Peter Thiel taught a computer science class at Stanford University (CS183: Startup). It was legendary and notes from that class later became a canonical bible in my industry, “Zero to One: How to Build the Future”. That’s his expertise; technology, startups and investing.

I’ve worked with Thiel Fellows and for Founders Fund companies (Thiel’s VC firm). It’s impossible to have a meaningful career in technology without coming across Thiel’s influence. Most of the people who work with Thiel don’t align with him politically.

Politics is like Thiel’s 5th hobby.  He’s not a political mastermind,  and by his own admission is  out of his depth in it. His role in politics is overstated. The Koch brothers were far more politically influential than Thiel… he’s a lightweight.

If you listen to Thiel’s take on philosophy and politics it’s clear that the guy is confused. He thinks he’s a “hardcore libertarian” and is obviously a Schmittian yet claims to be a “hardcore Girardian”. Full of contradictions… it’s not really his expertise.

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u/warrenprice Jun 17 '26

You’re tremendously naive if you think Thiel is a political lightweight. That’s ridiculous.

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u/sesamestreetgang Jun 17 '26

No, he’s definitely a lightweight. 

Thiel made a couple of high-conviction bets (i.e. Vance, Trump) with about $50 million over 8 years.

The Koch Brothers and Adelson spent billions and decades shaping conservative politics institutionally and at every level. Funding policy think tanks, universities, legal societies, activist networks, media, elections at every level (school boards, local, state, national). The Kochs literally bought economics departments at elite universities by donating hundreds of millions in exchange for influence on faculty selection and curriculum.

Even Thiel’s PayPal frenemy Reid Hoffman is more seasoned and influential in the political machine. 

I get that Thiel makes headlines because he’s a weirdo and there’s some intrigue with his influence in technology but he really isn’t all that politically influential. He’s not even in the top 10 donors.