Billionaires are powerful. Peter Thiel isn’t the richest billionaire in the world, but he is an American billionaire who runs the most important intelligence firm in the world, Palantir.

Thiel’s gay, a protestant, and appears to have gone stark raving mad. You’ve probably heard about his Antichrist lectures. A simple summary is:

Thiel has previously written and lectured on the subject, arguing that the Antichrist is not necessarily a person but could come as a global government system. It would take control, he has argued, by exploiting people’s fears around artificial intelligence, climate change or nuclear war.

Exploiting fears? Like the insane 72% of Americans who thought Iraq was involved in 9/11? The massive scare campaign around Iran?

No–actual legitimate issues. Climate change is real, nuclear war is possible and the very founders of AI constantly publicly worry about AI ending humanity. (Well perhaps the AI bit is bullshit.)

Now it’s possible that Thiel is just running an op–that he doesn’t believe any of this and is simply trying to whip up religious folks, especially Evangelicals (a religion that is reversal of much of what Jesus preached) against policies he hates. Being kind, perhaps he genuinely thinks that the world is in danger of world government and it will be achieved thru fear.

But I think it’s more likely he’s had a religious psychotic break, confusing his own desires and prejudices with religious teachings.

And the generous reading fades the more one knows:

He describes the ICC as part of the emerging ideological architecture of the Antichrist, likening language on the ICC’s website to the antichristic talk of peace and safety in 1 Thessalonians. Thiel notes that the ICC’s arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have limited where they can travel.

The ICC warrant meant Netanyahu couldn’t visit Poland on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp; though Poland’s president said he wouldn’t enforce it, Poland’s authority to defy the ICC wasn’t clear, and so the Israeli PM didn’t come.

Hungary, who belong to the ICC have allowed Netanyahu to travel to their country, with zero consequences, so this is false.

But the bigger point is that he’s weaponizing the Bible to say that doing good is bad. Netanyahu has lead a genocide, there isn’t a single human rights org in the world that I know of that has concluded anything else and anyone who two brain cells to rub together knows it is true, because it’s been livestreamed and Israeli politicians are very clear that they want to get rid of all Palestinians, and a super-majority of Israelis agree.

Thiel’s been very dedicated to this message. He repeats it over and over again.

And what he’s saying is batshit insane. He’s either gone crazy or is acting crazy and to some extent it doesn’t matter which.

But because he’s a billionaire, and an important one (the US Vice President is his creature, plus he’s shown a vicious willingness to use his power to destroy his enemies), no one has pointed that what he’s saying is crazy.

Being good at making money doesn’t mean you’re smart or wise about anything else. We hang on the words of billionaires as if they’re pearls of wisdom, but the more billionaires we have minted, the worse the economy has become for a super-majority of the population.

If you want a Bible quote, here’s one for you: “by their fruits you shall judge them.”

By the fruits of Western billionaires, they’re terrible people and any advice they give, whether they’re having a break with reality or not, are meant to benefit them and their class, and not anyone else.

Google made search worse to juice profits. Facebook knew scammers were on their site, knew who many of them were, and did nothing, because they were making money off them. We now have online gambling and prediction markets which make casinos look like a good deal. Enshitification is word, and a thing, and it’s driven by billionaires caring only about themselves and their profits.

Anyone who listens to them without running what they say through “this person only cares about themselves” is a fool.

But Thiel’s gone a step further. The Antichrist?

Come on.

This worship of wealth as meaning someone is wise and smart is foolish. Most of them are only good at making money and buying political power. But beyond that foolishness, a sane society would look at Thiel’s Antichrist claims and laugh him out of the public sphere as a lunatic. That we don’t shows how far our societies have fallen into “The Emperor’s New Clothes” territory.

Until we purge the entire oligarchic class in the West, we will never have widespread prosperity or an information commons which is useful. It’s that simple. In the meantime, can we at least not pretend that religious mania is worth listening to?

What I write here is for the benefit of everyone, but alas, I live in capitalism and I, and the site, take money to keep running. If you value the writing here and can, please subscribe or donate.