For those who seek to be on the vanguard of fashion trends, Life in the Boomer Lane would advise you to start searching online for cute, comfy jackboots. One recent indication, among countless, is that Peter Thiel, multi-billionaire head of the parent company of Facebook, as well as couture-uniformed cheerleader of Donald Trump, will step down from that post in order to make sure that this latest apoplectic version of the GOP wins in the mid-terms.
Thiel is a savvy businessman. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for making our lives so much easier. He co-founded Paypal in 2005. He backed Airbnb. He founded a zillion dollar company to track down terrorists. And he correctly realized that Facebook, beloved by just about everyone, would be an adorable way to swing a hatchet at American democracy.
In 2014, back in the innocent days of checks and iPhone 6, Thiel said, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” He has written that multiculturalism in colleges was hurting education, always blaming the man for rape was wrong, and that women getting the vote was bad for democracy.
Thiel has said a lot more, some of which he apologized for. “I deeply regret the comments I made when I was an innocent, misguided human-in-training. I was distracted by amassing billions of dollars by using my extreme intelligence and savvy investing skills.” Loyal Readers may believe that the last quote was created by LBL and not Thiel. You are correct.
Thiel excused Trump’s litany of atrocities toward women because “He gets the big things right.” LBL heartily agrees that Trump is up to much bigger fish than the women he comes in contact with. What are a few dozen cases of rape, assault and general misogamy, compared to sedition, subverting a presidential election, and politicizing the Justice Department? Trump is Thiel’s Guy. “The big things he’s right about amount to a much-needed dose of humility in our politics.” LBL has read this last quote several times and can make no sense of it. If running the country like a mafia don, directing a landslide of wealth toward those who don’t need it and using an entire swath of the American population as his own personal army, all converge to create humility in politics, then Thiel’s Guy is, indeed, The Guy.
So, what can we expect from this person who is hostile to the idea of democracy and believes that the US, like all successful companies, should have one decision maker? So far, he is backing one candidate who is an employee of his. Another, author JD Vance, Hillbilly Elegy author-turned-millionaire, is an investor with him. He has backed Ted Cruz in the past. He’ll support anyone who in turn supports Trump’s agenda. He has the means to do pretty much whatever he wants.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Facebook without Thiel. On the surface, LBL suspects it will be pretty much the same. Beneath the surface is another matter entirely, as we are just starting to realize. And Thiel will be out there, letting the cute-as-hell Facebook puppy he brought home chew everything in sight, while he is away, turning his sights toward the political world.
Life in the Boomer Lane 
Keith
February 22, 2022
Renee, a lot of what Thiel has espoused and espouses is a precursor to a concern over the demographic projections which show whites will no longer be a majority in the US in about twenty years. I am citing a former Republican strategist named Steve Schmidt. He noted back in the late 1990s, the Koch Brothers sanctioned these projections and set about a strategy to either woo more Republicans or restrict the opposing party’s voting rights and education. The strategy includes an ice-picking away at freedoms and institutions, so that people in power can get away with more things. With social media so easy to disinform with, freedom of the press comes under attack and all institutions are bad. These are seeds for more autocracy.
What we are seeing today was not caused by the former president, but he exploited it. The truth no longer matters, as long as you have enough sycophants to tell people the truth is not right and the lies are not wrong. Thiel is just another cog in this wheel, just like Trump, Steve Bannon et al.
As an old fart, I truly wish what I wrote above was not true. We must seek the truth. We must chastise those who purposefully disinform us. We must ask more why questions. We must focus on the issues and not which tribe wins. Democracy requires an informed electorate. Right now, that is under challenge. Sorry for the soapbox. Keith
Life in the Boomer Lane
February 25, 2022
All too true. I’m too disturbed by it all to even add anything. I am grateful for your soapbox.
Keith
February 25, 2022
Thanks Renee. I am disturbed by it as well.
Phil Taylor
February 22, 2022
It’s disturbing and disappointing how many people like him feel free to now reveal themselves and their nefarious intentions.
Life in the Boomer Lane
February 25, 2022
Absolutely. I feel like these people are knocking on my door and yelling, “I’m going to break into your house soon and take everything of value and then trash the place and there’s nothing you can do about it” and then simply leaves.
aginggracefullymyass
March 10, 2022
I know I was naive, but I didn’t realize there were so many evil people in the world.