‘How do we protect freedom from capitalism?’
Remarks from Berlin on why the midterm win is only a start.
Greetings from Berlin, where I just spoke at the Berlin Freedom Conference. My remarks focused on how Silicon Valley remains an existential threat to freedom despite the outcome of last week’s midterm elections.
The good news: we have a narrow window of opportunity to organize against the escalating billionaire fascist menace. (See prepared remarks below.)
But first: The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Nonfiction Book. The award is decided entirely by readers, so please cast a vote if you’re active on Goodreads! Click here to vote.
Next I am off to Lisbon, Portugal, to talk about tech fascism at the Web Summit tech conference. The Nerd Reich World Tour has begun!
Remarks as prepared for delivery at the Berlin Freedom Conference on November 10, 2026.
I was planning to give a depressing speech here today in Berlin. But let’s start with some good news.
One week ago today, American voters delivered a decisive defeat to Donald Trump and his fascist regime. They stripped power from Trump’s party by a margin so large that even Trump himself had to admit the defeat.
Two years after re-electing a twice-impeached felon who tried to overthrow the government in 2021 and promised to be a dictator on day one, American voters finally decided enough was enough.
That’s because Trump’s wars and tariffs didn't just hurt other people in faraway lands. As it turns out, there are these big forces called economics and geopolitics. And in a very predictable sequence of events, Trump’s aggression toward the world backfired.
It made life more expensive for Americans.
There’s a lot you can get away with in the White House: corruption, rape, sedition, murder, treason, starting illegal wars.
But no politician can evade the consequences of higher prices on gasoline and groceries.
So, we got lucky this time. Trump made fascism unaffordable.
That’s the good news, but here’s the reality check: the struggle is far from over, and it’s only just beginning. And it will become more complex and dangerous in this next phase.
The assault on freedom and democracy in the United States is not the story of one man. Instead, it’s the story of a regime—a network of men with the money, the influence, and the technology to remain a threat long after Trump is gone.
It consists of a thoroughly corrupt political party, right-wing religious extremists, and most importantly, a cult of apocalyptic billionaires and corporations. They share a common idea: they believe liberal democracy is an outdated software system, and they want to upgrade it to corporate autocracy.
A few years ago, it was hard to get people to understand that some of the most powerful capitalists on the planet were openly plotting against democracy. Over the past two years, however, it’s become obvious and even undeniable.
My book tells the story of how radically anti-democratic ideas became popular among tech billionaires who have now infiltrated the highest levels of power in the US. Much of the story is told in their own words.
No one articulates the nightmare fantasies of the tech oligarch class better than Peter Thiel, the German-American Palantir billionaire. And no one has had more influence on the Trump regime.
In 2025, Bloomberg reported that 16 of Thiel’s close colleagues and deputies were serving at high levels in the Trump administration. Chief among them was JD Vance, a politician who is entirely the creation of Peter Thiel and is now one heartbeat away from the presidency.
Thiel was recently in Berlin to receive the Axel Springer Award. Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, called Thiel the “most impactful German of our times.” Finally, I can agree with Döpfner on something.
But Thiel’s honor was overshadowed by controversy, because during an interview here in Berlin, Thiel remarked, “If you’re evil, you’re not bad, and therefore maybe you’re actually kind of good because at least you’re getting something done.”
This was a very strange thing to say—especially in Berlin.
But it was also very honest.
Thiel says a lot of strangely honest things.
In 2009, he wrote that freedom and democracy were no longer compatible. He also wrote that capitalist democracy is an oxymoron.
In 2010, he gave a speech in which he said government is “fundamentally evil.” Again, this was an odd statement from a man whose company Palantir was funded by the CIA and is a major government surveillance contractor, deeply embedded in the military, intelligence, and law enforcement of the United States.
In that same speech, Thiel complained that men like him could never win in a democratic system, and they shouldn't have to beg voters for support.
But he promised there would be a solution to this problem. “Technology,” he said, “is an incredible alternative to politics.”
When Thiel speaks, I believe we should listen, because he’s usually confessing something important.
What does he mean when he says that capitalism and freedom are incompatible with democracy?
Why is a government surveillance and military billionaire declaring government is evil?
How does technology provide an alternative to politics?
Well, take a look around. Read the news. It’s all there. It’s all happening right now in the conversations around AI and crypto, and it’s visible in Silicon Valley’s attack on America and the world.
Thiel is the spiritual father of a group of anti-democracy tech billionaires that some of us call the Nerd Reich. Their core idea is very simple: they believe democracy is extremely vulnerable, and as venture capitalists, they are investing in its demise.
Using their billionaire powers, they have promoted dangerous ideas that merge science fiction with fascism.
Their chief political guru, a blogger named Curtis Yarvin, openly calls for replacing democracy with dictatorship. Thanks to Thiel, his ideas have moved from obscure blogs to the center of Washington policy under Trump.
For example, Yarvin argued that if Trump returned to office, he should install a CEO to dismantle the federal government from the inside. And one of the first things Trump did after getting reelected was install Elon Musk to run DOGE, which carried out that exact vision.
Trump has also called for the creation of new “freedom cities” around the world—new corporate autocracy states that are straight out of this billionaire playbook.
They see these cities as the rise of a new power structure called the “Network State,” which they believe will dominate the world in the 21st century and beyond. They have proposed building these in Greenland, Venezuela, and even in the ruins of the Gaza genocide. There’s already a prototype in Honduras.
Meanwhile, in the US, crypto, AI, and venture capital cartels have suddenly become the biggest and most dangerous players in American politics. Elon Musk alone spent nearly half a billion dollars in the midterm elections.
And he lost.
But capitalism has declared open war on democracy, just as Thiel has preached and prophesied for decades.
Venture capitalists bet on disruption. They call it innovation, but it’s more often destruction. In this case, they're betting on the death of freedom, democracy, and, ultimately, humanity itself.
But here’s some more good news: the billionaires don't have it all figured out.
They are very, very dumb about things they don’t understand. And there are a lot of things they don't understand.
For example, they don’t understand the needs and wants of ordinary people. They don’t understand why a dystopian future in which AI supposedly kills all our jobs, all of our creativity, and possibly wipes out humanity is unappealing—and, indeed, terrifying—to most people.
So, we must thank the billionaires of Silicon Valley for being so open and honest about their scary visions. They have taken off their masks and shown us who they really are.
And if last week’s election is any indication, they have planted the seeds of their own demise. Nobody wants the billionaire dystopia they’re selling. Even some Trump supporters are waking up.
The billionaires are catalyzing—and radicalizing—their own opposition.
But let’s not get too excited or optimistic. American politics is a casino, and the only people who love billionaire money more than Republicans are Democrats.
That’s why last week’s win is only a start.
If the Democrats fail to hold these extremist billionaires accountable—and fail to offer a bold, clear, and better vision for the future—we’ll go through all of this again in a few more years. The billionaires will get smarter, they’ll get better at politics, and they’ll win.
If you reverse the main ideas of Peter Thiel, you arrive at some interesting questions:
How do we protect freedom from capitalism?
How do we preserve democracy and humanity from being swallowed by technology?
How do we defend life on this planet from the insane nightmare fantasies of men who are bored of Earth and seek to live forever among the stars?
How do we create a world that puts the needs of the global majority, 8.3 billion people, over the greed of 3,000 billionaires and one part-time trillionaire?
These men have tremendous money, power, and technology. It’s easy to feel fearful and defeated. But there is plenty of hope.
Peter Thiel says technology is an alternative to politics, but we also have a powerful technology in our hands.
It’s an ancient technology that gives ordinary people the awesome power to defend their dignity and freedom and to defeat the tyranny of the few.
It’s called democracy, and we must use it or lose it.
Remember, there are a lot more of us than there are of them.
So, the people should not be afraid of the billionaires. The billionaires should be afraid of the people.
And if we can’t figure out how to solve this problem, we will deserve the dystopian future the billionaires are planning to impose on us.
Thank you.
