Comedian Tim Dillon Slams Thiel, Palantir, and Tech Elite
‘All of these people want a post-American future ... They're going to start buying up podcasters and YouTubers’
In a recent episode of his podcast, comedian Tim Dillon unleashed a stunning commentary focused on Peter Thiel, Network State projects like Praxis, and the surveillance technology company Palantir. The episode currently has 805,000 views.
Dillon, a controversial entertainer with a large online following, tees off on Silicon Valley figures like Thiel, Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
He suggests they are willing to sacrifice the country’s best interests as part of an endless quest for power and money. And he archly questions whether the new Silicon Valley trend of embracing Christianity is “authentic.”
These people don't really care about America as an idea.
One of the biggest startups during COVID was — I forget what they called it, but it was... and I knew the kids who did it, they were nice kids, but they wanted to just buy a piece of land and start their own civilization and run it with crypto. And Peter Thiel was a big investor in it — the guy from Palantir. We'll talk about that in a minute.
[This] was one of the big startups during COVID, and everybody thought it was a great idea. They were like, “Let's get the fuck out of here. There's riots everywhere, it sucks here, we want out.”
So they were thinking of buying a piece of land and... But there was a startup, I knew these kids, I had meetings with them — Praxis. And they wanted... I don't know what happened to them. This isn't even shitting on them, they just wanted to build... Yeah, a startup linked to Peter Thiel wanted to build the next great city in Greenland. They wanted to just get out of here. The laws…they were like, "We're not into this."
All of these tech people believe, to some degree, in a post-American future. Whether they admit it or not — they're not going to admit it.
They all love Jesus now, which is interesting. So they've all found him. We trust that? We trust that conversion? Is that authentic?
But all of these people want a post-American future. And they love these ideas — "Yeah, let's buy a piece of land, let's start small, run it on crypto, see what happens." Fully kind of libertarian feudal state run by crypto.
So what do you do if that's what you want? If that's your concept of the future, where nation-states are going to be, at the very least, subservient to the new tech reality? What do you need? You need kind of this digital police state that everyone's going to have to live in. And that's where you bring in Palantir.
Dillon goes on to say he has spent time with Palantir co-founder and Thiel protégé Joe Lonsdale in Austin. He then launches into an extended critique of the surveillance technology company, which is working with the Trump administration to compile data on Americans:
And that's where you bring in Palantir.
The New York Times article here: The Trump administration has tasked Palantir — Peter Thiel and Palantir — with building a database of Americans and their financial info.
Peter Thiel — Palantir is founded by these guys: Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, and Peter Thiel. I met Joe Lonsdale in Austin. I went to his house. Nice guy, very smart. I described him on the show — he no longer likes me. That's fine….
I met him. He is no longer, I think, actively involved with Palantir. He's doing some other startup — he wanted to build another city to compete with Austin or something. Everyone's got a fun idea at these tech things when you go. Everyone's got a fun idea. Everyone wants to do something revolutionary.
So: “In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information. Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since, but behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.”
This is where you have to start questioning if the Trump administration is some type of op. Meaning, is this real? Is the administration that got elected to purge the deep state actually using the deep state to compile a list of data on all the people that live here?
This shadowy company, Palantir, that works with the CIA and the military — they do all this fun stuff. They export all their technology all over the world to places like... Israel right now. I don't know what they're doing — I guess setting up breakfast stations for the Palestinians? Perhaps not.
But this shadowy company is compiling a list of data of American people.
Dillon says he has been invited to dinner at Peter Thiel’s house multiple times but opted not to go:
I get invited to these dinners — I don't go. I've been invited to Thiel's house multiple times for dinner — I don't go. It's no shade at them or whatever. The reason I don't go is... I remember one dinner, they're like, “We'd like to discuss the media.”
I go, “What? No thanks.” "We'd like to discuss the media and culture."
No thanks. Appreciate it. Don't need to.
Here's what I'm doing every week — I'm discussing the media. Hey, good news, I have a show. You can listen to it if you're curious about it.
But I've been to some of these places. I've sat in these houses in Austin with these tech people, and I know what they want. And I know what they want me to go out and cheerlead for and say, “Well, it's actually a great idea.”
And there's probably a lot of money in it. And I just can't do it. It's not because I'm some great moral person — I just wouldn't be good at it.
He also makes a prediction: Certain influencers and podcasters will start to speak in favor of Palantir developing a list (database) of information about Americans:
So my prediction — and I don't want to name names because I don't know — but my prediction is you're going to see a lot of people over the next six months start thinking this list is a great idea. They're going to start telling you how great this is and how it's about terrorism. That's the way it'll start “Well, it's about terrorism.” This is going to happen.
Later in the podcast, Dillon suggests that tech billionaires will buy off influencers and podcasters:
By the way, they're going to start purchasing influencers. I'm telling you, this is the new way. It used to be the news media, but I've been doing interviews with the news media — they're retarded. It doesn't even work. Who the fuck's left in the news media? These people are broke. Anyone with half a degree of talent is on YouTube. These people can't make a dollar in the news media. They live on floors. I've been interviewing with these people — these people are beyond fucked. No one's even buying them anymore.
They're going to start buying up podcasters and YouTubers and whatever. And they better come to daddy with a big offer. Don't come to me with nothing. You better give me something good, so that when I come on here and I make a fool out of myself and I lose every goddamn fan, I got $100 million. When I lose every goddamn fan... $30 million. All right, I just slashed it to $70 million. See how quick that was? I'll negotiate with you.
Don't think you're going to get my loyalty for nothing. When I lose every goddamn fan because I come on this show and I start talking about how the Palantir list is good for you...I guarantee they're going to spread money around. This is something that I believe the tech people are going to do.
Dillon’s critique is notable. It shows a high degree of knowledge about the key ideas underlying tech fascism and the current takeover of US government. He confirms that people in Thiel’s orbit are engaged in ongoing outreach to influencers and podcasters — and also predicts such efforts will expand.
Click below to watch the relevant sections of the episode. Most of the discussion of tech politics takes place in the first 35 minutes. Then he returns to the subject at the end (at 1:03).
Keep in mind that Dillon is an extremely provocative comedian, so expect crude language and views some readers may find offensive. I was not familiar with his work, but an astute reader brought this episode to my attention on social media.
If you prefer audio-only, here's where you can listen to this episode:
Adam Becker in Berkeley
If you happen to live in the Bay Area, don’t miss astrophysicist Adam Becker’s appearance at Mrs. Dalloway’s bookstore in Berkeley on Thursday, June 26. Becker will discuss his new book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity.
Tickets are free. See you there?
