Peter Thiel Says Covid Marks 21st Century’s True Start | Hacker News Reader

Peter Thiel Says Covid Marks 21st Century’s True Start

forbes.com

7 pointsjger1510 comments

Knowing Thiel's initial avid support for Trump in 2016 it is hard to see wisdom or insight from his mutterings.

“I think one thing that should be distinguished here is that the media is always taking Trump literally. It never takes him seriously, but it always takes him literally. ... I think a lot of voters who vote for Trump take Trump seriously but not literally, so when they hear things like the Muslim comment or the wall comment, their question is not, ‘Are you going to build a wall like the Great Wall of China?’ or, you know, ‘How exactly are you going to enforce these tests?’ What they hear is we’re going to have a saner, more sensible immigration policy.” - Thiel in 2016

Oh Peter, I laugh everytime I read this quote. It aged so well.

He doesn't care if some plebe laughs at him, apparently. He made a guess, he stuck to it, that's how most top people operate. Strategically it made sense to align with Trump.

Morally though?

Seriously its fantastic strategy to buddy up to a guy that would sooner burn the Constitution than admit he is wrong. Yea, let me hand that guy a blank check and the nuclear football. /s

Track records do not lie.

Palantir ipoed and is doing well 3x of IPO price already. You might believe Peter is saying something wrong, but the fraction of the truth is still way higher than normal guys.

Media indeed take Trump literally. Trump speeches are extremely tailed to the supporters. Trump's China policy is also bold in the sense that he opens a venue of tools that previously unthinkable. Future policy makers would be more flexible on the negotiate table.

Building the wall is just a concrete symbol of rallying the supporters. Like Obama's yes we can (turns out yes we can only do something slightly different).

> Building the wall is just a concrete symbol

Mostly chainlink actually. And mostly repairing what existed before.

Separating children from their families and caging those kids is indeed a Trump policy that "opens a venue of tools that previously unthinkable", for a good reason.

So, if Peter holds one opinion that goes against your worldview, you disregard him? is that how you make friends or take people seriously?

This just tells me more about you than Peter, lol.

Oh please, Peter holds many opinions that I disagree with but I disregard him for his poor judgement in character. He could have seen the Trump disaster coming a mile away if he had one iota of the wisdom people like yourself attribute to him. Instead he decided it was good idea to fund the clown show.

Also way to jump to conclusions, ask leading questions, and then make a personal swipe to White Knight for Thiel's reputation. next.....

Yes, I would disregard anyone that supports an usurper that is still throwing tantrums about an election he lost by 7 million votes.

If that's the worldview Thiel considers acceptable, why would anyone want to be his friend?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com