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“My brilliant colleague Ross Douthat recently labeled Peter as the most influential right-wing intellectual of the last two decades. I tend to agree. However, this designation, whether ‘right-wing’ or ‘conservative’, misses the complexity and wildness of Peter’s perspective.”
This insight comes from Bari Weiss, former opinion writer and editor for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the founder of The Free Press, and the current editor-in-chief of CBS following its acquisition by David Ellison. She made this remark during a tribute to Peter Thiel at the 2026 Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin on September 24.
“That’s why,” she continued, “it’s so engaging to have a discussion with him; you never know where the dialogue will lead. He might assert that he is uncertain whether freedom and democracy can coexist or even ponder, as he recently did, whether humanity should continue to exist.”
Axel Springer is a prominent German media conglomerate, owning outlets such as Business Insider and Politico since 2021, along with about 150 other newspapers and journals across 36 nations, including Bild and Die Welt in Germany. Among the five core principles of Axel Springer are the protection of the State of Israel and the fight against antisemitism, alongside fostering the U.S.-Europe alliance, which were reaffirmed in 2025.
It can be inferred that Axel Springer supports the ongoing situation in Gaza, which comes as no surprise since the investment firm KKR acquired a majority stake in the company in 2019. This fund has been connected to profiting from the occupation of the West Bank. However, in 2024, the company reorganized its structure, separating its news operations from its classified ad business, placing majority control in the hands of its current CEO, Mathias Döpfner, and the founder’s widow. The ambition was to transform it into a global news powerhouse.
During the award ceremony, Peter Thiel praised both Bari Weiss and Mathias Döpfner, asserting that the media landscape would be in dire straits without individuals like them, and expressing confusion as to why “so much of it has devolved into a left-wing hate factory.” This perceived “degeneration” seems to inform Thiel’s notion of the Antichrist.
For Thiel, the Antichrist symbolizes a political archetype embodying global tyranny disguised as compassion, universal peace, and rescue from disaster. He accuses those on the political left of attempting to usher in this tyranny through initiatives like Agenda 2030 or UN climate negotiations, which establish global standards.
He often argues that contemporary political thought presents humanity with a deceptive binary: Armageddon—complete catastrophe from existential threats such as nuclear conflict, runaway AI, bio-warfare, or environmental collapse—or the Antichrist, representative of a totalitarian “One-World State” or a hyper-surveillance regime aimed at averting that very destruction.
Thiel contends that society’s obsession with the fear of Armageddon blinds us to the dangers posed by the Antichrist. He believes that the latter ascends not by promoting malevolence but through constant discussions of Armageddon, promising an “unjust peace” and total security at the expense of individual freedoms.
To transcend this dichotomy, Thiel advocates rejecting the inevitability of an “unjust peace” by reinforcing the Katechon—a term, inspired by 2 Thessalonians and political theorist Carl Schmitt, representing the force or institution that hinders the emergence of the Antichrist and the end times. He asserts that decentralized national sovereignty, competition, and technological advancement serve as counterweights to a unified global authority.
He puts forward additional measures to escape this predicament. One is the necessity for humanity to overcome the “great stagnation”; he argues that progress has stagnated everywhere except in technology and software sectors. In his discussions on theology, he reframes this stagnation as perilous due to scarcity and competition over resources. To prevent this, he endorses “accelerationism” and the pursuit of “new frontiers.”
Essentially, Thiel’s belief system underscores that no outcome is predestined, and the Antichrist serves as a warning from historical traditions urging us to steer clear of a global government framework. Ironically, while he accuses the “left-wing hate factory” of contributing to such a system, he is contributing just as much as those he critiques in propelling its emergence.
A universal government, regardless of whether it is perceived as positive or negative, can only arise through technological interdependence and surveillance. It implies that a singular world government can only manifest when the entire globe is enveloped in a control grid, even if this grid comprises different interconnected nodes. This control grid is precisely what entities like Palantir, co-founded by Thiel, are facilitating.
However, Thiel’s ideology harbors a more ominous dimension. His concept of the Antichrist embodies a perpetual battle between good and evil. The Antichrist represents the essence of malevolence, while anything opposing it, like the Katechon, epitomizes goodness. Consequently, we must champion the good to combat evil.
Thiel equates the notion of a “one-world government” with the Antichrist, viewing any developments moving in that direction—such as modern political liberalism, international organizations, or global trade—as threats that must be thwarted. Thus, nationalism, authoritarianism, and closed markets become necessary and virtuous pursuits. This viewpoint has significant implications for individuals’ lives, rendering his Antichrist theory particularly relevant, especially as he receives accolades from one of Europe’s largest media conglomerates.
I firmly believe in the existence of good and evil. The atrocities occurring in Gaza are undeniably evil, and those who endorse them align themselves with malevolence. In Türkiye, people often purchase extra loaves of bread and leave them “on the hook” for anyone in need; a good act, reflective of countless gestures of kindness worldwide. It appears that humanity has not matched our efforts in promoting goodness to the same extent that we have in enabling evil. While the nature of good and evil can be endlessly debated, there exists a fundamental agreement among many.
However, I do not subscribe to the notion of an ongoing struggle between good and evil culminating in apocalyptic outcomes. This perspective aligns with a dualistic understanding of the universe, a view we should critique, particularly since the rise of quantum field theory. Consider the insights of Federico Faggin, the designer of the modern commercial microprocessor, regarding the quantum unity of fields. From a scientific viewpoint, this matter remains unresolved; we know little of the complexities involved. Nonetheless, it appears that the world does not operate strictly within Thiel’s dualistic framework.
Despite the theological and technological embellishments, Thiel’s argument is firmly rooted in Cartesian dualism and Hobbesian materialism. While he claims to propose a middle ground between Armageddon and a global government, he fails to present any new avenues, offering only justifications to perpetuate his current business model. The peril lies in his recognition and the fact that others may choose to emulate him.
