The Real Thiel (with Max Chafkin)
Skullduggery
Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti
4.0 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 September 2021
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Just days before the Republican Convention in 2016, 150 Tech executives and investors published a stinging open letter condemning the man the party was about to nominate for President. Donald Trump’s candidacy the tech moguls wrote was fueled by “anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas, and a fundamental belief that American is weak and in decline.”
That was undoubtedly the view that most of the big players in Silicon Valley. But there was one who had a decidedly contrary view. Peter Thiel was the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir. And was the first outside investor in Facebook giving him instant entree and more than a little clout with the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. And Thiel had gone all in for Trump. Speaking at the convention, donating more than one million dollars to a Trump Super PAC. And later serving on his transition team as he sought to place figures who share his unorthodox views of the world in high places in the US Government.
How much influence did Thiel have during the Trump era? And how much power does he yield today in the insular world of Silicon Valley. Max Chafkin, author of the new book about Thiel called The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, joins to discuss.
GUEST:
HOSTS:
- Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
- Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
- Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)
RESOURCES:
- Obtain The Contrarian - Here.
- Yahoo News' David Knowles original piece on critics latest blasting of Facebook - Here.
- Time Magazine's Who's Afraid of Peter Thiel? - Here.
Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod
Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us with feedback, questions or tips: SkullduggeryPod@yahoo.com.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just days before the Republican Convention in 2016, 150 tech executives and investors |
| 0:07.6 | published a stinging open letter condemning the man the party was about to nominate for |
| 0:12.4 | president. |
| 0:13.4 | Donald Trump's candidacy, these tech moguls, wrote, was fueled by, quote, anger, bigotry, |
| 0:19.2 | fear of new ideas, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline. |
| 0:25.7 | That was undoubtedly the view of most of the big players in Silicon Valley, but there |
| 0:29.7 | was one who added the Sidonely Contra review. |
| 0:32.8 | Peter Teele was the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and was the first |
| 0:37.8 | outside investor in Facebook, giving him instant entree and more than a little clout |
| 0:42.4 | with the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. |
| 0:45.6 | And Teele had gone all in for Trump, speaking at the convention, donating more than $1 million |
| 0:51.5 | to a Trump super PAC, and later serving on his transition team as he sought to place |
| 0:55.9 | figures who shared his unorthodox views of the world in high places in the US government. |
| 1:01.5 | How much influence did Teele have during the Trump era and how much power does he yield |
| 1:06.1 | today in the insular world of Silicon Valley? |
| 1:09.4 | We'll discuss with Max Chafkin, a reporter for Bloomberg Business Week who has just published |
| 1:14.0 | an exhaustively researched new book on Teele on this episode of Skull Duggery. |
| 1:19.2 | I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United |
| 1:27.3 | States. |
| 1:28.3 | I will to the best of my building. |
| 1:30.3 | Reserve, protect and defend. |
| 1:32.8 | Constitution of the United States. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.