Bari Weiss’s bootlicking bash for ‘quintessential American spirit’ Peter Thiel

That may be, but Thiel is equally well known for his extreme right wing views, claiming Greta Thunberg is the antichrist, arguing “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible”, accusing the Pope of being a Chinese communist agent, championing US vice-president JD Vance and constantly warning that Armageddon is coming.

Now the tycoon has been presented with his prize – and what an oleaginous affair it was!

Suggested Reading

Nobody’s watching Trump TV

Rats in a Sack

The presentation in Berlin was preceded by an 11-minute speech celebrating Thiel’s unique brilliance from Bari Weiss, the newly installed CBS editor-in-chief who is steering it in an increasingly MAGA direction. During it, former anti-woke blogger Weiss gushed about his embodiment of the “quintessential American spirit”.

She fawned: “I have the pleasure to introduce a man whose life and whose character embodies what I think of as the quintessential American spirit: heretical, driven, audacious, pioneering, innovative, entrepreneurial, original, eccentric and, above all, ferociously independent.”

Weiss quoted Ross Douthat, the conservative New York Times columnist she recently poached for 60 Minutes and who referred to Thiel as “the most influential right wing intellectual of the past 20 years.”

“I think that might be true, but what that label ‘right wing’ or ‘conservative’ misses is how strange and wild, how untamed Peter’s worldview is,” Weiss said. “It’s why it’s so fun to sit across from him in a conversation or an interview, because you never know where he will go.

“What those who love him and those who love him just a little bit less can’t dispute is this: he sees things before the rest of us do. He knows what’s coming and seems consistently to get there first. It’s an extraordinary quality and one that’s given him an astonishing track record.”

Suggested Reading

Trump’s Colorado cheerleader hits out at ‘filty garbage’ gossip

Rats in a Sack

Awkwardly, many of those people who “love him just a little bit less” include many of Axel Springer’s own employees, more than 120 of whom protested the decision to honour the billionaire, arguing that celebrating the investor conflicted with the company’s stated commitment to press freedom. The employees raised their objections in a letter to Axel Springer leadership ahead of the ceremony.

The employees pointed out that Thiel secretly financed wrestler Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker which helped drive the celebrity news site into bankruptcy and fueled a broader debate over the ability of wealthy individuals to use litigation against news organisations.

Not that that was ever likely to swing CEO Mathias Döpfner, who said when announcing Thiel’s award: “Peter Thiel is one of those rare entrepreneurs who not only found or finance companies but also help shape the direction of technological development. His ability to think long-term, argue against the consensus, and consistently prioritize innovation has inspired generations of founders. He reminds us that progress requires courage and nonconformism.”

And what fine company Thiel finds himself in! Previous winners of the Axel Springer Award include Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and, who knows, if she keeps sucking up to the broligarchy like this, maybe one day Bari Weiss.