Instead of Charity, Peter Thiel Told Elon Musk to Use Billions for Right-Wing Crusade Against 'Antichrist'

Right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel recently told an audience that he pushed Tesla CEO and fellow billionaire Elon Musk not to give money to charity and instead horde it so it could be used to battle a future "Antichrist."

According to a Thursday Reuters report, Thiel told attendees of closed-door event in San Francisco last month that he pressed Musk to rescind his commitment to the Giving Pledge, the charitable campaign cofounded by Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates that asks signatories to leave a majority of their wealth to a charity of their choosing.

Thiel said he warned Musk that his wealth was likely to end up going "to left-wing nonprofits that will be chosen by Bill Gates" and that his fortune would be better served to fight against a potential Antichrist figure that might emerge. Musk appeared receptive to these concerns, Thiel added.

Investigations have found that while Musk has pledged donations to charities and has donated money to charitable organizations, the funds have often either benefited his own interests or have not been properly distributed. His philanthropic group, the Musk Foundation, failed to donate the legally required amount to qualify as a charitable foundation last year for the third consecutive year.

He pledged nearly $6 billion worth of Tesla shares—just 2% of his net worth at the time—to the United Nations in 2021 to help feed 42 million people who were at risk of starvation for a year, but instead sent the money to his own foundation.

As Reuters noted, the Antichrist is a figure prophesied in the Christian Bible, and Thiel personally believes that this figure will emerge to "create a one-world government on the promise of something like stopping nuclear, AI, or climate-induced disaster."

The Washington Post, which along with Reuters got a transcript of Thiel's lectures on the Antichrist, added some more context to Thiel's personal conception of the Antichrist in a Thursday report.

Specifically, the Post reported that Thiel told his audience that environmental activist Greta Thunberg and artificial intelligence critic Eliezer Yudkowsky were "legionnaires of the Antichrist."

"In the 17th, 18th century, the Antichrist would have been a Dr. Strangelove, a scientist who did all this sort of evil crazy science,” Thiel said. "In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It’s someone like Greta or Eliezer."

The Post also reports that Thiel complained during his lecture that he's had a much harder time in recent years avoiding paying taxes.

“It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money,” he said. “An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions architecture has been constructed.”

Thiel, a cofounder of digital payment platform PayPal, has long been an associate of both Musk and Vice President JD Vance, whose 2022 US Senate campaign he generously funded.