In 2011, before Peter Thiel became a household name for his covert campaign against a free press or his loud support for Donald Trump, he was engaged in another covert plan: secretly securing citizenship in New Zealand, where according to a recent New Yorker article, he hopes to safely ride out the apocalypse. As part of his purchase, the new adviser to Trump’s “America First” administration swore an oath to Queen Elizabeth.
A 145-page set of documents released by the New Zealand government in the wake of public outrage in that country shows that Thiel would have been denied citizenship on the self-admitted fact that he has never lived in the country and has no plans to do so:
However, under a provision of a 1977 law, New Zealand grants citizenship under “exceptional circumstances and public interest” for persons who don’t live or plan to live in the country: “Since 2012, there have been 632 applications where the Minister has been specifically asked to consider Section 9(1)(c); of these 92 have been approved by the Minister as decision-maker.”
In Thiel’s case, the exceptional circumstances were that he is immensely rich, with powerful ties to Silicon Valley. His application states:
The memo continues with a strictly business-based justification for Thiel’s citizenship:
In New Zealand he has established a venture capital fund to fund innovative companies. To date he has invested [REDACTED] into an online accounting business ‘Xero’ and made a [REDACTED] investment in Pacific Fibre Limited. … Mr. Thiel has discussed the establishment of a technology company incubator in Auckland and using his connections in San Francisco to help introduce New Zealand companies to the U.S. … Mr Thiel has demonstrated his philanthropy through making a million dollar donation to the Christchurch earthquake relief fund.
Mr Thiel wishes to be granted citizenship from both a personal and professional perspective. Mr Thiel’s entrepreneurial skills are what make him exceptional and this claim is supported by the success he has had in business. … Mr Thiel states that being a New Zealand citizen would enable him to represent the country on the international stage and give him greater confidence in mobilising New Zealand’s talented entrepreneurs.
In his personal statement, Thiel was also sure to point out, as evidence of his philanthropy, “that I am a primary supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, non-profit group that promotes press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report news without fear of reprisals.” Just one year after typing those words, a legal campaign of fear and reprisal against the journalists and writers of the now-defunct Gawker Media began, years later revealed to have been bankrolled by Thiel (in full disclosure, I previously worked at Gawker Media during that time).
On this basis, along with a few letters from members of the New Zealand business community (including a recipient of his money), the government recommended his application be approved on the strength of his business acumen, which it was in 2011.
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel speaks during the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
This last point, that Thiel would act as an international steward of high-tech industry between New Zealand and Silicon Valley, is perhaps undercut by the fact that Thiel kept his citizenship secret for half a decade. It also creates a tension given his newfound (but technically informal) role in the Trump administration, where he has acted as a bridge to Silicon Valley — but to Washington, not Auckland. Thiel has not only generously funded the president’s campaign and opened for him at the Republican National Convention, but now provides economic policy advice to the White House (and helped organize a farcical meeting of tech CEOs at Trump Tower).
But his devotion to an administration whose rallying cry is “America First!” now seems suspect, because according to the citizenship documents Thiel was administered a citizenship oath in Santa Monica on August 12, 2011. At this ceremony, he was required to swear (upon a Bible) loyalty to Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarch. According to the New Zealand Citizenship Act of 1977, the oath is as follows:
I, [full name], swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her (or His) Majesty [specify the name of the reigning Sovereign, as thus: Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of New Zealand,] Her (or His) heirs and successors, according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of New Zealand and fulfil my duties as a New Zealand citizen.
So help me God.
Thiel’s current devotion to “Make America Great Again” seems to conflict not only with his pledge of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, but also with another portion of his personal statement: “I am happy to say categorically that I have found no other country that aligns more with my vision of the future than New Zealand.” Perhaps that vision of the future was one in which, sometime in the next four to eight years, an apocalyptic disaster has spread across the globe, and he and his fellow billionaires safely reside in armored bunkers. America First, indeed.
The Thiel Foundation did not reply to request for comment in time for publication.
Top photo: Donald Trump shakes hands with Peter Thiel during a meeting with technology executives at Trump Tower, Dec. 14, 2016, in New York.
Why was the Thiel residency redacted from the FOIA documents?
From the typography alone one can deduce that the number of days he spent amorously cuddling kiwi ewes must have ranged from 10 to 99. They ain’t hiding much here.
This piece examines the integrity of figures in Trump’s campaign by simply comparing claims of what they supposedly believe or stand for against other things they have done and said. Examining the integrity or honesty of people in such cases is then a legitimate case for journalism.
And here is a problem that does exist. Thiel does not meet the test for New Zealand residency, which is required for one to become a New Zealand citizen. However, Thiel has given large sums of money to some New Zealanders and claims to have powerful connections which he can use to the benefit of other ones. A man with a large sum of money and who is high in the social hierarchy of the United States (and the World) can buy his way into New Zealand, accessing rights and laws that poorer people cannot. Money is therefore character; it is a ‘skill set’, and one set of laws (or one interpretation of them) belongs to the rich while another remains for the poor.
As Jesus said, then Marx, then Orwell wrote, ‘that laws, religions and moral codes are all a superstructure built over existing property relations.’ For the whole of their history, the people of the world have had to fight this problem, one which is increasingly relevant in our present battles for survival and meaning.
People like Thiel however, may just take off to NZ, where he has bought off million-dollar properties and hundreds of acres of farmland, for which special conditions and laws would apply to non-citizens. But not to Thiel. It was during the investigation of these properties that the citizenship of this proud-to-be-a-New Zealander, who kept it secret for five-and-a-half years, was uncovered by a reporter.
But nothing to see here.
Perhaps he could buy Kim Dotcom’s old place as a small pied-à-terre.
Like Thiel, I’m betting against the US too….
*hi FBI*
Trump 2020: Make New Zealand Great Again!
Very scary and sad article, not the world’s direction anyone would prefer, especially since the end of the USSR for crying out loud!!!
I really hope that people in the top of the US gov. and others, thoroughly understand that a nuclear war, would kill all of us, by the radioactivity circulating through air and water currents, even beautiful NZL.
Please investigate the connection between Thiel’s company Palantir and the GCSB.
I wish I had the resources to do that, but a safe haven for my grandkids.
Otherwise I’m here for the duration, fighting it out.
Is there any proof that he paid for his citizenship?
Great question. This piece is about a problem that doesn’t exist.
I believe you meant to equate Washington to Wellington (NZ capital) not Auckland.
I just love all the comments that see Thiel’s purchase of citizenship as a smart and prudent move. I love it because I too admire the super-wealthy who have had the foresight to become super-wealthy so that they could buy citizenship from a beautiful and tranquil faraway land where they speak a language almost identical to American English. He also thought ahead sufficiently to buy a jet so he could get there pronto, should that be necessary.
I do not admire the Sam Biddles of the world, who are just maniacal with envy because they are going to be stuck here with you and me when the “big day” comes. He is also trying to get revenge against Thiel, of course, for having caused the loss of his former job by carrying out a successful revenge against the much reviled Gawker.
I see absolutely no ethical issues or hypocrisy with Thiel’s wise purchase. I believe that it was F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote that the “the rich are a whole lot better than you and/or me,” or something very much to that effect—or close enough for my purposes here. Most real Americans, and I humbly count myself among them, are huge Fitzgerald fans because that sentiment rings so true to them (and to me, obviously). It certainly wasn’t because of The Great Gatsby. That was like, forced on us in high school.
Jared – forgetting that most super-wealthy only had the “foresight” to be born into a rich family – how’s your foresight? Still need a seeing-eye dog to get around like most of us?
How’s your private jet? Fueled and ready to go? Don’t forget – you have to have enough “foresight” to afford a pilot and his family and their family, too, unless you have the “foresight” to have acquired a pilot license.
I see. Not only an uneducated libertarian, but a self-hating libertarian, too.
This, despite your obvious self-denial and thinly disguised self-hate stated above.
Don’t. You haven’t the foresight to really understand what’s happening here. Don’t worry, despite their lack of foresight in the last election, real Americans are going to show you and your tin-pot dictator how to address that lack.
Actually, Trump’s every American’s tinpot dictator at this point. We are totally screwed unless something wonderful were to transpire, although I just can’t imagine what that might be.
I’m an older guy, and I’m looking at most likely dying under a fascist regime or the horrible aftermath thereof. I may not suffer the consequences directly, being white and old and all that, but I will see a lot of other people’s lives figuratively and literally destroyed. This is going to get really bad really quickly, as you obviously see. Part of the living nightmare is that so many of our so-called fellow citizens really do worship the rich! They really are ok with Trump dismantling the government! They really are ok with that worthless hypocrite/maniac Thiel and his bizarrely selfish plans. And like Homer Simpson says “It’s funny because it’s true!”
I was using sarcastic irony to make my previous comment. I always come off as so pompous when I try to write legit, so I try to be a little creative, have fun, etc.
I probably overdid it, but dude, my last paragraph was intentionally completely nutso and off to indicate that I was joking if someone doubted it.
I would so like to think that you’re playing along with me, but maybe not.
That being said, I’ m so totally on your side, sir. I applaud you for having your eyes wide open and passionately speaking out. Sorry for upsetting you and anyone else, seriously. (You kinda hurt my feelings, though—calling me a libertarian. Yikes!)
Actually, even the first paragraph of my unintentionally offensive post is just whacko, too, now that I reread it. I would think that anyone taking it seriously would feel only compassion for the deranged writer.
That was highly entertaining, thank you, especially the Gatsby reference, but to be honest I thought you might be real, too. You never know with these wacko self-hating capitalist-libertarians these days.
Lol! Sorry for the libertarian jibe! Welcome! Until they make a sarcasm font for this stuff we’ll just have to do the best we can!
As a New Zealander, I’m very disappointed in this decision. To think that this guy has the same rights as I do in my country vexes me greatly.
He’s not a Kiwi.
Mr Thiel is a smarmy little man. It’s an interesting story about the lives of the rich and the famous, or infamous.
The super-privileged, super-protected, super-wealthy, and no doubt superior life forms are buying up property/water in hopes to avoid the inevitable changes wrought by the planet warming. I don’t know how far, high, wide, or deep they have to go to escape Climate Change, but I think they have no idea. Some futurists might, or some charlatan may be able to provide risk assessments and probability models, but it ain’t gonna be able to predict the future.
No wonder this guy worked for gawker. The level of the journalism is really up to those low standards. Pathetic piece.
there is a reason he reported this piece…there is a small group of super rich silicon valley CEOs preparing for “doomsday” and securing property off shore, including New Zealand …just in case. Check out this New Yorker piece. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich
I saw a similar piece reported in The Guardian, and was also surprised that they didn’t mention the doomsday connection. Normal people should be paying attention when both Wall Street and Silicon Valley start prepping; likewise when the US Navy starts quietly planning for sea level rise. Environmental or socio-economic, many people are seeing the writing on the wall.
*Thank you* for that link. The tech nerd who is going to survive the apocalypse cause he took “classes in archery”. ha hahahahahahahahahahahah
oh, mercy. it feels good to laugh. They really, *really* believe in their own inherent superiority, don’t they.
It isn’t true?
Please set the record straight.
This is not surprising; the demise of the United States might seriously incovenience Mr. Thiel. He is merely hedging his bets.
In fact, give the recent actions of the US government, refugees from the United States may not be very welcome in Mexico, Syria, Iraq and several other countries. So it’s certainly prudent to have a second passport. Relying on humanitarian goodwill may not be the smartest strategy.
I agree with the sentiment that this is a piece of sub-standard quality. (Maybe it would be fine for Gawker, but I expect more from Intercept).
Biddle’s final conclusion seems to be that Thiel is not loyal to the United States, however he also notes that Thiel has done little to actually support New Zealand interests and is more concerned with the Silicon Valley-Washington connection. So which is it?
I have no doubt that Thiel is hedging bets, just in case, but I don’t really see anything wrong with it. If New Zealand wishes to grant him citizenship, it is within their power to do so.
So what? Doesn’t Greenwald have dual citizenship in the US and Brazil?
If I was wealthy enough to afford it, I’d hedge my bets and apply to be a dual citizen of another country as well.
New Zealand has a large social welfare state and they don’t allow in people in poor health who would be a burden on society. Obviously Thiel can afford his own healthcare (and probably would rather get it in the United States any ways).
utter rubbish re: NZ (and just about every other nation)
your comment speaks volumes of the way so many Americans view the world.
“large social welfare state and they don’t allow in people in poor health who would be a burden on society”
a disgraceful mindset
“Perhaps that vision of the future was one in which, sometime in the next four to eight years, an apocalyptic disaster has spread across the globe, and he and his fellow billionaires safely reside in armored bunkers. ”
Are you talking about the continuation of Obama’s race wars in Africa? Are you talking about new fighting by western-armed Nazi Battalions in the Ukraine? Are you talking about Trump further destroying the states of Libya and Syria? Were you referring to Obama’s massive nuclear weapons modernization program and its consequences? Were you concerned about the liberal hate for Russia and the desire to see us clash with another nuclear power?
Sam’s dual citizenship rant is classic liberal hypocrisy and epistemic closure. After all, liberal icons like Barney Frank, Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders all have dual citizenship with Israel. Yet Sam won’t mention this. His hypocrisy can be summed up in his own statement:
“Thiel’s current devotion to “Make America Great Again” seems to conflict not only with his pledge of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth.”
In Sam’s world, only liberal dual citizens can strive to make America great.
Maybe Sam is right. After all, Israel is one of the most peaceful and open countries on earth. Yet, to be a dual citizen of the warlike New Zealanders is appalling. /s
Obama Good! Trump Bad!
A few comments:
“Obama’s race wars in Africa”: I can assume that you are either referring to the Libyan war, which resulted in the attacks on various individuals not of North African descent, or to internal African conflicts, involving people of races that the US would not classify as such (Such as Nilo-Hamitic, and at least two others.)
“Trump destroying Libya and Syria”: TBMK, Trump is a fan of the elected government of Syria, and while he is denying refugees the ability to escape Syria, he’s no fan of the bad guys causing most of the refugee crisis, and may even work with Syria and Russia to stop them.
“Israeli dual citizenship”: I’m no fan of the Israeli government or Barbara Boxer, and only like Frank for Dodd-Frank, but the canard of Israeli dual citizenship is a myth, for almost all politicians, with the possible exception of Rahm Emmanuel.
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2015/jun/11/backstory-behind-diane-rehms-question-bernie-sande/
And note the last section:
“In fact, it is common for Jews who are dual U.S.-Israel citizens to renounce one or the other before serving in official government capacities(.)” Did Thiel?
I’m not going to address the epistemologically challenged ideas and lies in your comment; I’ll let others here do that.
Speaking of rants, though, I did laugh like hell when you pulled out your “Sam Biddles’ rant is…epistemic closure!!!” – a turn of phrase that highfalutin conservatives can’t even wrap their heads around; but they, unlike you, at least know it’s overuse and misuse has been signaling the end of intellectuals and intellectual thought in conservatism.
For those watching, modern libertarianism is now in its death throes. Thank goodness; because it’s been an uneducated mess.
I guess the erasure of history regarding Obama’s arming of Nazi groups in the Ukraine … is for you, epistemologically necessary. How does your epistemology miss the fact that Obama sought for and received hundreds of millions for nuclear weapons? Why is your epistemology so dead-on-arrival that you can’t accept the simple fact that Obama has deported more immigrants than any president in history? Does your epistemology allow for the fact that Obama armed misogynist gay-hating jihadists for the purpose of regime change?
I think your epistemology is still-birthed … just another form of epistemic closure, not a methodology to understand the material world, if those facts get in the way of your pseudo-intellectual liberal ideology and Milquetoast obfuscation and apologetics.
Thank you for not including some of the several previous lies in with your reply. That’s some progress, at least. Next? Try not lying in the first place – saves us all time.
In future use, despite it’s current trend among your brethren, try using “lie” instead of “epistemic closure.” That says clearly what you think about a claim someone’s made.
Then, use your argument to frame how you think the opposing argument (lie) is an “epistemic closure” using examples to bolster your “it’s a lie” claim. Should work better for you.
>try using “lie” instead of “epistemic closure.”
Hold on! That’s an awfully erudite phrase there, and it just may be possible that you don’t understand it sufficiently. It may have a more nuanced meaning like “describing what is most likely not a true falsehood in language that the speaker/writer feels shows his superior knowledge.” Or something of that sort.
I was talking to a philosophy major at some fraternity rush party at some university that I don’t attend, and he said “epistemic closure” few times, and big dummy me thought he was talking about a medical condition! I commiserated with him and wished him a speedy recovery, whereupon he abruptly walked away! Boy, was my face read after I looked it up on the internet!
Seek help. I don’t think Sam or any other epistemically-challenged liberal is lying. It is a pathology.
Liberals remind me of Superman. When a politician with a ‘D’ by their name is starting wars, deporting millions and expanding executive powers, they are the mild-mannered Clark Kent. Yet magically, when a politician with an ‘R’ by their name emerges, they take to the streets in strength to fight evil.
What is their secret? Do they step into a phone booth
” I don’t think Sam or any other epistemically-challenged liberal is lying. It is a pathology.”
That’s a lie. The pathology is in creating unnecessarily long winded and wordy diatribes to try and explain why you think someone isn’t agreeing with you. It’s overly complicated and leads to more misunderstandings, not less.
In other words, try using the format of “I disagree with you and here’s why” instead of cluttering things up with multiple rhetorical questions, catch-phrases and breathless talking points.
This article is not up to Intercept standards. Telling us what Thiel’s hopes? Really? Apocalypse? Give me a break!
Sam relationship to Peter Thiel reminds me of that old hit, featured in the movie Blue Velvet:
“In dreams I walk with you. In dreams I talk to you.”
Elites have tried this before, with rather poor final results:
The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allen Poe (it is based on a true story, really, see #lyingmedia)