\u201cOver the past two months, Mr Thiel has met with the country\u2019s president, Javier Milei, and his ministers; purchased a mansion in one of Buenos Aires\u2019 most exclusive neighborhoods; and hosted a dinner with local economists where he discussed the Antichrist, one of his favorite conversation topics, according to Argentine officials and people familiar with Mr. Thiel\u2019s activities,\u201d reports the Times. \u201cMr Thiel, who has a history of collecting backup countries as he hedges his bets against the United States, is considering making Argentina another Plan B, according to two people familiar with his thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
He does have a bit of coin. Forbes puts his net wealth at $29bn, which, converted into New Zealand currency, is about 3.2 billion $15 p\u0101ua pies at Puku Pies & Kai in Petone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His wealth stems from enterprises including PayPal and the not-remotely-dystopian <\/a>Palantir and he has done many cool things including bankrolling Donald Trump campaigns, secretly funding Hulk Hogan\u2019s lawsuit that bankrupted the website Gawker and musing<\/a> that democracy and freedom are not compatible and that government is \u201can almost literally demonic entity\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thiel developed an appetite for an \u201cescape hatch\u201d out of a general prepper concern about an Armageddon triggered by, say, nuclear war or artificial intelligence. That has reportedly been reignited by prospects of something truly sinister: a tax on billionaires in California. Argentina especially appeals, it seems, thanks to the approach of the firebrand rightwing president, Javier Milei, who presumably ticks just enough of Thiel\u2019s strange authoritarian-libertarian philosophical boxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderscoring his belief in the country, Mr Thiel, 58, has temporarily relocated his family to Argentina and enrolled his children in a local school,\u201d sources told the Times. \u201cThe Argentine government has also explored offering the billionaire permanent residence or even citizenship, a person familiar with Mr Thiel\u2019s plans said, though it\u2019s currently unclear whether he would accept.\u201d<\/p>\n Alas, for New Zealand, the mood music is grim. According to our leading Thielologist, Matthew Nippert of the New Zealand Herald<\/a>, Thiel last year wound down his business interests in the country to almost nothing but the passport.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why would Citizen Thiel abandon the downunder bosom, swap the land of the hobbits for the land of the Pumas? Is he mad about Rod Drury, one of his referees on his application for citizenship, being awarded New Zealander of the Year before he was? Is he mad about the authorities rejecting <\/a>his bid to build a spooky lodge in a Queenstown hillside? Is it because Air New Zealand cut back their domestic schedule?\u00a0<\/p>\n Is it because Christopher Luxon is a mushy mojo-loving liberal? Could Thiel be persuaded to turn his back on Buenos Aires and embrace again the glories of Queenstown if his friend David Seymour became prime minister and grew out his sideburns?\u00a0<\/p>\nDonald Trump and New Zealander Peter Thiel in 2016. (Photo: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The New York Times headline today, and David Seymour\u2019s Instagram post from January.<\/p>\n