Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Some may have heard of the tech geniuses who compose “The PayPal Mafia.” The mainstream media glamorizes them as “tech visionaries,” a band of rebellious geniuses who disrupted finance and went on to build empires. Yet, beneath the surface of the so-called PayPal Mafia is not innovation for the public good, but the construction of a new form of oligarchy—one more dangerous than the robber barons of the 19th century. Why? Because this new class of elites doesn’t merely build companies. These men influence monetary systems, shape global narratives, and fund policy engineering through unelected channels.
PayPal emerged in the late 1990s during the dot-com bubble, which I had warned would crash by 2000. PayPal became a clever workaround to bypass the traditional banking system, cloaked under the premise of convenience. This so-called “mafia” includes Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, David Sacks, Scott Banister, Roelof Botha, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, Premal Shah, Yu Pan, and Yishan Wong, among others who had roots in PayPal. Each went on to build their own tech empire spanning across biotech, social media, space, venture capitalism, and surveillance.
The “paypal mafia” photographed at Tosca in San Francisco, Oct, 2007. Back row from left: Jawed Karim, co-founder Youtube; Jeremy Stoppelman CEO Yelp; Andrew McCormack, managing partner Laiola Restaurant; Premal Shah, Pres of Kiva; 2nd row from left: Luke Nosek, managing partner The Founders Fund; Kenny Howery, managing partner The Founders Fund; David Sacks, CEO Geni and Room 9 Entertainment; Peter Thiel, CEO Clarium Capital and Founders Fund; Keith Rabois, VP BIz Dev at Slide and original Youtube Investor; Reid Hoffman, Founder Linkedin; Max Levchin, CEO Slide; Roelof Botha, partner Sequoia Capital; Russel Simmons, CTO and co-founder of Yelp
Fortune Magazine ran an article about these men in 2007, and even asked them to dress up as traditional mafia gangsters. These men are the new tech elite who wield immense power and influence. Elon Musk’s deep ties to Donald Trump shone a new light on how deeply the so-called PayPal Mafia has become embedded in politics and geopolitical affairs.
I reported how Peter Thiel provided J.D. Vance a platform to enter politics. Thiel introduced Vance to Silicon Valley and welcomed him into the scene of the tech elite. Theil’s Palantir was recently awarded a massive contract to create the first US federal centralized government database that will house every piece of data on every American citizen. Again, this is happening under the premise of convenience.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security Administration, and the Department of Education have already begun working with Palantir engineers to develop the most extensive federal database in US history. Social security numbers, medical claims, tax filings, bank information, immigration records, education records, debt—every piece of information that various agencies have collected on American citizens will be transferred to the coming centralized database.
Every world leader from Putin to Pope Leo XIV has issued dire warnings over advancing AI technology, believing it is the biggest threat to the future of civilization. The Big Beautiful Bill has several provisions related to AI, most notably a 10-year moratorium period during which state and local governments will be prohibited from regulating AI.
The bill awards the Department of Commerce $500 million to secure federal IT systems using AI. The Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Health and Human Services will also receive direct funding to promote the use of AI technology.
Prohibiting state regulations ensures that all technology is guarded and controlled by the federal government. There is resistance from both parties, as those who understand technology know the power this would provide the federal government.
“We don’t get the full bill text until very close to the time to vote for it, and so that was one section that was two pages that I didn’t see,” Marjorie Taylor Greene stated, adding, “I find it so problematic that I’m willing to come forward and admit there are two pages that I didn’t read, because I never want to see a situation where state rights are stripped away.”
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) called the provision a “giant gift to Big Tech.” This ban will allow AI companies to ignore consumer privacy protections, let deepfakes spread, and allow companies to profile and deceive consumers using AI. After stopping comprehensive national privacy from passing last year, Republicans are going after states and leaving consumers unprotected online,” she stated.
There are theories that the Elon v. Trump clash is based on this provision. Regardless, the PayPal Mafia tech elite have aligned in a form of techno-feudalism, and they’ve successfully entered the US government. Thiel’s Palantir feeds intelligence to the government. Musk receives massive state subsidies for Tesla and SpaceX while criticizing government inefficiency. Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, funds political influence operations and AI censorship platforms under the banner of democracy.
What we are witnessing is the consolidation of influence outside the democratic process.
Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
There is a conspiracy theory that the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is directly related to the AI provision in the Big Beautiful Bill. Looking back at Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance, Vance had no political experience before Thiel funded his ascension into the Senate after funding his entry into venture capitalism. Both Thiel and Musk urged Trump to select Vance as his VP candidate, and many believe this was to propel the so-called PayPal mafia into politics. The three men are also strongly associated with Curtis Yarvin (pictured above), the mastermind behind the Dark MAGA, Dark Enlightenment movement.
Tesla doesn't need subsidies. The other unprofitable EV makers do.
We are giving $7,500 to people who buy GAS cars with a small battery. We are capping the price of EVs, hurting the profitability of the industry.
Now, the media claims Musk turned on Trump because he is enraged by the EV tax cuts and subsidies. Yet, only six months ago, Musk was on Capitol Hill arguing for the abolishment of EV tax credits. “Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!” Musk posted on his platform, X, on July 16, 2024. Musk had been offloading his White House duties in recent weeks and this over-the-top public feud seems fabricated.
In comes a potential conspiracy of “Dark MAGA” or “Dark Enlightenment.” Curtis Yarvin, a former programmer turned blogger, has long argued that American democracy is irreparable and should be replaced by a corporate-run monarchy led by Big Tech. Yarvin sees democracy not as civilization’s peak but as its degeneration—a system that obscures real power, which he claims is held by a “Cathedral” of media, academia, and bureaucracies that spread progressive ideologies. Yarvin calls his views “the Dark Enlightenment” or “neo-reaction” and firmly believes that the ideal government would resemble a feudal state or a tech corporation with centralized power.
Yarvin wrote “An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives” in 2008, which outlines his viewpoints. There is a ton of information he put forth on his substack, Grey Mirror. He believes that the tech elite should rule as they are the only ones intelligent enough to fix our failed society. The R.A.G.E. strategy is to ” Retire All Government Employees and replace them with private corporations under a complete dictatorship run by a “national CEO,” or what’s called a dictator. Yarvin describes his approach as “a humane alternative to genocide.”
CNN reported on Yarvin’s views, as did Politico, Time, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and every other big media agency. His views are not a conspiracy, but whether or not the tech elite has adopted these views is unknown; he has met with numerous members of the Trump Administration, including J.D. Vance. Yarvin has said he is “coaching” Theil, according to Time Magazine, and he even called him a “friend” in an interview with the Hoover Institution.
Yarvin was invited as a guest to Trump’s Coronation Ball in January 2025. In a follow-up interview with Politico, Yarvin stated that Trump’s first administration basically did not achieve anything for its supporters as opposed to its lobbyists. I’m not talking to the high strategic command or whatever, but just my impression from my connections among low- and mid-level people is that they’ve figured some things out.” He said that Congress, not the president, truly runs the nation. “Actually, if the White House didn’t exist, America would still work.”
He also said that the Federal Reserve should be under the executive branch:
“It’s clearly not part of the legislative branch, it’s clearly not part of the judicial branch, so it’s clearly part of the executive branch. And because the Fed actually controls the monetary system, I can order it to mint the trillion-dollar coin, or more to the point, I can basically order the Fed to buy assets. And because I can order the Fed to buy assets, I can order the Fed to buy notes issued by new institutions.
That allows me to basically come face to face with two very clear facts. One is that the U.S. doesn’t really have an executive branch — it has a legislative branch, and it has an administrative branch, which is basically managed not by a monarchical president, but by an oligarchical Congress.”
Washington has been briefed on the Dark Enlightenment movement. The concept itself is not a conspiracy, as Yarvin and others do believe that a corporate-run dystopia is the future. Steve Bannon, as reported by the New York Times, explained that a number of tech elites were on the government’s watchlist:
“I asked him if he saw the same deep-level philosophical tension I did. “A tension?” he asked. “I would almost argue it’s an unbridgeable gap.”
He named a roster of major figures on the tech right whom he saw as enemies: Mr. Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the neomonarchist writer Mr. Yarvin and Balaji Srinivasan, an investor and technologist who promotes the idea of network states, new countries run on blockchain.
Mr. Bannon accused the tech barons of promoting “technofeudalism” and “transhumanism” — bending human life into technologized and unnatural new forms. “This thing is all tied together,” he said. “They have a very well thought through philosophy and a very well thought through set of ideas, and they’re trying to implement that. And to me, everybody’s afraid, everybody’s scared because of their power.”
Before he entered the White House, Vance spoke favorably of Curtis Yarvin. “There’s this guy Curtis Yarvin, who has written about some of these things,” Vance said on a podcast in 2021, adding: “I think Trump is going to run again in 2024 [and] I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.”
Vance is certainly plugged in with the tech elite. Why did Elon Musk turn on Trump? I will avoid the more elaborate, far-fetched conspiracy theories (such as the Black Eye Club) and focus on what we know—the PayPal Mafia exists, as does the Dark Enlightenment theory. Musk is now calling for Trump to be impeached for a third time. Are the tech elite hoping to install Vance to the head position of POTUS? Time will tell the true plan, but this elaborate feud between Trump and Musk is too sudden not to raise suspicions.
Posted originally on Jun 4, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
If you were unfamiliar with the American analytics company Palanatir Technologies, prepare to hear about it on every news channel in the coming months. Donald Trump secured the presidency twice because he was the anti-establishment candidate. The White House has tasked Planatir with developing an extensive centralized federal database to house the personal data of every American citizen.
In March 2025, Donald Trump signed an “Information Silos” executive order focused on “removing unnecessary barriers to federal employees accessing government data and promoting inter‑agency data sharing are important steps toward eliminating bureaucratic duplication and inefficiency.”
Planatir was a clear choice. At least three DOGE employees formerly worked at Palantir, and co-founder Peter Thiel has supported both Trump and Vance on the campaign trail. Peter Thiel, who also co-founded PayPal with Elon Musk, donated around $1.5 million to Trump during his 2016 Presidential campaign. Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention and joined Trump’s transition team after he won. Thiel did not contribute to the Trump campaign in 2020 and stated he wanted to remain neutral by declining to back any political candidate in 2024 financially.
J.D. Vance would not be in his current position without Peter Thiel. Thiel spent $15 million helping JD Vance secure his Senate seat in the 2022 election. The two men met in 2011 after Thiel gave a speech at Yale Law School and developed a close friendship, with Thiel becoming a mentor to Vance and guiding him as he transitioned from law to venture capital. First, Thiel secured Vance a seat at Mithril Capital, another firm he co-founded. Vance went on to launch his own firm called Narya Capital, and Thiel heavily invested in his project. Thiel provided the doorway for Vance to reach key players in Silicon Valley who would go on to fund his political aspirations.
Going further, Peter Thiel introduced J.D. Vance to Donald Trump in 2021 at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago. Trump went on to support Vance’s 2022 Ohio Senate run, and as we know, tapped him on the shoulder two years later to run beside him as vice president.
Palantir has received $113 million in government contracts since Trump and Vance entered the White House. The Department of Defense awarded Palantir an additional $795 million last week. The company experienced a 45% YoY increase in government revenue in the first quarter of 2025 alone. The stock itself rose over 80% since Trump and Vance took office.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security Administration, and the Department of Education have already begun working with Palantir engineers to develop the most extensive federal database in US history. Social security numbers, medical claims, tax filings, bank information, immigration records, education records, debt—every piece of information that various agencies have collected on American citizens will be transferred tothe coming centralized database.
The agency has long worked with the US government. Former President Joe Biden awarded the company a contract during COVID through the Defense Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track vaccine distribution.
Alex Karp, the other founder of Plantir, said his company was focused on “the finding of hidden things” within massive databases. One can imagine the patterns that the government will seek from the American public. Yes, the government already has everyone’s data, but this centralized database will yield tremendous power and grant the government the ability to easily and instantaneously access every single trace of data their various agencies have compiled on US citizens.
The New York Times reported that Palantir employees are urging the company to reconsider this contract as they are worried it will damage the company’s reputation.
“We act as a data processor, not a data controller,” a spokesperson for Palantir said. “Our software and services are used under direction from the organisations that license our products: these organisations define what can and cannot be done with their data; they control the Palantir accounts in which analysis is conducted.” Essentially, the firm is stating that they merely compile the data that the government provides to them.
Government databases are routinely hacked. The threat of abuse is massive. India, Brazil, Estonia, and Pakistan are among the other nations that have compiled centralized databases on their citizens; however, no comparison has garnered more attention than China’s National Citizen Identity Information Center (NCIIC).
China boasts the most comprehensive and extensive citizen database in the world, containing data on over 1.3 billion citizens. The government has instant access to the lives of its citizens. Healthcare, education, legal information, banking—any and every possible pinch of data that could be gathered goes into the database. China has also collected biometric data from its citizens, including fingerprints, and in some instances, voice samples and facial scans have been recorded. The NCIIC is directly tied to China’s infamous Social Credit System, whereby the government assigns a score to each citizen based on their behavior.
The government could easily create digital IDs based on this centralized database. The United States has never defaulted on or canceled its currency. But what would happen if it became necessary to avoid a collapse? CBDC.
This initiative has sparked significant backlash among Trump’s supporters, who believed he was against government overreach. DOGE helped streamline government functions and reduce excessive waste. Some believe the database will help government agencies perform their tasks more efficiently, unaware of the sheer power this system will contain. Donald Trump is the President of the United States—he is the establishment now. The true regime change and restructuring of the system will not come until after 2032. In the meantime, Americans are now at risk of living under a dystopian surveillance state where their every action is monitored and tracked. It remains to be seen what “patterns” the new system will be seeking, but rest assured that personal capital will be of major interest to the US government as its debt rises.
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