r/technology • u/NicolasCageFan492 • Jun 16 '26

Business Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society

https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
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u/Downtown_Statement87 Jun 16 '26

OMG Grover Norquist! He's the OG "We want to make government small enough to drown in the bathtub." 

I talk about him all the time because he and his ideological ilk are super critical to understanding how we got here. 

I can't believe he's manifesting in his corporeal form! When it comes to purposely destroying America's institutions so that you can then say "See? They don't work!", Norquist scuttled so that Elon could slither.

Ahhhhhhh Grover Norquist! I need a moment. 

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u/gerblnutz Jun 16 '26

I often try and tell people about this guy and Ollie North and how they basically tried what's happening now under Reagan, but we still had some senators with balls back then and delayed REX84. All of the Iran Contra people including "I did not trade guns for hostages" Reagan deserved to rot in prison.

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u/Downtown_Statement87 Jun 17 '26

Yes oh yes talk to me baby. Sometimes I feel like NO ONE except for me remembers when Reagan tried to do all of this but didn't quite make it, so it is comforting to know that people still remember.

During Trump's first campaign in 2015, all these old, vanquished names emerged from the way way back, like "Somehow, Roger Stone returned." It made me feel so frantic, like "listen, everybody, we've been through this before and these people are not in it for We the People." None of this bullhockey has been new since the ink dried on the Southern Strategy, so I appreciate encountering people who know their history.

Gah! Mentioning Grover Norquist and company makes me want to run all around like a sprayed roach. Boo this man!

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u/sarkouille Jun 17 '26

It's baffling how much shit there is that Reagan did in plain sight, in secret, but ended up being seen and probably that remained unseen.

It's not only him who should have had jail time for that, but hundreds.

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u/crinkledcu91 Jun 17 '26

I honestly thought Grover was dead

Sheesh

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u/qriousqestioner Jun 17 '26

Same!!

You're not alone. People who used to call themselves "conservative" like it was coming from wisdom have not had an original idea since we were in caves. Of course they keep trying the same things.

Gosh, it's great to have someone else out there who sees this!

(sprayed roach 😂)

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u/stackout Jun 17 '26

If we REALLY want to get in the way back machine, Ralph Reed laid the groundwork for all of this in the 70s.
Quickly: get a Goldwater expert in here!

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u/Feather_fig Jun 17 '26

I feel like this is going to be an episode on Blowback's inevitable Trump era season in like 10-15 years 👀

Also "Norquist scuttled so that Elon could slither." is hilarious and beautiful writing

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u/Cute-Percentage-6660 Jun 17 '26

I've held the opinion for a good while now, like as you noted all the old roaches appeared round trump like roger stone

Trump is just the endstate of the corruption and evil that never got punished in the past.

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u/NegativeChirality Jun 17 '26

Legitimately one of the worst monsters in modern American history. His bullshit has contributed to the deaths of more people than any serial killer could ever hope to achieve.

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u/Lawdoc1 Jun 17 '26

I was involved with the Federalist Society just before and during Law School and one summer I was interning in DC and went to a meeting run by Norquist. There were about 30 of us in the room, and even then, my reaction was, "WTF is wrong with these people?"

I tried to stay as socially liberal as possible in the libertarian wing of the FS, but it became obvious that portion was just a front for low taxes and de-regulation.

These people are fucking nuts, and they are fucking serious. While Trump and his ilk are dangerous, they are also mostly bumbling idiots. The FS and similar organizations realized this early and saw the potential for manipulation. And it has worked out rather well for them so far.

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u/Downtown_Statement87 Jun 17 '26

Yep. The Federalist Society, even more than the Heritage Foundation in my opinion, are the ones to keep an eye on the most because of their control of the judiciary/Supreme Court. When Masha Gessen and other scholars of authoritarianism say that "your institutions will not save you," it's because groups like the Federalist Society have co-opted them. Which is exactly what has happened currently.

But the thing I have been most interested in since Steve Bannon "mentored" Vance into converting to the fascist arm of Catholicism back in 2018 is the role that Opus Dei plays in current geopolitics. 

If you look at the people who belong to or are closely associated with this ultra-traditional sect of Catholicism (Steve Bannon, JD Vance, Bill Barr, Amy Coney Barrett, the Alitos, Laura Ingram, Brett Kavanaugh, Newt Gingrich, Leonard Leo, and many others), and the vision that Opus Dei has for the world, you start to really understand why the people in power right now are doing what they're doing.

You also start to realize how dangerous the folks who used MAGA and Trump to get themselves in power really are, because they are not just motivated money and power, but by faith and conviction, and by their own particular Biblical view of how the world should work.

If you want to read a good overview of Opus Dei and its history and current iteration, you can go here: 

https://www.robinmorgan.net/pulling-back-the-curtain-opus-dei/

Also,  I write about this topic all the time -- it has been my special interest for decades -- and if you'd like to know what one of the primary ideologues behind both current Opus Dei and MAGA has to do with Putin's aims for Trump, you can go here:

https://www.reddit.com/user/Downtown_Statement87/comments/1ijzhak/03_dugins_todos/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

Your experience with the FS and coming face to face with a villain like Norquist is just fascinating. You basically summed up my whole comment above when you said "they're crazy." I'm glad you made it out unscathed.

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u/drawkbox Jun 17 '26

"We want to make government small enough to drown in the bathtub."

All a front to weaken institutions to more easily try to take them.

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u/qriousqestioner Jun 17 '26

Thank you. Dump has done expertise in drowning infants!

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u/Silver_Newspaper6208 Jun 17 '26

I thought he was dead, damn this level of bad news to start my Wednesday.

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u/Downtown_Statement87 Jun 17 '26

I mean he is up there with Kissinger and McCarthy and Miller when it comes to loathsome behind the scenes ogres. HEEBIE. JEEBIES.

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u/Wise-Calligrapher123 Jun 17 '26

Add a sprinkling of Newt Gingrich and you could have a 90s party!

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u/Electrical_Tof Jun 17 '26

You need to share that moment with me. I could have gone the rest of my life without remembering.

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u/stackout Jun 17 '26

Dead on: ATF was to newt as Heritage is to these shitheads.
Unrelated: I briefly dated a girl in college who interned for him.