In 2019, Mark Lutter—whose nonprofit received $$$ from the Thiel-backed Emergent Ventures in 2018—said, “we’re putting out a white paper looking at Venezuela…assuming this transfer of power does go thru … And if you u can get charter cities to be part of the conversation,” there is “opportunity…” 1/
4/ Receipt re the November 2018 announcement of Emergent Ventures’ grant to Mark Lutter and his Center for Innovative Government Research (dba the Charter Cities Institute). marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…
6/ Here’s the Charter Cities Institute’s 2024 Annual Report, which begins with a note from Executive Director Mark Lutter: “In addition to our success in Africa, we’ve begun to explore global possibilities, including India, Central Asia, South America, and the United States.” chartercitiesinstitute.org/wp-content/upl…
7/ Here is the Charter Cities Institute’s (CCI) 2019 Annual Report. It says that Founders Fund (which was co-founded by Peter Thiel) hosted CCI’s San Francisco Summit. It also says that the 1517 Fund (which was co-founded by Michael Gibson, a key figure in the Thiel Fellowship) hosted Lutter on its podcast.” chartercitiesinstitute.org/wp-content/upl…
8/ The 2019 Annual Report of Mark Lutter’s Charter Cities Institute also includes a section titled “Make Honduras Great.” Again, CCI received a grant from the Thiel-backed Emergent Ventures in late 2018.
9/ Yes, Mark Lutter (of the Charter Cities Institute) is a top proponent of Trump “Freedom Cities.” You can find this “Freedom Cities” white paper on CCI’s website. chartercitiesinstitute.org/wp-content/upl…
17/ Putting aside Joe Lonsdale’s advocacy of public hangings, why does he think he might be “in charge later”??? And in charge of what exactly?
18/ Last year, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale RTd this thread, which says Trump shld act fast & “Fire people who can't be fired. Force them to litigate. Mass deport people who can't be deported. Force them to litigate. Cancel 100s of billions in funding that are not lawful to cancel & force them to litigate.”
20/ Joe Lonsdale—Peter Thiel’s Palantir co-founder—writes that, “It’s NOT sane for the state itself to provide education...” Thiel Fellowship co-founder Michael Gibson has similarly expressed a desire to abolish public education.
21/ Mark Lutter QTd this thread & told me to “at” him next time.
22/ So I did and eagerly await his response. @MarkLutter
23/ While we wait, here’s some additional info. In addition to the Charter Cities Institute, Mark Lutter belongs to the Frontier Foundation alongside Josh Abbottoy who wrote in 2023 that “America is going to need a Protestant Franco,” a reference to Spain’s deceased murderous Catholic dictator.” frontierfoundation.org
26/ The 2019 Annual Report for Mark Lutter’s Charter Cities Institute (CCI) says that the 1517 Fund (co-founded by the Thiel Fellowship’s Michael Gibson) hosted Mark Lutter on its podcast” & that Founders Fund (co-founded by Peter Thiel) hosted CCI’s Summit. chartercitiesinstitute.org/wp-content/upl…
@MarkLutter 27/ “Abolish public schools!”
- Michael Gibson (1517 Fund, Thiel Fellowship)
@MarkLutter 28/ “First Greenland and then the Moon, 51 and 52”
- Michael Gibson
@MarkLutter 29/ “We need more nations, not fewer” - Michael Gibson
@MarkLutter 30/ “Network State” leader Balaji Srinivassan (advisor of Pronomos Capital) & Patri Friedman (founder of Pronomos Capital) attended the 2019 Summit for Mark Lutter’s Charter Cities Institute. The Summit was hosted by Founders Fund (co-founded by Peter Thiel).
@MarkLutter 31/ “De-Blueification is the goal. Blues out, right?” - Balaji Srinivasan, author of “The Network State: How to Start a New Country.” (Article by Gil Duran) missionlocal.org/2024/05/balaji…
@MarkLutter 32/ The Charter Cities Institute website says that Joe Lonsdale (another close associate of Peter Thiel) is “one of our supporters”. chartercitiesinstitute.org/updates/charte…
@MarkLutter 33/ This Joe Lonsdale, the one who recently advocated public hangings.
34/ Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale—a supporter of Mark Lutter’s Charter Cities Institute (per CCI’s website)—co-founded the University of Austin Texas (UATX) in 2021. Last year, UATX’s “Convocation Address” was titled, “In Defense of Inequality.”
“To the class of 2029: you have chosen to rebel. Not against hierarchy, but against its abandonment.” I found this post because Lonsdale RTd it.
@MarkLutter 35/ Joe Lonsdale’s RT. I screen grabbed this last year.
36/ Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale—a supporter of Mark Lutter’s Charter Cities Institute (per CCI’s website)—RTd this thread, which says Trump shld act fast & “Fire people who can't be fired. Force them to litigate. Mass deport people who can't be deported. Force them to litigate. Cancel 100s of billions in funding that are not lawful to cancel & force them to litigate.” (I screen-grabbed this last year.)
@MarkLutter 37/ Oh look. Mark Lutter and Michael Gibson (1517 Fund & the Thiel Fellowship) also discussed building charter cities in Venezuela in 2019 on the 1517 podcast. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/026…
@MarkLutter 38/ Michael Gibson (1517 Fund, Thiel Fellowship) posted this yesterday: “Someone should pitch Rubio on a charter city in Venezuela and Cuba.”
@MarkLutter 39/ During Peter Thiel’s 2024 “Hereticon” event, Michael Gibson co-led a talk titled “Manifest Destiny:Greenland, Cuba, & the New American Colony.” abovo.co/piratewires@pi…
@MarkLutter 40/ Earlier today, Mark Lutter QTd this thread as follows.
@MarkLutter 41/ This prompted me to reply as follows.
@MarkLutter 42/ He, in turn, responded as follows.
@MarkLutter 43/ Prompting me to reply as follows.
.@threadreaderapp please unroll
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William Donahue (president of College Republicans of America) says that he is promoting “integralism, not theocracy,” but his post misleadingly omits that “integralism” is shorthand for “Catholic integralism” & that the doctrine seeks to “integrate” Church & state. 1/ uscatholic.org/articles/20191…
Remember when Trump:
* Posted a photo of himself wielding a baseball bat next to a photo of Alvin Bragg?
* Mocked MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi for getting hit with a rubber bullet?
* Praised Greg Gianforte for assaulting a reporter?
* Joked about the assault on Paul Pelosi? 1/
The Daily Signal—launched by Heritage—gushes that JD Vance & Trump have “Orchestrated Deal to Save TikTok”
They omit that, as of June, prospective buyers include Oracle founder Larry Ellison (who helped Heritage w/ a Project 2025 database) & Thiel ally Marc Andreessen’s a16z. 1/
2/ Link to the Daily Signal article, which says nothing about Ellison, Oracle, Andreessen, or a16z. dailysignal.com/2025/09/15/how…
3/ “A consortium of companies, including Oracle [founded by Larry Ellison] … & a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), is back in the running to acquire TikTok. As reported by Bloomberg [in June]
…, the group is allegedly the buyer revealed by…Trump last weekend.” 7/3/25 datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/oracle…
The Daily Signal gushes that JD Vance (Peter Thiel’s protégée) & Trump have “Orchestrated Deal to Save TikTok,” adding that the US-backed buyer has yet to be named.
They omit that, as of June, one of the prospective buyers is a16z—founded by Thiel ally Marc Andreessen. 1/
👀The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy has published an article by A3P attorney Josh Hammer, Timon Cline, & Yoram Hazony. It calls on SCOTUS to reverse the 1947 Everson case, which held that the Establishment Clause applies to states & requires church-state separation. 1/
While we were distracted, Trump appointed Josh Craddock—who recently signed a letter urging the DOJ to use the Comstock Act to curtail abortion pill distribution—to serve as Deputy Assistant AG in the DOJ’s OLC. Don’t worry. He probly won’t do much until *after* the midterms… 1/
2/ Josh Craddock announced his appointment on 7/2/25.