Peter Thiel, the tech oligarch aligned with MAGA, is taking his bizarre Antichrist lecture series to Tennessee later this month. The move follows similar events at the Vatican and in San Francisco, extending an already strange tour into the Bible Belt.

Details remain notably sparse. The event page calls the lecture a “closed-door, off-the-record event,” a description that does little to make the gathering sound less creepy or secretive.

The event is being hosted by The Pamphleteer, an online Nashville news publication that presents itself as an alternative to “corporate and progressive” media. Meriwether Academy, a Nashville nonprofit, is also listed as a host.

Meriwether Academy says its mission is to “grow fraternal networks and educational societies across America.” Its ultimate goal is developing boys’ schools in every state that offer classical and outdoor education.

Tennessee is a curious destination for a Big Tech leader’s lecture tour. The state has become central to the backlash against artificial intelligence data centers, even as powerful technology figures continue pressing their influence in politics.

Vice President JD Vance, a protégé of Thiel’s, has also promoted rhetoric about an Antichrist possibly living among us. That assertion has surfaced as Vance has publicly derided liberal Christians.

Elsewhere in the collision between technology and government, three Republicans joined Democrats in opposing a cryptocurrency regulation bill that many Republicans, especially President Donald Trump, have sought to pass.

Democrats have raised concerns that the measure, known as the Clarity Act, could help enrich Trump and his family. Trump took in more than $1 billion from the cryptocurrency industry in 2025.

Former President Barack Obama, meanwhile, reportedly urged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic lawmakers to confront the risks posed by rapidly advancing AI technologies. Obama delivered that message at a private fundraiser last week.

The former president reportedly argued that Democrats should act if they regain control of the House in November’s midterms. Trump and Republicans have resisted efforts to regulate AI.

“This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” Obama reportedly said.

Trump also effectively blessed Flock Safety’s license plate readers over the weekend, declaring, “I sort of like ’em.” The cameras have been used by police officers to stalk people, making his casual approval another politically awkward embrace of invasive technology.

His opposition to AI regulation was also on display when he called into a technology conference and discussed blocking regulation with Nvidia’s CEO. Nvidia is one of the companies in which Trump purchased stock while serving as president.

Trump dismissed concerns about AI’s effects on society as a “hoax” and supported data centers because “they make people wealthy.” His administration’s resistance to regulation comes as he has personally invested in the AI industry.

The bipartisan backlash against Big Tech was visible Tuesday at The Pro-Human Assembly in Washington. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Trump ally Steve Bannon joined other AI skeptics to discuss an approach to technology centered on people.

Elon Musk, meanwhile, is threatening a defamation lawsuit against Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind a documentary due to be released soon. The film reportedly presents unflattering portrayals of the technology mogul, while Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions has denied the defamation claims.

Jigsaw Productions said its “right to engage in open debate and fact-based examinations of powerful public figures” is protected by the First Amendment. The company added that this is “something that should be recognized and defended by all Americans, including the associates of Elon Musk, who has proclaimed himself to be a ‘free speech absolutist.’”

A Justice Department whistleblower has also brought forward allegations of possible lawbreaking by federal officials during Trump’s authoritarian crackdown on voting rights. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was among the senators who received the whistleblower report.

Padilla discussed the report Monday on MS NOW’s “The Weeknight.” Together, the week’s developments offered a crowded snapshot of tech power, political influence, government resistance and public concern, with Thiel’s secretive Antichrist lectures providing the most surreal entry.