Until his endorsement of Donald Trump, Peter Thiel was the darling of Silicon Valley.

Thiel’s book Zero to One, considered by many in Silicon Valley to be the bible of startup entrepreneurship, begins with a simple question, “What important truth do few people agree with you on?” For Donald Trump that simple truth was that an outsider like himself, with no support of a major party and with no political experience, could dramatically impact the shape of the US electorate and upend the political and financial establishments. Trump and his supporters want to tear apart the current “rigged” system and put in place systemic changes that will shape the US for generations to come.

So why does Thiel’s endorsement matter so much? The answer to that question comes from an understanding of Thiel’s philosophy of building and investing in companies, a philosophy that at its core relies on the process of going from nothing to something, zero to one. This is a process that is excruciatingly difficult, painful, and relies on great foresight. It is the iPhone that no one demanded, the streaming entertainment service that broke the major studio’s stranglehold on content, the electric car manufacturer that built a car that no one thought was possible, the private space company that puts satellites into orbit, and on and on.

This mindset is what Trump has brought back to America and Thiel has embraced. It is the mindset of pressing “reset” on a system that has evolved out of the control of everyday individuals who feel like they watch helplessly as those who they elect to serve them spin further and further away from the needs of everyday life. It is a mindset that invites American’s to take back control of their country and their life, not to merely be spectators. It is a break from the past and it is the creation of something new.

Thiel recognizes that this is an opportunity for Americans to take their country from Zero to One and he’s backing the only candidate left standing who wants to make this happen.

Every culture has a myth of decline from some golden age, and almost all peoples throughout history are pessimists…An indefinite pessimist looks onto a bleak future, but he has no idea what to do about it. This describes Europe since the early 1970’s, when the continent succumbed to undirected bureaucratic drift. Today the whole Eurozone is in slow-motion crisis, and nobody is in charge…Europeans just react to events as they happen and hope things don’t get worse. -Peter Thiel, Zero to One

Make no mistake about it, this is not a popular idea. It didn’t take long before the media jumped on Thiel for his speech at the National Press Club. Michelle Cottle of the Atlantic concludes that, “…Trumpism may be the biggest bubble to hit the body politic in decades. And when it inevitably pops, this time Thiel will be as much to blame for the resulting catastrophe as anyone.”

The NYT, Slate, Bloomberg and other media outlets are all piling on Thiel.

All of a sudden a man who was revered by many in Silicon Valley for his contrarian investment prowess and his ability to recognize both opportunities and bubbles has become inept, all because he dares to go against the status quo.

Thiel knows best. Disrupting a system is difficult, it is messy, and it takes great courage. The politicians, bankers, lobbyists, and liberal media who reside in their ivory tower echo-chambers and whose greatest cares in the world revolve around how they are perceived by their friends and how many new gluten-free restaurants they have visited have declared Thiel an enemy of the establishment.

For the first time in their lives the deck is not stacked in their favor and they are scared.