I am no fan of Thiel’s politics, but the accusation of him discriminating against Asians is most likely payback for his politics. As for bankrupting Gawker, that was a tremendous public service. Neither of those are reasons to disbelieve him.
The real reason to disbelieve him is because the “place to be” is industry dependent, and even then there are useful secondary markets. For example, both SV and NYC are poor choices to be at the forefront of medicine, or automotive techology, or energy.