Thiel, the founder of Palantir and a companion of the so-called Paypal Mafia along with Musk, went bankrupt much of Vance’s 2022-senate run.
He is perhaps the most mysterious and most feared of Vance’s billionaires in the Trump administration, the source that served the first time, tells me. And they are happy to see less of him compared to when he played a more publicly active and conventional role as a donor in 2016, including giving a speech at the Republican National Convention, where he especially lamented as “instead of going to Mars, we invaded the Middle East.”
In Trumpworld, Thiel is now crediting “lowering his head.” (“Now, does that mean he has retired from politics,” they say, “or withdrew from politics publicly?”)
Thiel did not return a request for comment.
The man holding the cards
Although Vance partially established his mark in the party as a critique of “Big Te Techniko” – including Wondering around data collectionCall to cancel section 230, and even will Break up some companies Under Antitrust Law – his arrival at the ticket and later in the White House brought with him a worldview and links to a network of literal elites, which have never been comfortable with the populist magic wing, the back of the Trump movement for the past decade.
“The base always has suspicion of Te Techniko, and Steve Bannon is a good symbol of this,” Trumpworld Source near the president tells me. “There is always this high suspicious level with the Te Technika crowd, the Tech Bros.”
“JD still holds those cards with the Tech Bros,” the source close to Trump tells me.
“I think he grows only in strength, to the point, we have a choice in 2028 and I think he is the predecessor, but is there even a list of challengers now?” Trump’s former official official adds.
Some sources of Trumpworld noted that Vance’s role as the ambassador for the Libertarian Te Technika Right and its eccentric financiers were largely a result of a cash crisis facing the Trump campaign in the duration of the general election of 2024.
Vance proved to be the right person at the right time, the source close to Trump tells me when I remember what they describe as a “perfect storm” of factors going in favor of Vance this time last year. “At that moment, [Trump] noticed that you have to do something else. ”
Just because Silicon Valley figures supported Trump does not mean they have their ear directly, at least not all the time. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s billionaire Executive President, Tiktok’s expected US buyer, reportedly met privately with Trump several times In the last few weeks. But Marc Andreessen, the billionaire investor and former program engineer who writes manifestations in his spare time, gained a reputation in Trumpworld to overwhelm his relationship with Trump after he spent time at Mar-A Lake working on overseeing personnel during the transition, a senior management source tells Wired. Since then, Trump doesn’t talk to Andreessen “so much,” the source told me. Andreessen, one of the Tech Right’s main thought leaders and influences on the party’s wing of Silicon Valley, practices his influence “through the Vice President, mainly,” the Supreme Administrative Source says.
