Peter Thiel
Tech-right post-libertarian; explicit national-conservative framing and Trump alignment.
Who they are.
Co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund. The original 'PayPal Mafia' godfather and one of the earliest Silicon Valley figures to publicly back Donald Trump (2016). Thiel personally bankrolled JD Vance's 2022 US Senate run in Ohio and Blake Masters's 2022 US Senate run in Arizona, making him arguably the single most consequential GOP donor of the cycle relative to dollars deployed.
The chain.
- Protect Ohio Values PACSole funder (Vance 2022 Senate)
- Saving Arizona PACSole funder (Masters 2022 Senate)
- JD Vance (R, OH Sen / VP)$15M+ to Protect Ohio Values PAC 20222022/2024 · Vance won OH Senate; later elected Vice President 2024
- Blake Masters (R, AZ Senate 2022)$15M+ to Saving Arizona PAC2022 · Masters lost general to Mark Kelly
- Donald Trump (R, President 2016)$1.25M direct + high-profile RNC convention speech2016 · Won 2016 general election
The targets.
On the record.
“I'm proud to be gay. I'm proud to be a Republican. But most of all, I'm proud to be an American.”
“We need to have a serious conversation about what makes America competitive.”
Sources.
Questions about Peter Thiel.
Who is Peter Thiel?
Thiel co-founded PayPal (1998), Palantir Technologies (2003), and Founders Fund (2005), and was the first outside investor in Facebook. He is the original 'PayPal Mafia' figure and arguably the most ideologically active tech billionaire in US politics. He was one of the only Silicon Valley figures to publicly endorse Trump in 2016.
What was Thiel's role in JD Vance's career?
Thiel was Vance's most consequential political patron. He hired Vance at his venture firm Mithril after Vance's bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, then funded Protect Ohio Values PAC with $15M+ to back Vance's 2022 Senate primary against more-establishment opponents. Vance won the primary and the general, and was subsequently elected Vice President in 2024.
Did Thiel give to Trump in 2024?
Thiel publicly stepped back from direct 2024 political giving relative to his 2022 footprint, but his political influence operated through Vance's vice-presidential candidacy and through the broader tech-right ecosystem he had funded. He remained a defining figure in the 2024 tech-right donor narrative even at reduced direct spend.