Inside Peter Thiel’s Powerful Network That Anointed JD Vance

“WE HAVE A FORMER TECH INVESTOR IN THE WHITE HOUSE. GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH, BABY,” Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, wrote on X after Vance’s nomination was announced.

For Thiel, Vance’s presence on the roster is a winning bet on predictions. a decade ago when he took on the Rust Belt-born Yale Law School graduate as his protégé, joining a group that included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI founder Sam Altman.

Particularly after the publication of his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance impressed Thiel’s elite Silicon Valley group with what they saw as an omnivorous intellect, mild manners and an outsider’s story of growing up in working-class Ohio, a narrative that gained traction after the 2016 election, as tech elites sought to understand how their obsession with building the future has left so many Americans behind.

Thiel made him rich by grooming him to invest in companies that became popular with MAGA groups. He brought Vance into politics by bankrolling, along with other Silicon Valley donors, his successful 2022 Senate bid.

“For Peter,” said one person familiar with his thinking, “Vance is a generational bet.”

But Vance’s connections to the business world — along with his stances on social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage — has also drawn criticism. Critics have called him a “shillbilly,” arguing that his relationship with Thiel’s network could become a pay-to-play scenario.

“The best way to (implement) their elitist agenda and reactionary views is to take over regulation,” investor Del Johnson wrote on X, using a term describing private sector control of the regulatory process. “You ain’t seen nothing yet if you let the VC class take over the presidency.”

The report is based on 17 interviews with people familiar with Vance’s Valley career, his relationship with Thiel and the tech world’s ambitions for him if he were elected to the nation’s second-highest political office. Many of the people asked not to be identified to protect their relationships.

Thiel declined to comment. Vance did not respond to requests for comment.

Although Thiel became a major donor to Trump during the 2016 campaign, he was ultimately disappointed by his administration’s disorganization and lack of focus on science and innovation, according to several people familiar with his views.

But Vance’s selection helps Thiel like Trump. And Trump’s election comes amid a new, sharpened focus on issues critical to the tech world. The former president has embraced industry-friendly messages on electric vehicles, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Trump appeared on Sacks’ All-In podcast last month, where he called his Silicon Valley donors “geniuses.” And at this year’s Republican National Convention, he praised electric vehicle pioneer Elon Musk, saying, “We have to make life good for our smart people.”

In June, Sacks hosted Trump and Vance at his San Francisco home for a pricey fundraiser, where According to the attendee list, the pair met with more than 50 technology executives and other wealthy donors.

At the RNC, Sacks could be seen talking to Vance in Trump’s private box. Others in attendance said they had never seen an event so flooded with donors, lobbyists and other tech insiders.

The Biden administration, in turn, has enraged tech leaders by stymying the cryptocurrency industry, trying to regulate artificial intelligence and challenging corporate takeovers — a key avenue for startup founders to cash in. Sacks, Musk, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone and the founders of prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have all joined Trump in donating large sums to pro-Trump PACs.

If Trump retakes the White House, Vance could help transform the tech industry from a political punching bag into an engine of capitalism by staffing government positions with ideologically aligned tech leaders. A network of Thiel-linked startups, including Vance’s own token investments in the arms company Anduril, competing for contracts worth billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, friends of Sacks — whose proposal to nominate Vance to Trump was based on the principle of nonintervention in foreign policy — often joke that Sacks is running for secretary of state.

Vance’s supporters say his willingness to denounce Big Tech’s monopolistic practices while supporting more nimble startups, dubbed “Little Tech,” makes him a persuasive envoy.

Blake Masters, the former Thiel Capital chief executive who is running for a congressional seat in Arizona, said Vance’s ties to Silicon Valley will help usher in a new era of innovation.

“It’s not about making money,” said Masters, who befriended Vance after Thiel asked him to review the billionaire’s piece on “Hillbilly Elegy.” “It’s about creating new technologies that the government, who once took on big initiatives like the Manhattan Project, can no longer do that. It’s like someone really understands, almost on an intuitive level, the problems that are coming.”

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