One of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs will donate $1.25 million to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, after originally saying that he had no plans to financially support the candidate.
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, will provide the funds through a mixture of super PAC donations and direct investments into the campaign, according to The New York Times.
Thiel gave $2 million to a super-PAC supporting Carly Fiorina’s candidacy in August, 2015, but later switched his allegiance.
He said that even though he is publicly championing Trump, he doesn’t plan on donating or fundraising for the fellow businessman, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is having greater success in Silicon Valley, raising roughly $18 million in just three days during a stumping tour, while Trump held his first fundraiser in the affluent region in August.
This is likely because the majority of Silicon Valley is comprised of Democrats (or even “Tech-Democrats”.
Thiel is unabashedly not one of them. He’s described himself as a conservative libertarian, which makes him stand out in the big tech world.
“I am proud to be gay, I am proud to be a Republican but most of all I am proud to be an American,” Thiel said to an applauding audience at the Republican National Convention. It was reportedly the first time a gay speaker openly talked about his sexuality in the party’s history.
“I don’t pretend to agree with every plank in our party’s platform. But fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline. And nobody in this race is being honest about it except Donald Trump,” Thiel continued.
Trump communicated with Thiel over his intention to appoint him to the Supreme Court in order to replace recently deceased former justice Antonin Scalia, according to The Huffington Post.
“The future felt limitless, but today our government is broken. Our nuclear bases still use floppy disks. Our newest fighter jets can’t even fly in the rain. And it would be kind to say the government’s software works poorly because much of the time it doesn’t even work at all,” Thiel opined at the convention.
“That is a staggering decline for the country that completed the Manhattan Project. We don’t accept such incompetence in Silicon Valley, and we must not accept it from our government.”
Thiel evidently doesn’t find any common ground with Clinton and her party’s platform, like much of the rest of Silicon Valley.
For the reasons mentioned, Thiel is doubling down on Trump; first becoming a vocal advocate for the candidate, and now a financial contributor.
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