PayPal co-founder, Republican donor Peter Thiel won’t fund candidates in 2024, as cultural issues trump US-China rivalry
- Thiel believes Republicans are making a mistake in focusing on cultural flashpoints and should be more concerned with competing with China, sources said
- PayPal co-founder has contributed around US$50 million to state and federal political candidates and campaigns since 2000, and was an early backer of Donald Trump
Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party’s focus on hot-button US cultural issues, said one of the sources, a business associate, citing abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools as two examples.
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Thiel’s plans for the Republican primary and general election have not been previously reported. Online news site Puck previously reported Thiel was most likely either to support Trump or sit out the primary. Thiel declined a Reuters request for an interview.
When Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he had more hope that the party would concentrate on economic issues, his business associate said.
“I am proud to be gay,” Thiel said on stage. “But most of all I am proud to be an American. 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.”
Four political sources also told Reuters that Thiel is taking a step back from US politics. Thiel, who diverged from his Silicon Valley peers with his embrace of conservative causes, identifies as a supporter of libertarianism, a political philosophy that stresses the importance of individual freedoms.