Thiel Sick of Culture Wars, Halts Donations

Cancel culture has caused one of the Republican Party's top donors, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, to cancel plans to support any political candidates for 2024.

Thiel, an early supporter of former President Donald Trump before breaking from him, is disappointed in the focus on culture wars and decided after the 2022 midterms to stop donations to political campaigns, sources told Reuters in an exclusive.

"I am proud to be gay," Thiel said, speaking for then-candidate Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention. "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."

Reuters cited four sources close to Thiel.

Thiel is reportedly unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on hot-button U.S. cultural issues, according one business associate, citing abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools as two examples.

Thiel reportedly believes Republicans are making a mistake in focusing on cultural flashpoints and should be more concerned with spurring U.S. innovation — a major issue for him — and competing with China, the business associate said.

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.

Thiel is reportedly more of a libertarian than a Republican ideologically.

The German-born entrepreneur has a fortune estimated at around $4.2 billion after co-founding PayPal and Palantir and investing early in Facebook. He has contributed about $50 million to state and federal political candidates and campaigns since 2000, and he was the 10th-largest individual donor to either party in the 2022 midterm congressional elections, according to the non-profit OpenSecrets.

Thiel's decision underlines how the Republican Party's swing to the right on social issues is alienating some prominent, business-minded donors.

Several top donors have said they are hesitant to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce a run for the White House soon, after he signed a bill into law that bans most abortions after six weeks in Florida. None said they intended to sit out the entire 2024 election cycle as a consequence.

In 2012, Thiel backed libertarian lawmaker Ron Paul, and in 2016 he donated some $1.25 million to the campaign of Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination.

In 2020, Thiel did not financially back Trump's reelection efforts, according to OpenSecrets. Thiel liked some of Trump's policies while in office but disapproved of the chaos surrounding the former reality TV star's presidency, said one of the sources, who is close to Thiel personally.

In the 2022 election cycle, however, Thiel emerged as a potential Republican kingmaker, contributing more than $35 million to 16 federal-level Republican candidates, according to OpenSecrets. Twelve of those candidates won.

Thiel could change his mind on political contributions for the 2024 cycle, although both sources familiar with his donation plans said they had heard Thiel declare on multiple recent occasions that he had withdrawn from U.S. politics.

The source who knows Thiel personally said he had cautioned that he could still support candidates who have worked for him, as he did in 2022, when the bulk of his $35 million in donations went to two former colleagues running for the Senate as Republicans: J.D. Vance, who won, and Blake Masters, who lost a race pundits considered winnable even though he received some $20 million from Thiel.

The business associate said he was not aware of any special proviso for former employees.

Thiel is married to businessman Matt Danzeisen, with whom he has two toddlers. Concerns about his family's safety have weighed in Thiel's decision to step back as well, the source who knows him personally told Reuters.

Material from Reuters was used throughout this report.