Top Donors of J.D. Vance’s political and personal career are Silicon Valley Tech Billionaires Peter Thiel and David Sacks. Thiel has been the leading force in propelling Vance into the MAGA movement and sees him as the future.
From giving Vance a job in Silicon Valley to funding his Ohio Senate campaign — and introducing him to a network of tech billionaires who could give him more money — Thiel helped propel Vance into the MAGA-verse and onto the ballot, simultaneously bringing the agenda of the New Right into mainstream politics. The New Right is a post-Trump movement of young and elite conservatives that essentially believe federal institutions and current democratic systems have failed the United States and must be dismantled.
JD Vance owes almost everything to Peter Thiel, a pro-Trump billionaire and “New Right” ideologue
Thiel Was A Major Donor of Dark Money Group That Funded Heritage When Project 2025 Was Getting Established
Thiel Foundation 990s show over $ 10 million between 2020 and 2022 to the Donor’s Trust:
In 2022, DonorsTrust alone funneled more than $16.5 million to organizations on Project 2025’s advisory board, according to the group’s 990 tax filing. One of those groups, the Teneo Network — described as a “talent pipeline” for the conservative movement spanning business, media, finance, entertainment and politics — received one of the highest distributions, more than $3 million.
The $16.5 million in donations represented a small increase from one year prior, when groups that are now part of the Project 2025 advisory board received about $15 million collectively from DonorsTrust in the 2021 financial year. Project 2025 was started in 2022 after the arrival of Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts.
Donations have surged to groups linked to conservative Project 2025
Teneo Network is led by Leonard Leo, who has received millions from the Donor’s Trust to support his network of Right-Wing, Extremist Hate Groups. Teneo serves on the board of Project 2025 and it has been reported that since 2021, “Leo’s network and groups that have gotten funding from it have funneled over $50.7 million to groups advising the 2025 Presidential Project”.
Vance Founded Organization – Rockbridge Network is seen as “Next Generation” Dark Money Group
Labeled as the “brainchild of Ohio Senator JD Vance” the Rockbridge Network offers conservative donors another dark money opportunity to organize the Trump agenda for a second term.
Peter Thiel is also a major donor for Rockbridge along with Rebekah Mercer and other Tech Billionaires. Speakers at Rockbridge events have included Vance, Thiel, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., David Sacks, and Tucker Carlson.
An early Vance supporter, David Sacks has become one of Trump’s leading Silicon Valley donors and fundraisers. According to recent reports:
The Ohio senator introduced David Sacks, a prominent venture capitalist, to Donald Trump Jr in March, the New York Times reported, and attended Sacks’ pro-Trump fundraiser in June, co-sponsored by Chamath Palihapitiya, Sacks’ co-host on the popular podcast All In. The event, which cost as much as $300,000 to attend, was held at Sacks’s San Francisco mansion and featured the investor thanking Vance for his help in making the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sacks and Palihapitiya told Trump to nominate Vance as his VP choice.
How J.D. Vance’s path to being Trump’s VP pick wound through Silicon Valley.
Vance and Thiel’s Rockbridge Mirrors Project 2025 Top Pillars
One of the Rockbridge Network’s key pillars is the same as Project 2025 goal of replacing government officials with political appointees loyal to Trump and the agenda they are developing: “The Rockbridge Transition Project will create a “government-in-waiting” with the people and plans to staff the next Republican Administration. The goal is to be ready to govern effectively with conservative goals, from day one. 2021 Budget: $3 Million”
There are numerous ties between Trump, Project 2025, Vance (his donors), Heritage and Rockbridge.
Rockbridge members are required to commit to spending at least $100,000 per year on network-approved programs.
And in April 2024, Leonard Leo visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago to promote Rockbridge Network’s efforts. As noted above, Leo’s network and groups that have gotten funding from it have funneled over $50.7 million to groups advising the 2025 Presidential Project”.
Thiel and Sacks Political Alliance Dates Back to their Time at Stanford
Even before Thiel and Sacks joined Elon Musk as part of the Paypal Mafia, using their “vast tech fortune to support candidates aligned with Trump’s agenda”; they were speaking out against diversity and inclusion, and even defending fellow Stanford male upperclassmen accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl.
In 1995, Thiel and Sacks published a book called The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Intolerance on Campus. Their political alliance started at Stanford, where they worked together on the Thiel-founded Stanford Review. In 1992, the Review published “The Rape Issue,” which included a piece by Sacks defending a student who had pleaded no contest to statutory rape. Sacks considered the crime “a moral directive left on the books by presexual revolution crustaceans.” According to Thiel biographer Max Chafkin, “Sacks included a graphic description of the encounter, noting that the 17-year-old victim ‘still had the physical coordination to perform oral sex,’ and ‘presumably could have uttered the word, ‘no.’”
Thiel, Sacks, and Vance Also Aligned In Social Media Business That Promotes Russian Propaganda and Project 2025
Thiel, Sacks, and Vance were also business partners and investors in Rumble. In addition to being a top destination for right-wing propaganda, Rumble is known as a “platform for Russian Propaganda”.
Vance’s financial disclosure form from 2022 filed with the US Senate shows he still has between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of stock in Rumble. And, Trump’s Truth Social and Rumble have been partnered since 2022.
Recent content on Rumble includes the promotion of Project 2025.
