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Is Medium Getting Played by Peter Thiel?
The rightwing billionaire’s SuperPAC has been using this site to give J.D. Vance millions in campaign help.
On Tuesday night, just after the polls closed in Ohio, Alex Isenstadt of Politico published a story with a fascinating headline: “A mole hunt, a secret website and Peter Thiel’s big risk: How J.D. Vance won his primary.” Vance, the best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy, was once a Trump critic, but since leaping into the political arena he’s become one of the ex-president’s biggest fans, earning his endorsement late in the race. But his victory Tuesday wasn’t just a sign that Trump and Trumpism is still dominant among Republican voters; it was also a major vindication for rightwing tech VC Thiel, who poured a record $15 million into a SuperPAC called Protect Ohio Values that backed Vance, who was until recently an employee of Thiel’s Mithril Capital fund.
Not since the Gilded Age, when Senators were chosen by state legislatures (not the direct popular vote) and railroad and oil barons bought them by the armful, has any single fatcat played such a singular role in elevating a politician. Of course, Vance still has to win the general election this fall against Democratic nominee Tim Ryan, so Thiel doesn’t yet have his own personal senator. Undoubtedly he will pour even more…
