Publicly, Silicon Valley's Peter Thiel has sung President Trump's praises and maintained his ardent support. But privately, Trump's biggest Silicon Valley supporter has expressed doubts about how successful Trump will be.
BuzzFeed News reported that the "weekend before the election" — just months after Thiel delivered a sweeping endorsement of Trump at the Republican National Convention — Thiel reportedly admitted in "at least one private conversation" that he thought Trump would "likely be a one-term president" if he won. After Trump did indeed win, the billionaire venture capitalist in January told friends that he thinks there's "a 50 percent chance this whole thing ends in disaster."
Trump's first months in office haven't exactly buoyed Thiel's confidence:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
At an event in May in San Francisco, he was described by one guest who was in attendance as "annoyed" with the first months of Trump's presidency. With little policy being established by the White House, Thiel worried that the the next four years would be defined by stagnation and stressed the notion that he didn't think Trump would be reelected.In describing the administration, Thiel used one defining word in front of his guests: "incompetent." [BuzzFeed News]
Trump, who has described Thiel as "a very special guy," will likely have something to tweet about that.
Read more at BuzzFeed News.
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
