Speaking at the National Press Club in D.C. on Oct. 31, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel said regardless of the 2016 election's outcome, what Republican candidate Donald "Trump represents isn't crazy and it's not going away."(National Press Club)
Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel reiterated his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Monday morning, telling a room of journalists that a Washington outsider in the White House would recalibrate lawmakers who have lost touch with the struggles of most Americans.
Thiel said it was “both insane and somehow inevitable” that political leaders would expect this presidential election to be a contest between “political dynasties” that have shepherded the country into two major financial crises: the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s, and the housing crisis and economic recession later that decade.
The support Trump has enjoyed is directly tied to the frustration many across the country feel toward Washington and its entrenched leaders, and they shouldn’t expect that sentiment to dissipate regardless of whether Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins at the ballot box on Nov. 8, he said.
“What Trump represents isn’t crazy and it’s not going away,” he said.
Thiel was clear Monday, as he has said in the past, that he does not support all of Trump’s actions and words. In particular, he called the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump made remarks about unwanted sexual advances on women “clearly offensive and inappropriate.” He said he didn’t support Trump’s words about Muslims “in every incidence.”
But Thiel also criticized the media’s coverage of Trump’s bombastic remarks. He said that while the media takes Trump’s remarks “literally” but not “seriously,” he believes Trump supporters take them seriously but not literally. In short, Trump isn’t actually going to impose religious tests on immigrants or build a wall along the Mexican border, as he has repeatedly said, but will simply pursue “saner, more sensible” immigration policies.
“His larger-than-life persona attracts a lot of attention. Nobody would suggest that Donald Trump is a humble man. But the big things he’s right about amount to a much needed dose of humility in our politics,” Thiel said.
Speaking at The National Press Club, billionaire Peter Thiel doubled down on his support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday, Oct. 31. (National Press Club)
While the Silicon Valley tech corridor and suburbs around Washington have thrived in the last decade or more, many other parts of the country have been gutted by economic and trade policies that closed manufacturing plants and shipped jobs overseas, Thiel said, reiterating a previous talking point.
“Most Americans don’t live by the Beltway or the San Francisco Bay. Most Americans haven’t been part of that prosperity,” Thiel said Monday. “It shouldn’t be surprising to see people vote for Bernie Sanders or for Donald Trump, who is the only outsider left in the race.”
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