Paypal Co-Founder Peter Thiel donated $1.25 million to Donald Trump´s political campaign, despite the controversies surrounding the Republican nominee during the last weeks. This was the first time that the tech millionaire donated money for the candidate.
According to Tech Crunch, what seems to be the most surprising fact about this situation is that Thiel is giving a massive donation to Trump´s campaign just a few days before the elections, in a moment where the Republican candidate is facing strong reprobation by the American media.
Thiel's Standing Is Silicon Valley At Risk?
Considering Silicon Valley´s Anti-Trump political stance, this action might affect Thiel´s relationship with the biggest names in the tech industry. Thiel recently he became an adviser to Y Combinator, whose founder Paul Graham openly showed his opposition against the Republican nominee.
Another major issue for the PayPal co-founder is that he´s a member of Facebook´s board, and Mark Zuckerberg has strongly criticized Trump as well, as reported by Fortune. Thus, supporting Trump at this point in the race might be a serious miscalculation on Thiel's part.
Donating For Donald Trump Is A Risky Business
The fact that the tech center has been previously accused of marginalizing women and minorities has turned Thiel´s donation into a major threat to its image. After all, numerous efforts by Silicon Valley have been made to prevent it from being related to bigotry and discrimination.
Although Donald Trump is not completely ruled out of the presidential elections, some analysts believe that this donation might be extremely risky for Thiel, considering that the Republican candidate is at his worst time since he went to the primaries. According to Fortune, the Thiel's donation will be given through Super PACs and directly to Trump´s campaign.
Unpredictable Consequences In Silicon Valley
Peter Thiel is a rabid libertarian known for being a tech billionaire who was one of the earliest investors in Facebook. Thiel was also known for his interest in floating cities far from the reach of governments and for funding Hulk Hogan´s lawsuit against Gawker, which ended with the media firm going bankrupt.
Giving the fact that many members of Silicon Valley have also made million-dollar donations to Hillary Clinton, Thiel is the only one who has endorsed Donald Trump. With this latest development, the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections just got a lot more interesting.
