Inside JD Vance's Relationship With Billionaire Peter Thiel

Had it not been for billionaire Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance might never have been selected as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. It's no secret that Vance and Trump have a pretty complicated relationship — the former used to be one of the two-term president's biggest and loudest critics, but the 2024 election saw Vance conquer the White House alongside the divisive politician. And, the person who arguably made all of this possible is none other than Thiel. Vance and the controversial billionaire have known each other for years. The future vice president started working at Thiel's global investment firm back in 2017, and they immediately hit it off. Vance sang his boss' praises in a blog post published by The Lamp Magazine in 2020, recalling how he first met the PayPal co-founder during Vance's time at Yale, after he delivered an inspiring speech. 

Thiel's talk inspired him so much that the future VP ultimately decided not to pursue a law career indefinitely following his graduation. The tech billionaire, Vance later pointed out, made him see the world completely differently. It appears that Thiel appreciated Vance's admiration and drive since he ended up giving the "Hillbilly Elegy" author a $15 million windfall to fund his 2022 Senate campaign, and he also got his rich friends to part with some of their money to help the Ohio politician secure his win. In fact, it was Thiel who eventually introduced Vance to Trump, a meeting that subsequently led to the then-former president endorsing Vance for the Senate, practically sealing his victory. Thiel became one of Vance's most trusted mentors, but by the time he joined the 2024 vice presidential ticket, his relationship with Thiel had apparently cooled.

Peter Thiel went out of his way to secure J.D. Vance's Senate win back in 2022, but the PayPal co-founder was downright stingy when it came to funding Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. This could be because the billionaire decided to hold onto his 2009 statement about democracy. In an article, which was published by the Libertarian Journal that very same year, Thiel declared, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." Vance has admitted that being Trump's running mate had some personal consequences for him, and a loss of funding from Thiel was definitely one of them. The controversial businessman previously made it abundantly clear that he wasn't impressed with the progress Trump made during his first term and wasn't planning on funding the divisive politician's future campaigns, and it appears Thiel is a man of his word. 

While speaking to the Financial Times, Vance didn't try to hide the fact that the Trump camp was desperate for some extra cash from him either. "I'm going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him," the bestselling author proclaimed. "I think that he needs to get off the sidelines and support the ticket." Thiel, however, refused to budge. During a chat with The Atlantic about his decision not to back the Trump campaign, he all but flat-out admitted that the former "Apprentice" host's first term was a disaster. "It was crazier than I thought. It was more dangerous than I thought. They couldn't get the most basic pieces of the government to work. So that was — I think that part was maybe worse than even my low expectations," he said. For Vance, Thiel's rejection likely stung quite a bit, especially since Trump consistently pushed him aside to spend more time with his pal Elon Musk.