McConnell must secretly despise Trump and his lickspittles:
After J.D. Vance won the Republican primary for Senate in Ohio, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor who had pumped $15 million into a super PAC backing Vance, to congratulate him but also to make a request: Since McConnell’s resources were limited, the senator said, would Thiel continue to finance Vance through the general election?
Thiel demurred, according to a person familiar with the May exchange who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
Three months later, when Blake Masters — whose bid Thiel had also backed to the tune of $15 million — won his Aug. 2 primary in Arizona, McConnell placed no such call.
In the ensuing weeks, a high-stakes game of chicken would play out between McConnell and Thiel, culminating in a move last Friday by a super PAC linked to the minority leader, the Senate Leadership Fund, to abandon about $8 million worth of TV, radio and digital ads originally booked to boost Masters. The move was preceded by a pair of phone calls placed last week to Thiel by McConnell and the Kentucky Republican’s top fundraising lieutenant, Steven Law, who heads the Senate Leadership Fund.
Details of the conversations, which have not been previously reported, shed light on ordinarily veiled negotiations with major donors critical to the battle for the Senate. They also illustrate McConnell’s vexed relationship with candidates elevated by former president Donald Trump and donors, such as Thiel, sympathetic to Trump’s worldview.
Thiel, a co-founder of the payment processor PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook, bucked left-leaning Silicon Valley by betting big on Trump in 2016. Last summer and fall, the tech entrepreneur contributed to a wide range of pro-Trump congressional candidates, igniting hopes among some Republicans that he was positioning himself to become a megadonor on the scale of libertarian brothers David and Charles Koch, or former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has given millions in recent years to Democratic candidates and causes. But Thiel has told associates that he has no plans to spend more this cycle — and that his aim was to elevate younger Republican candidates who would mark a sharp break from the party’s neoconservative wing, not to engage in a tit-for-tat spending war with Democrats.
That hasn’t stopped Republican leaders from coming calling.
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McConnell told Thiel over the phone last week that Vance’s race in Ohio was proving more costly for the Senate Leadership Fund than anticipated, that money was not unlimited and that there was a need for the billionaire to “come in, in a big way, in Arizona,” as a person familiar with the conversation described his words. Law, in a call with Thiel the day before his group cut back on the Arizona ads, expressed concern about Masters as a candidate and pessimism about his campaign’s viability. Both Vance, 38, and Masters, 36, are friends and former business associates of Thiel’s; Masters stepped down from roles at Thiel’s investment firm and foundation this year.
The message from McConnell and Law, according to people with knowledge of their pitch, was that they should essentially split the cost, with Thiel cutting a check to their super PAC matching whatever funds they put behind Masters. Another option, these people said, was that the Thiel-funded super PAC could take over the ad reservations initially made by the McConnell-linked group.
Thiel indicated to them that he was not interested in such arrangements — a posture, say people around the venture capitalist, that is informed by his approach of investing early and a belief that any more of his money would be used as a Democratic talking point; he is still hosting fundraisers for Masters in the coming weeks.
McConnell previously expressed dissatisfaction with Thiel’s move to bankroll independent super PACs backing Vance and Masters, telling the billionaire investor last year that his money would go further if he gave it to the Senate Leadership Fund, which “can put some real lead on the target,” recalled a person familiar with the exchange.
In last week’s call with McConnell, Thiel argued that Vance and Masters have not criticized the Republican leader, unlike other GOP primary candidates, which drew a dissent. “That’s not true at all,” McConnell replied, according to a person with knowledge of his comments, though he added, “I’m not into revenge. That’s Mr. Trump.”
During his primary, Masters called for McConnell to be replaced as GOP leader, expressing his support for Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “I’ll tell Mitch this to his face,” Masters said during a debate in June. “He’s not bad at everything. He’s good at judges. He’s good at blocking Democrats. You know what he’s not good at? Legislating.” Vance has also offered a dim view of McConnell, calling him “a little out of touch with the base” and saying it was time for “new blood.”
After J.D. Vance won the Republican primary for Senate in Ohio, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor who had pumped $15 million into a super PAC backing Vance, to congratulate him but also to make a request: Since McConnell’s resources were limited, the senator said, would Thiel continue to finance Vance through the general election?
Thiel demurred, according to a person familiar with the May exchange who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
Three months later, when Blake Masters — whose bid Thiel had also backed to the tune of $15 million — won his Aug. 2 primary in Arizona, McConnell placed no such call.
In the ensuing weeks, a high-stakes game of chicken would play out between McConnell and Thiel, culminating in a move last Friday by a super PAC linked to the minority leader, the Senate Leadership Fund, to abandon about $8 million worth of TV, radio and digital ads originally booked to boost Masters. The move was preceded by a pair of phone calls placed last week to Thiel by McConnell and the Kentucky Republican’s top fundraising lieutenant, Steven Law, who heads the Senate Leadership Fund.
Details of the conversations, which have not been previously reported, shed light on ordinarily veiled negotiations with major donors critical to the battle for the Senate. They also illustrate McConnell’s vexed relationship with candidates elevated by former president Donald Trump and donors, such as Thiel, sympathetic to Trump’s worldview.
Thiel, a co-founder of the payment processor PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook, bucked left-leaning Silicon Valley by betting big on Trump in 2016. Last summer and fall, the tech entrepreneur contributed to a wide range of pro-Trump congressional candidates, igniting hopes among some Republicans that he was positioning himself to become a megadonor on the scale of libertarian brothers David and Charles Koch, or former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has given millions in recent years to Democratic candidates and causes. But Thiel has told associates that he has no plans to spend more this cycle — and that his aim was to elevate younger Republican candidates who would mark a sharp break from the party’s neoconservative wing, not to engage in a tit-for-tat spending war with Democrats.
That hasn’t stopped Republican leaders from coming calling.
ADVERTISING
McConnell told Thiel over the phone last week that Vance’s race in Ohio was proving more costly for the Senate Leadership Fund than anticipated, that money was not unlimited and that there was a need for the billionaire to “come in, in a big way, in Arizona,” as a person familiar with the conversation described his words. Law, in a call with Thiel the day before his group cut back on the Arizona ads, expressed concern about Masters as a candidate and pessimism about his campaign’s viability. Both Vance, 38, and Masters, 36, are friends and former business associates of Thiel’s; Masters stepped down from roles at Thiel’s investment firm and foundation this year.
The message from McConnell and Law, according to people with knowledge of their pitch, was that they should essentially split the cost, with Thiel cutting a check to their super PAC matching whatever funds they put behind Masters. Another option, these people said, was that the Thiel-funded super PAC could take over the ad reservations initially made by the McConnell-linked group.
Thiel indicated to them that he was not interested in such arrangements — a posture, say people around the venture capitalist, that is informed by his approach of investing early and a belief that any more of his money would be used as a Democratic talking point; he is still hosting fundraisers for Masters in the coming weeks.
McConnell previously expressed dissatisfaction with Thiel’s move to bankroll independent super PACs backing Vance and Masters, telling the billionaire investor last year that his money would go further if he gave it to the Senate Leadership Fund, which “can put some real lead on the target,” recalled a person familiar with the exchange.
In last week’s call with McConnell, Thiel argued that Vance and Masters have not criticized the Republican leader, unlike other GOP primary candidates, which drew a dissent. “That’s not true at all,” McConnell replied, according to a person with knowledge of his comments, though he added, “I’m not into revenge. That’s Mr. Trump.”
During his primary, Masters called for McConnell to be replaced as GOP leader, expressing his support for Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “I’ll tell Mitch this to his face,” Masters said during a debate in June. “He’s not bad at everything. He’s good at judges. He’s good at blocking Democrats. You know what he’s not good at? Legislating.” Vance has also offered a dim view of McConnell, calling him “a little out of touch with the base” and saying it was time for “new blood.”