FEATURE - JD Vance: US vice presidential candidate in triangle of billionaires, conservatives, intel agencies

By Faruk Hanedar

ISTANBUL (AA) - JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate and the Republican Party's vice-presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election, was born in 1984.

Vance served from 2003 to 2007 as a combat correspondent in the Marines.

In an April 2020 article in The Lamp, a Catholic magazine, he reflected on his experiences during this period, saying: "In 2005, I went to Iraq as a young idealist dedicated to spreading democracy and liberalism to the world's less developed countries. By 2006, I returned with doubts about the war and the ideology underpinning it."

Afterwards, Vance studied political science and philosophy at Ohio State University and graduated from Yale Law School. During his university years, he met Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal. Vance described this meeting as "one of the most significant moments of my time at Yale Law School."

- Billionaire Thiel's 'Catholic touch'

Vance said that Thiel, who had a significant impact on his religious beliefs, led him to embrace Catholicism.

Vance’s 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy became a bestseller. During this time, he became a director at Thiel’s investment firm in San Francisco and then worked at Revolution, a venture firm founded by America Online (AOL) co-founder Steve Case. In 2020, with financial backing from Thiel, he founded the venture firm Narya Capital.

During the firm's founding phase, Vance leveraged his relationships. While establishing Narya Capital in Cincinnati, Ohio, he raised $120 million by approaching elite members of the tech industry like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, billionaire investor Marc Andreessen and Thiel.

The Financial Times reported that during this period of Vance’s rise in Silicon Valley, he also connected with and received support from figures like Ajay Royan, Steve Case, Jeff Bezos, Ray Dalio, and Scott Dorsey.

- Support from conservative billionaire networks

Following his Narya Capital venture, Vance helped establish the Rockbridge Network in 2021, a large network of tech leaders and conservative donors.

Rockbridge, which channels millions of dollars to "conservative" causes and campaigns, was linked to a group of Republican donors and politicians allied with Donald Trump, who remained in the spotlight due to the Capitol riot following the 2020 presidential election.

During the period leading up to the Ohio Senate elections, Vance announced his candidacy, and as always, Thiel was among his first supporters and the person who introduced Vance to Trump.

Despite Thiel's endorsement, Vance described himself as "anti-Trump" during the 2016 presidential election and during Trump's presidency. He even suggested that Trump "could be America’s Hitler.”

Nevertheless, Trump endorsed Vance in the Ohio Republican Senate primary, saying: "Like others, JD Vance may not have said very nice things about me in the past, but now he gets it, and I've seen it in spades."

With Trump’s endorsement and support, Vance won the 2022 Senate election in the Midwestern state.

During this time, Vance developed a close relationship with Trump, although it was suggested that Thiel’s relationship with Trump began to deteriorate. Thiel said at the Aspen Ideas Festival that despite not financially supporting Trump’s campaign, he would vote for him and claimed that Trump would win the election.

The New York Times reported that Thiel had reached out to influential figures to recommend Vance as the vice-presidential candidate and had sent congratulatory messages to close friends when Trump announced Vance as his pick.

- Silicon Valley’s ally in the White House

Vance’s support did not come solely from Thiel.

Entrepreneur David Sacks, and Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X, along with other high-profile entrepreneurs support Vance.

Sacks, who raised $12 million for Trump’s campaign and reportedly helped influence Trump’s choice of vice-presidential candidate through a campaign event at his mansion, was instrumental in Vance’s selection.

NPR reported that the involvement of technology investors, traditionally Democratic, in supporting Republicans reflected their engagement in cultural battles, citing Musk’s decision to move SpaceX and X from California to Texas due to a law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The Washington Post highlighted that many tech elites were drawn to Trump’s appeal due to his positive policies on cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, distancing themselves from then Democratic candidate Joe Biden, whom they viewed as obstructive to innovation.

Additionally, it was noted that Silicon Valley elites saw Vance as one of their own and a potential ally in the White House.

- Thiel’s connections to world of intelligence

Thiel, seen as the key figure behind Vance’s rise, has notable connections with US intelligence agencies, including the CIA.

Thiel first gained prominence in 1998 as a co-founder of PayPal and, in 2004, received an investment for his company Palantir Technologies from In-Q-Tel, an organization investing in high-tech companies to support the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Thiel developed Palantir’s data analysis system, combining artificial intelligence with human skills, aiming to sell it to national security agencies. According to Vox, Palantir was initially set up to compete with defense sector companies rather than Silicon Valley firms.

Palantir’s origins trace back to the payment system PayPal, established in 1998. The software created for detecting suspicious transactions at PayPal was developed into Palantir, a data mining tool.

According to a 2011 Bloomberg report, the software was used by institutions like the Pentagon, the CIA, the FBI, police departments and financial institutions, facilitating their interactions in counterterrorism efforts.

Palantir has faced criticism and controversy due to its use. The hacker group WikiLeaks, Anonymous and Edward Snowden’s disclosures frequently mentioned the company and its software, claiming it was used in various foreign operations, including the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

A 2018 Bloomberg article noted that the intelligence platform designed for the global war on terror was used as a weapon against ordinary Americans, despite Palantir's market value reaching $20 billion in 2015 without turning a profit.

In January, Palantir Technologies executives, including Thiel, visited Tel Aviv and agreed to a strategic partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry to provide technology to support the country’s war efforts.

​​​​​​​*Writing by Efe Ozkan