在强大的亿万富翁彼得·蒂尔网络内，万斯被提名为副总统
【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 29 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）在前总统特朗普宣布副总统人选之前的几周，一些科技界的大腕发起了一场悄无声息的竞选活动，以推选他们自己的人：俄亥俄州参议员JD万斯（JD Vance）。《华盛顿邮报》记者伊丽莎白·德沃斯金（Elizabeth Dwoskin）和卡特·扎克泽夫斯基（Cat Zakrzewski）对此作了下述报道。
据三位知情人士透露，这位前总统多次接到科技企业家大卫·萨克斯 (David Sacks)、Palantir 顾问雅各布·赫尔伯格 (Jacob Helberg) 和亿万富翁风险投资家彼得·蒂尔 (Peter Thiel，万斯的前雇主和导师) 的电话，恳求他将这位曾经的硅谷投资者加入竞选阵容，这三位知情人士不愿透露姓名，以描述私人谈话的内容。
万斯最有力的硅谷支持者对这位前特朗普支持者在共和党的崛起感到欣喜若狂。他们将万斯视为他们在华盛顿的使者，传播这样一种理论：政府和从谷歌到洛克希德马丁的根深蒂固的企业巨头扼杀了创新，而敏捷、大胆的初创企业——尤其是他们自己的初创企业——可以推动国家利益。虽然哈里斯副总统的上任鼓舞了许多左倾科技领袖，但蒂尔网络中的一些人将从万斯入主白宫中受益，这对直到最近才避开华盛顿的风险投资家来说是一笔新资产。
“白宫里有一位前科技风险投资家，他是地球上最伟大的国家，”蒂尔创始人基金的合伙人 Delian Asparouhov 在 Vance 被提名后在 X 上写道。
对于蒂尔来说，万斯的入选是十年前他有先见之明的赌注的回报，当时他接纳了这位来自锈带的耶鲁法学院毕业生作为他的门徒，加入了包括 Meta 首席执行官马克·扎克伯格和 OpenAI 创始人萨姆·奥特曼在内的名单。
尤其是在 2016 年出版回忆录《乡下人的悲歌》之后，万斯给蒂尔那群高高在上的硅谷人留下了深刻印象，他们眼中，万斯是一个博学多识的人，举止温和，而且在俄亥俄州工人阶级中长大，故事也来自外来者。2016 年大选后，科技精英们开始试图理解，为什么他们对建设未来的痴迷让这么多美国人落后了。
蒂尔让他变得富有，让他投资那些受到 MAGA 组织欢迎的公司。他引导万斯进入政界，与其他硅谷捐助者一起资助他成功竞选 2022 年参议员。
“对彼得来说，”一位了解他想法的人说，“万斯是一代人的赌注。”
但万斯在商界的人脉——以及他在堕胎和同性婚姻等社会问题上的立场——也让他受到了批评。批评者称他为“骗子”，认为他与蒂尔网络的关系可能会变成一种有偿游戏。
“他们推行精英主义计划和反动观点的最佳方式是监管俘获，”投资者德尔·约翰逊在 X 上发帖称，他用一个术语来描述私营部门对监管过程的控制。“如果你让风险投资阶层进入总统职位，你还没有看到任何东西。”
本报告基于对 17 名熟悉万斯在硅谷崛起、他与蒂尔的关系以及科技界对他赢得美国第二大政治职位的期望的人的采访，其中许多人要求匿名以保护他们的关系。
蒂尔拒绝置评。万斯没有回应置评请求。
尽管蒂尔在 2016 年竞选期间成为特朗普的巨额捐赠者，但据几位了解蒂尔想法的人士称，他最终对特朗普政府的混乱以及对科学和创新的缺乏关注感到失望。
但选择万斯正帮助蒂尔对特朗普产生好感。特朗普的选择恰逢其时，特朗普对科技界至关重要的问题更加关注。这位前总统对电动汽车、加密货币和人工智能等行业友好的信息表示欢迎。特朗普上个月出现在萨克斯的 All-In 播客上，他称他的硅谷捐赠者是“天才”。在本月的共和党全国大会上，他称赞电动汽车先驱埃隆·马斯克，说：“我们必须让聪明的人过上好日子。”
6 月，萨克斯在旧金山的家中举办了一场昂贵的筹款活动，据出席者名单显示，两人会见了 50 多位科技高管和其他富有的捐赠者。
在共和党全国大会上，可以看到萨克斯在特朗普的私人包厢里与万斯交谈。其他在场人员表示，他们从未见过这场活动如此多的捐赠者、说客和其他科技行业人士。
相比之下，拜登政府阻碍了加密货币行业的发展，试图监管人工智能，并挑战企业收购——这是初创公司创始人获利的关键途径——这激怒了科技领袖。萨克斯、马斯克、Palantir 联合创始人乔·朗斯代尔、红杉资本的道格·利昂以及著名风险投资公司安德森·霍洛维茨的创始人都支持特朗普，并向支持特朗普的政治行动委员会捐赠了大笔资金。
如果特朗普重新入主白宫，万斯可以帮助科技行业从政治出气筒转变为资本主义的引擎，让意识形态一致的科技领袖填补政府职位。包括万斯自己对国防公司 Anduril 的象征性投资在内的一系列与蒂尔有关的初创公司正在争夺数十亿美元的合同。
与此同时，萨克斯的朋友们经常开玩笑说，他在争取国务卿职位，而萨克斯在特朗普提名万斯时，曾向特朗普推销不干涉主义外交政策。
万斯的支持者表示，他愿意谴责大型科技公司的垄断行为，同时支持更灵活的初创公司，即所谓的“小科技”，这使他成为一名有说服力的特使。
蒂尔资本前高管、正在亚利桑那州竞选国会议员的布莱克·马斯特斯表示，万斯与硅谷的联系将有助于开启一个创新的新时代。
“这不是为了赚钱，”马斯特斯说，他在蒂尔请他审阅这位亿万富翁的《乡下人的悲歌》的宣传文案后与万斯成为了朋友。“这是为了开发新技术，而政府过去曾实施过曼哈顿计划等重大计划，但现在却无力开发这些技术。这就像有人真正理解，几乎凭直觉就能理解即将出现的问题。”
题图：本月早些时候，在密尔沃基举行的共和党全国代表大会的第一天晚上，参议员JD万斯 （JD Vance ）与阿拉巴马州共和党参议员凱蒂·布萊特（Katie Britt ）以及科技投资者和播客 大卫·萨克斯（David Sacks）（左二）一起出席了会议。MADDIE MCGARVEY/NYT
附原英文报道：
Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Cat Zakrzewski The Washington Post,Updated July 28, 2024
In the weeks before former president Trump announced his vice-presidential pick, some of tech’s biggest names launched a quiet campaign to push for one of their own: Ohio Senator JD Vance.
The former president fielded repeated calls from tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Vance’s former employer and mentor, imploring him to add the one-time Silicon Valley investor to the ticket, according to three people familiar with the entreaties, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.
Vance’s most forceful Silicon Valley advocates are euphoric about the former never Trumper’s rise in the GOP. They see Vance as their emissary in Washington, spreading a doctrine that government and entrenched corporate giants from Google to Lockheed Martin stifle innovation, while nimble, bold-thinking startups — especially their own — can propel the national interest. And while the ascension of Vice President Harris has invigorated many left-leaning tech leaders, some in Thiel’s network would stand to benefit from having Vance in the White House, a new asset for venture capitalists who until recently shunned Washington.
“WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH BABY,” Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, wrote on X after the announcement of Vance’s nomination.
For Thiel, Vance’s presence on the ticket is the payoff on a prescient bet placed a decade ago, when he embraced the Yale Law School graduate with Rust Belt roots as his protégé, joining a roster that included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI founder Sam Altman.
Especially after the publication in 2016 of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance impressed Thiel’s rarefied Silicon Valley set with what they saw as an omnivorous intellect, mild manner, and outsider story of growing up working-class in Ohio, a narrative that resonated after the 2016 election, as tech elites sought to understand how their obsession with building the future was leaving so many Americans behind.
Thiel made him wealthy, setting him up to invest in companies that became popular with the MAGA set. He shepherded Vance’s entry into politics, bankrolling, alongside other Silicon Valley donors, his successful bid for the Senate in 2022.
“For Peter,” said one of the people familiar with his thinking, “Vance is a generational bet.”
But Vance’s connections in the business world — along with his stances on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage — have also opened him up to criticism. Critics have called him a “shillbilly,” arguing that his relationship to the Thiel network could become a pay-to-play scenario.
“The best way for them to [instate] their elitist scheme and reactionary views is regulatory capture,” investor Del Johnson posted on X, using a term to describe the private sector’s control of the regulatory process. “You haven’t seen anything yet if you let the VC class get into the presidency.”
This report is based on 17 interviews with people familiar with Vance’s rise in the Valley, his relationship with Thiel, and the tech world’s ambitions for him should he win the country’s second highest political office, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their relationships.
Thiel declined to comment. Vance did not respond to comment requests.
Though Thiel became a Trump megadonor during the 2016 campaign, he ultimately was disappointed by the disorganization of his administration, as well as the lack of focus on science and innovation, according to several people with knowledge of his thinking.
But the Vance pick is helping Thiel warm to Trump. And Trump’s selection coincides with a newly sharpened focus on issues of central importance to the tech world. The former president has embraced industry-friendly messages on electric vehicles, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence. Trump appeared last month on Sacks’s All-In podcast, where he called his Silicon Valley donors “geniuses.” And at this month’s Republican National Convention, he praised electric vehicle pioneer Elon Musk, saying, “We have to make life good for our smart people.”
Sacks hosted Trump and Vance at his San Francisco home for a pricey fund-raiser in June, where the pair met more than 50 technology executives and other wealthy donors, according to a list of attendees.
At the RNC, Sacks could be seen talking with Vance in Trump’s private box. Others present said they had never seen the event so flooded with donors, lobbyists, and others from the technology industry.
The Biden administration, by contrast, has infuriated tech leaders by hindering the crypto industry, attempting to regulate AI, and challenging corporate acquisitions — a key path for startup founders to cash in. Sacks, Musk, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone, and founders of the prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have all thrown in with Trump and are donating large sums to a pro-Trump PAC.
If Trump reclaims the White House, Vance could help transform the tech industry from political punching bag to engine of capitalism, filling government positions with ideologically aligned tech leaders. A web of Thiel-associated startups, including Vance’s own token investment in defense firm Anduril, are competing for billions in contracts.
Meanwhile, friends of Sacks — whose pitch to Trump on nominating Vance was about noninterventionist foreign policy — often joke that he is angling for secretary of state.
Vance’s supporters said his willingness to call out Big Tech’s monopolistic practices, while supporting more nimble start-ups, branded “Little Tech,” make him a persuasive envoy.
Blake Masters, a former senior executive with Thiel Capital who is running for Congress in Arizona, said Vance’s ties to Silicon Valley would help usher in a new era of innovation.
“It’s not about making a buck,” said Masters, who became friends with Vance after Thiel asked him to review the billionaire’s blurb for “Hillbilly Elegy.” “It’s about making new technologies that the government, which used to do big initiatives like the Manhattan Project, is no longer equipped to make. It’s like someone who actually understands, almost at an intuitive level, the problems coming down the pike.”
