tech billionaire peter thiel has given to candidates as diverse as ron paul, who bucked the gop<u+2019>s main ideology as trump does, and mitt romney, but he has also donated to democrats, like former obama official ro khanna, who is running for congress in california. | ap photo by colin wilhelm 11/02/16 01:19 pm edt in a speech at the national press club on monday, billionaire peter thiel laid out his case for supporting iconoclastic republican presidential nominee donald trump. even as he acknowledged the candidate<u+2019>s flaws , the paypal co-founder argued, <u+201c>it shouldn<u+2019>t be surprising to see people vote for bernie sanders or donald trump, the only outsider left in the race.<u+201d> story continued below yet, despite his call for <u+201c>a new american politics<u+201d> and support for outsiders, fundraising records show that thiel has contributed to established politicians numerous times over the years. among them: mitt romney, house speaker paul ryan , senate finance chairman orrin hatch , former sen. elizabeth dole. he has also donated to establishment entities like the republican national committee and the national republican congressional committee. further complicating a picture of thiel<u+2019>s politics are contributions he has made this election cycle. though his overall donations are substantially less than the $1.25 million he has pledged to trump, the beneficiaries of thiel<u+2019>s largess also include a former obama administration official running for congress this year. federal election commission records show that thiel has given $5,400 to ro khanna, a democrat who served as deputy assistant commerce secretary in the obama administration. khanna, 40, is running to unseat fellow democrat mike honda , the incumbent in california<u+2019>s 17th district, which includes silicon valley. thiel<u+2019>s donations came after a june 7 open primary that narrowed the field to honda and khanna, a former tech lawyer who ran against honda in the preceding cycle. though thiel has donated to presidential candidates as diverse as former rep. ron paul, who bucked the party<u+2019>s main ideology as trump does, and romney, who exemplified its establishment, khanna<u+2019>s policy stances in some ways match the remarks thiel made in monday<u+2019>s speech more than the republicans he has supported. khanna, who became involved in politics when he worked on president barack obama<u+2019>s illinois state senate campaign, first ran for congress in a 2003 protest against the iraq war. he touts his success in securing a redevelopment and job-training grant during his tenure with the obama administration for an auto manufacturing plant that closed in the district. in monday<u+2019>s speech, thiel lamented stagnant wage growth, jobs lost to free trade, wars overseas and the high cost of health care. <u+201c>america<u+2019>s overpriced health care system might help subsidize the rest of the world, but that doesn<u+2019>t help the americans who can<u+2019>t afford it, and they<u+2019>ve started to notice,<u+201d> thiel said in a subtle comparison to the national systems of european countries and canada. <u+201c>america has become the only country where students take on loans they can never escape, not even by declaring bankruptcy,<u+201d> he said of college costs. thiel declined to comment for this story, <u+201c>peter has long been a republican and has long donated to republicans,<u+201d> a person familiar with thiel<u+2019>s political leanings said. before endorsing trump, the person noted, thiel backed former hewlett-packard executive carly fiorina, another candidate running on business, rather than political, experience. this cycle, thiel has given to a small but eclectic group of congressional candidates: rep. will hurd (r-texas), a freshman lawmaker who chairs the house subcommittee on information technology; paul babeu, a controversial sheriff who<u+2019>s running as the republican nominee to fill democratic rep. ann kirkpatrick <u+2019>s open seat in arizona; and grant starrett, a tennessee republican who unsuccessfully attempted to unseat house freedom caucus member <u+2014> and early trump endorser <u+2014> scott desjarlais this summer. another candidate receiving support from thiel this cycle: utah republican sen. mike lee , one of trump<u+2019>s most outspoken republican opponents, who unsuccessfully attempted to unbind delegates dedicated to the nominee at the republican convention this summer. thiel gave lee<u+2019>s principal campaign committee $8,100 on aug. 27, 2015. a line from thiel<u+2019>s speech yesterday may shed light on his move away from supporting more established politicians in recent years. <u+201c>for a long time, our elites have been in the habit of denying difficult realities. that<u+2019>s how bubbles form,<u+201d> said thiel, who mentioned that he experienced the late 1990s tech bubble personally, sounding like a dissatisfied investor. <u+201c>whenever there is a hard problem, but people want to believe in an easy solution, they will be tempted to deny reality and inflate a bubble.<u+201d> tony romm contributed to this report. by thomas wright by bill scher by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
thiel touts outsider trump but has backed mainstream republicans <u+2014> and obama ally - politico
colin wilhelm jack shafer