Peter Thiel, the billionaire and megadonor, has said he won’t back candidates in the upcoming presidential election, but he has vowed to support Ron DeSantis if he makes it to the general election.
He said DeSantis would be a “terrific president.”
Thiel has cautioned DeSantis, however, that simply being the anti-woke candidate is not “quite enough” as a platform. DeSantis has notoriously made attacking “wokeness” the central tenet of his political program. In a now-famous address in January, he promoted Florida as a destination “where woke goes to die.”
His support has chiefly marked his tenure as governor for anti-LGBTQ+ measures, including the wrongly nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay” statute.
The governor’s willingness to antagonize a major corporation has earned him some ire from traditional conservatives, who point to the bill that started the conflict with Disney as evidence.
DeSantis is widely anticipated to officially launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in June.
Theil said the focus on identity politics, on the woke religion, is probably distracting attention away from economics.
Thiel, an early Trump backer who later distanced himself from the president, reportedly stopped funding political campaigns after the 2022 elections out of dissatisfaction with the media’s concentration on culture conflicts.
Thiel’s business partners said the billionaire thinks Republicans are wrong to prioritize cultural issues over innovation and competing with China.
Regarding Florida, Thiel said he wouldn’t relocate to Florida because of the high cost of living in the area’s three counties that he would be interested in.
Businesses looking to expand or relocate have focused on Wynwood, Miami Beach, and downtown West Palm Beach.
According to CoreLogic’s January 2023 U.S. Home Price Insights report, the influx turbocharged the housing market, driving the median home price in the Miami metro area to over $605,000.
Despite interest rate hikes slowing sales, the region still sees record home sale prices.
