Thiel was an early, lonely Silicon Valley supporter of Trump in 2016, and his party symbolised, in vivid terms, the tech industry’s new excitement for Trump. Dozens of top right-wing venture capitalists joined the likes of Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump jnr, who emerged from the evening party with a triumphant grin.
“I don’t think anyone has ever been looking forward to a Monday like this,” he told a New York Times reporter one minute before he posted a similar thought to his followers on the social platform X. “I’ve been working a little too hard. Looking forward to Tuesday when I can relax.”
The collective net worth of Thiel’s party was hard to count, but included plenty of billionaires who know Thiel or his co-host, David Sacks. Sacks is an incoming administration official from Silicon Valley and a college friend of Thiel from their days at Stanford.
Thiel prides himself on his elaborate parties, and his inauguration event, held in his seven-bedroom home, included a hired juggler who rather than juggling, instead posed trivia questions to guests about US presidents. Snack cakes and other appetisers were passed around, and larger bites were served at stations. (The Mar-a-Lago station had shrimp, steak and salad with Thousand Island dressing; there was also a food delivery from McDonald’s.) Gift bags were filled with small bottles of Moët Champagne. There were, of course, red MAGA hats.
Prominent tech industry guests, among a heavily male list, included Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, crypto investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and after a brief period of haggling with security over the guest list, Alexandr Wang. Wang, who runs one of the most celebrated artificial-intelligence startups in the world, ScaleAI, was able to talk his way into the mansion, which Thiel purchased several years ago from Wilbur Ross, Trump’s former commerce secretary. Joe Osborne, a company spokesperson, said Wang had been temporarily unable to get in because the event was at capacity.
Silicon Valley’s politics have trended to the right since Trump’s election, and many of the main personalities of that movement were seen at the Thiel party. Guests included tech podcasters Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg, hosts of the All-In show with Sacks; former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick; incoming administration officials such as Jacob Helberg, Ken Howery and Sriram Krishnan, all from Silicon Valley; and Senators Bill Hagerty, Ted Cruz and Dave McCormick.
Johnson described the party as “a lot of fun,” with the best part being “the company”. Cruz, who has worked to cultivate a relationship with Thiel over the years, said this was not, in fact, the best part of the weekend. That, he said, “is gonna be noon on Monday”.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Theodore Schleifer and Alyson Krueger
Photographs by: Jason Andrew,
©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
