(2017-02-26) Donald Trump's Shadow President In Silicon Valley

Donald Trump's 'shadow president' in Silicon Valley

In early December, the name of a candidate to be the science adviser to the president began percolating in Trump Tower: David Gelernter

Gelernter has long been friendly with Peter Thiel

Gelernter’s potential elevation is just one small sign of Thiel’s growing stature in Donald Trump world. He was a near-constant presence throughout the transition: Working with a staff of four to six aides from an office in Trump Tower, Thiel dispatched associates from his investment firms to help staff agencies across the government. Their reach extended from the Department of Commerce to the Pentagon and eventually to the White House, where one of his closest aides, Kevin Harrington, was recently elevated to the National Security Council.

That helps to explain why Jim O’Neill, a managing director at Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril Capital Management, is now being considered to run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). O’Neill served at the Department of Health and Human Services in the George W. Bush administration but has no medical background

Thiel is a devotee of the Stanford literary critic and philosopher René Girard, most famous for his theory of “mimetic desire” — the idea that people learn to want the same things, which eventually causes conflict

His initial connection to Trump came through the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Thiel is a longtime investor in the health care startup founded by Kushner’s brother, Josh.

Blake Masters, one of his students who became his co-author, was at his side during the transition, conducting interviews with candidates for various administration posts. Also along for the ride: Michael Kratsios, Thiel’s chief of staff, and Charlie Kirk, a 23-year-old wunderkind who blew off college to start a grass-roots organization dedicated to training young conservatives in the art of persuasion — and plugging them into the right networks.