[brianmcconnell]

It's pretty disappointing to see someone of Thiel's stature do this. Distasteful choice and motives aside, it's good to remember that the tech industry has a long history of forwarding poorly thought out political initiatives while underestimating politics as its own craft with separate and largely non-transferable skills. (Tim Draper's plan to split California into six states, two rich, four poor as dirt, being a relatively recent example of something that didn't work out so well).

If Thiel had really wanted to disrupt presidential elections, he could have thrown some money and social media connections behind Evan McMullin as a way of throwing a malotov cocktail into the race. It's his money, but if it were me I would not want to be associated with someone as vulgar as Trump.