Mercers, Peter Thiel drop millions to back "Hillbilly Elegy" author

[SharonClark]

Billionaires who bankrolled Trump donate more than $10 million to super PAC supporting J.D. Vance's Ohio campaign

The Mercer family and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel are backing a possible Senate run by "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance after bankrolling former President Donald Trump.

Bob Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, who were instrumental in Trump's 2016 rise, made a "significant contribution" to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC formed last month to back Vance's likely bid, Bryan Lanza, a spokesman for the PAC and a former Trump aide, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Mercers have also funded the far-right news outlet Breitbart, the far-right social network Parler, the Brexit campaign and such right-wing lawmakers as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who pushed false claims about the election ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
. . .
Vance, a fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute who has described himself as a "nationalist," has considered running for a Senate seat in Ohio since 2018 and drew support from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., according to BuzzFeed News. He ultimately chose not to challenge incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in 2020, but quickly catapulted into the conversation after Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced that he would not seek re-election in 2022.
. . .
The financial support comes as Vance has increasingly begun to echo right-wing talking points about "identity politics," which he recently told Fox News' resident white nationalist Tucker Carlson are "destroying our society."

Vance's Twitter timeline has also become "basic Tucker Carlson Threats to America content," wrote Georgetown professor Don Moynihan, noting that Vance frequently focuses on criticism of cancel culture, immigrants, and woke elitists while "studiously" avoiding any criticism of Trump, the Big Lie, white nationalism or the Capitol riot.
. . .

source: https://www.salon.com/2021/03/16/mercers-peter-thiel-drop-millions-to-back-hillbilly-elegy-authors-possible-senate-run/

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Vance is such a punk and the book was laughable garbage.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. I loved that book and the film also. I hate that he's a GD shithead Repube.

[Iliyah]

3. I hope the F.B.I. are eye balling the Mercers . . .

they were behind Parlor the site that helped induce the insurrection on January 6, 2021.

[Freethinker65]

4. Backstory of book was ok. Author was really into himself.

Cycles of bad decisions leading to familial poverty and drug addictions. Witnessing that and joining the military to get the fuck out and break the cycle. Then getting a scholarship for a great education and being successful. Opining it is possible for everyone if you do it my way. I know everything now, listen to Me. Me. Me. (And everything the government does is is counter-productive except for the stuff that anecdotally helped him personally...so since everyone is exactly like him...)
That was my take on the book. No desire to watch a movie about it.

Look if the guy wants to run for office, why not choose a lesser State office or Federal House seat first? That is what amazes and most angers me. A House seat run, might actually be a better fit for this particular Republican think tanker.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. I hope Ron Howard campaigns against him, for whoever his Dem opponent is. Not