Even so, Rumble is serving as a platform for RT’s Russia-friendly content at a time of growing discontent on the right – and also from some voices on the left – about the government Biden expands armament to Ukraine. The Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy of California, has said that if his party wins back the House next month, it will resist writing “a blank check“For the Ukrainian government. While Russia’s war has been widely condemned by the West, some influential conservative pundits, including Tucker Carlson on Fox, are generally reluctant to criticize Mr. Putin.
Mr. Vance, who once lashed out at Donald J. Trump (“Oh my god what a fool“, he tweeted in 2016), became an ardent supporter and adopted isolated stance on foreign policy. In February, a few days before the invasion, he said: “I have to be honest with you. I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.”
During the summer, Mr. Vance, a Marine veteran, sought to clarify saying, “We want the Ukrainians to succeed” and calling Mr Putin a “bad guy”. But he added, “Ultimately we have to stop the flow of money to Ukraine.”
Mr. Vance is unlikely to be the first candidate backed by Mr. Thiel, who has bailed out political allies for years – Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri among them, Not to mention Mr. Trump. But his relationship is deeper than most. Mr. Vance met Mr. Thiel in 2011 while studying at Yale Law School. He attended a speech in which Mr. Thiel lament failures of both the legal world and Silicon Valley, and he called it “the most important moment of my time at Yale.” Within half a decade, he was employed at Mithril Capital, one of Thiel’s venture capital funds.
Vance became famous for writing “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling memoir from 2016 about his stodgy Ohio roots. He co-founded Narya in 2020 with the backing of Mr. Thiel, envisioning it as a Ohio-based venture capital fund will focus on the Midwest instead of Silicon Valley. But Mr Thiel’s mark remains, starting with the name, following Thielist’s convention of using various details from “Lord of the Rings”. Narya is named for one of the “Rings of Power” forged, according to JRR Tolkien, by the “Elven Blacksmith of Eregion” during the Second Age, under the supervision of the evil wizard Sauron. This takes place in Middle-earth, perhaps a long way from Ohio.
