Ron DeSantis Backed by GOP Megadonor Despite Apprehension on 'Woke Issue'

Republican billionaire Peter Thiel says that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would "make a terrific president," despite apprehension about the governor's obsession with "the woke issue."

Thiel, a PayPal co-founder who was among former President Donald Trump's earliest major backers in 2016, made the remarks during an interview in Wednesday's episode of former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss' Honestly podcast. DeSantis has not declared his candidacy but is widely assumed to be preparing to challenge Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

The remarks arrive one week after a Reuters report claimed that Thiel would refrain from making any donations during the 2024 election cycle due to Republicans focusing on "hot-button U.S. cultural issues" like abortion restrictions and transgender bathroom bans—issues that DeSantis has heavily focused on as part of his war on so-called "woke ideology."

Although Thiel did not say whether he would donate to DeSantis or support him in the Republican primary over Trump, he did pledge to "strongly support" the governor if he wins the GOP nomination. Thiel did not publicly support the former president in the 2020 election, having told the Times in 2018 that Trump had "fallen short" in the Oval Office.

"I think DeSantis would make a terrific president," Thiel told Weiss. "If he's the Republican nominee, I will strongly support him in 2024. But I do worry that focusing on the woke issue as ground zero is not quite enough."

Thiel explained that he considered focusing on "identity politics" and "the woke religion" to be a "distraction" from "stagnation" and economic issues. He did not define what he meant by "woke"—a relatively common omission among Republicans, despite the GOP's increasing focus on the ill-defined issue.

He went on to say that he had considered moving his offices from California to Florida but had hesitated due to rising real estate prices and interest rates in the Sunshine State. Thiel argued that the "economic cost" in Florida was "probably not enough to offset all the wokeness in the world," while maintaining that he still opposed "the woke mind virus."

"I think it's necessary to defeat the woke mind virus," said Thiel. "I don't think it's sufficient. I think even if you defeat it you will still have this economic stagnation, this runaway debt problem."

Before his campaign has even officially started, DeSantis has already lost the support of at least two major donors. Billionaires John Catsimatidis and Thomas Peterffy said in recent weeks that they would not contribute to DeSantis, with Peterffy citing the governor's stance on abortion and book banning for placing donations "on hold."

Trump has been ramping up attacks on his potential rival, to whom he frequently refers as "Ron DeSanctimonius" or "DeSanctus." In a series of Truth Social posts this week, the former president celebrated DeSantis "dropping like a rock in the polls."

Thiel was one of the Republican Party's biggest individual donors leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. He reportedly contributed more than $35 million to at least 16 GOP candidates running in federal elections, including some who campaigned against "wokeness" in a manner similar to DeSantis.

Despite narrowly regaining control of the House, Republicans are widely considered to have underperformed in the midterms, with the GOP's prediction of a "red wave" having failed to materialize.

Newsweek has reached out via email to the office of DeSantis for comment.