• Peter Thiel attributed Trump’s recent support in Silicon Valley in part to the efforts of Elon Musk.

• Thiel told journalist Bari Weiss that Musk provided “cover” to other tech leaders to support Trump.

• Thiel also said that growing frustration with the “woke” has pushed the industry to the right.

billionaire Peter Thiel credited Elon Musk, in part, with helping other tech leaders feel comfortable publicly supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

The former PayPal CEO participated in a post-election debrief with journalist Bari Weiss on a episode of her “Honest” podcast released Thursday.

Thiel, who backed Trump financially in 2016 but said he was moving away from political donations this year, said Musk’s embrace of Trump was instrumental in facilitating Shifting Silicon Valley to the right in the 2024 election.

“There was a certain degree where it was safer for people to talk when others people were talkingThiel said on the podcast.

Around the election, several Silicon Valley billionaires and business leaders who had previously shunned Trump or remained publicly apolitical came forward in support of the former president, including Marc Andreessen, David Sacksand Shaun Maguireamong others.

The apparent industry is turning to Trump in the months leading up to the election over 100 venture capitalistsincluding Reid Hoffman, Ron Conway and Mark Cuban, to pledge their support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

And while Silicon Valley, long a progressive bastion, remained solidly Democratic in November’s election, Trump has seen a notable increase in support in the three counties that make up America’s tech hub, BI previously reported.

Weiss asked Thiel if the Tesla CEO was the “critical ingredient” that allowed other business leaders to feel safe supporting the divisive president.

“I think Elon was incredibly important to that,” Thiel said, later adding that Musk “obviously gave people a lot of coverage.”

Musk did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Poured musk millions of dollars to help get Trump elected. This week, Trump announced that Musk would have a role in his administration as co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside entrepreneur and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

But Thiel said Silicon Valley’s Cultural Change it has been building for years because of people doubling down on “political correctness and awakening” inside companies.

“There was a point where it sold out and a lot of the founders and top CEOs felt comfortable telling me that behind closed doors,” Thiel said.

Thiel characterized the sentiment in Silicon Valley as one of growing frustration to “corporate governance” and “how ridiculous it has become to manage these ideologically disturbed millennial employees.”

In 2022, Musk, who Thiel said was once “left of center,” described his new foray into conservative politics as an effort to stop the “awakened minds” virus.The business leader moved Tesla’s headquarters from blue state California to red Texas in 2021 and said earlier this year that he would move both SpaceX and X to the conservative state.

“At some point, Elon changed,” Thiel said. “It’s part of this kind of intellectual straitjacket where you’re not allowed to have ideas, even if you agree with them 80 percent. It’s never enough. you have to be 100 percent.”

Thiel suggested Musk’s fierce support for Trump before the election he was “incredibly dangerous” and “incredibly brave”.

“Maybe the rest of us can be a little braver than we would otherwise be,” Thiel said.

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