NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

A Trump party hosted by Peter Thiel, with all of Silicon Valley

By Theodore Schleifer and Alyson Krueger
New York Times·
19 Jan, 2025 11:17 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Miriam Adelson arriving at Peter Thiel’s house in Washington. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times

Miriam Adelson arriving at Peter Thiel’s house in Washington. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times

The party symbolised the euphoria of the tech industry on the cusp of the Trump presidency. The guest list included Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Miriam Adelson and the vice president-elect, JD Vance.

The who’s who of Silicon Valley and Washington converged at Peter Thiel’s beaux-arts mansion in DC on Saturday evening, as the power brokers gathered in anticipation of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Casino mogul Miriam Adelson, one of the richest people in the world, arrived minutes before the 5pm party officially started, joined shortly after by one of the few people richer: Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.

He briskly walked in from the cold to the 10,000 square-foot home in the Woodley Park neighbourhood, clad in black-tie attire and surrounded by a few security people and his newly promoted head of global policy, Joel Kaplan, who has a long history in Republican politics. Zuckerberg stayed for about 90 minutes at the home of Thiel, a board member at Meta and mentor to him, declining to answer shouted questions from reporters.

Thiel’s other powerful friends joined later, and most party attendees (though not Zuckerberg) had to be screened by Secret Service agents. About 7.30pm, Vice-President-elect JD Vance arrived with his motorcade, although he stayed for less than 30 minutes. Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 with US$15 million ($26.8m) in campaign support from Thiel.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Vice President-elect JD Vance arriving with his motorcade. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times
Vice President-elect JD Vance arriving with his motorcade. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times

Thiel was an early, lonely Silicon Valley supporter of Trump in 2016, and his party symbolised, in vivid terms, the tech industry’s new excitement for Trump. Dozens of top right-wing venture capitalists joined the likes of Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump jnr, who emerged from the evening party with a triumphant grin.

“I don’t think anyone has ever been looking forward to a Monday like this,” he told a New York Times reporter one minute before he posted a similar thought to his followers on the social platform X. “I’ve been working a little too hard. Looking forward to Tuesday when I can relax.”

The collective net worth of Thiel’s party was hard to count, but included plenty of billionaires who know Thiel or his co-host, David Sacks. Sacks is an incoming administration official from Silicon Valley and a college friend of Thiel from their days at Stanford.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Thiel prides himself on his elaborate parties, and his inauguration event, held in his seven-bedroom home, included a hired juggler who rather than juggling, instead posed trivia questions to guests about US presidents. Snack cakes and other appetisers were passed around, and larger bites were served at stations. (The Mar-a-Lago station had shrimp, steak and salad with Thousand Island dressing; there was also a food delivery from McDonald’s.) Gift bags were filled with small bottles of Moët Champagne. There were, of course, red MAGA hats.

Donald Trump Jr. outside Thiel’s home. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times
Donald Trump Jr. outside Thiel’s home. Photo / Jason Andrew, The New York Times

Prominent tech industry guests, among a heavily male list, included Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, crypto investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and after a brief period of haggling with security over the guest list, Alexandr Wang. Wang, who runs one of the most celebrated artificial-intelligence startups in the world, ScaleAI, was able to talk his way into the mansion, which Thiel purchased several years ago from Wilbur Ross, Trump’s former commerce secretary. Joe Osborne, a company spokesperson, said Wang had been temporarily unable to get in because the event was at capacity.

Discover more

Business

Controversial Kiwi billionaire eyes possible shift to New Zealand

19 Aug 11:52 PM
World

A Trump oligarchy is moving to Washington and buying up prime addresses

19 Jan 11:01 PM
World

A list of those who could be in line for Donald Trump’s ‘retribution’

19 Jan 07:32 PM
World

Thousands rally against Trump in Washington DC ahead of inauguration

18 Jan 10:04 PM

Silicon Valley’s politics have trended to the right since Trump’s election, and many of the main personalities of that movement were seen at the Thiel party. Guests included tech podcasters Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg, hosts of the All-In show with Sacks; former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick; incoming administration officials such as Jacob Helberg, Ken Howery and Sriram Krishnan, all from Silicon Valley; and Senators Bill Hagerty, Ted Cruz and Dave McCormick.

Johnson described the party as “a lot of fun,” with the best part being “the company”. Cruz, who has worked to cultivate a relationship with Thiel over the years, said this was not, in fact, the best part of the weekend. That, he said, “is gonna be noon on Monday”.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Theodore Schleifer and Alyson Krueger

Photographs by: Jason Andrew,

©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from World

World

'Crossed a new red line': Iran condemns Israeli nuclear site attacks

15 Jun 08:34 AM
World

Israeli cities struck by Iranian missiles, 10 dead, many injured

15 Jun 06:24 AM
World

'Discarded': Mass grave excavation uncovers Ireland's dark history of child burials

15 Jun 04:48 AM

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Crossed a new red line': Iran condemns Israeli nuclear site attacks

'Crossed a new red line': Iran condemns Israeli nuclear site attacks

15 Jun 08:34 AM

Latest developments in an increasingly bloody confilct.

Israeli cities struck by Iranian missiles, 10 dead, many injured

Israeli cities struck by Iranian missiles, 10 dead, many injured

15 Jun 06:24 AM
'Discarded': Mass grave excavation uncovers Ireland's dark history of child burials

'Discarded': Mass grave excavation uncovers Ireland's dark history of child burials

15 Jun 04:48 AM
Premium
Expanding restrictions: 36 nations face potential US travel bans, includes Tonga

Expanding restrictions: 36 nations face potential US travel bans, includes Tonga

15 Jun 04:36 AM
The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE
sponsored

The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP