It wasn’t so long ago that Peter Thiel was a reclusive figure, so protective of his privacy that he bankrolled a lawsuit to ruin the news outlet that publicly revealed he’s gay. A decade later, the fifty-eight-year-old Thiel no longer avoids the political spotlight.

Over the past decade, Thiel has become an increasingly active and vocal right-wing political donor. Central to this is his close, more-than-decade-long relationship with his former employee and protégé J. D. Vance, the vice president and Donald Trump’s likely successor as leader of the Republican Party, whose political ascent — first to the Senate, then into Trump’s good graces, and finally the vice presidency — Thiel has bankrolled and facilitated. As recently as a month ago, the two men reportedly sat down for a private dinner in the vice president’s residence.

Thiel’s close relationship with Vance and other young right-wingers all but ensures that the tech billionaire will continue to shape politics and policy for many years — decades, if his technological plans to extend his lifespan work out. And, in spite of Jeffrey Epstein’s mysterious death seven years ago, it ensures the same for the quiet influence of the ultrafiche pedophile, who private emails show was not only good friends with Thiel but encouraged Thiel’s involvement in right-wing politics.