The man Donald Trump chose to be next in line to the presidency (and who will probably do the real work while Trump watches Fox News) has put millions into the online video platform, Rumble.
From Talking Points Memo:
Vance has had a six-figure stake in Rumble, an online video platform. The company has played host to Russian propaganda and to far-right personalities like Stew Peters and Tim Pool. It has also featured even more extreme content, including explicitly neo-Nazi images and themes like this song touting the “Reich” and calling for Jews to be placed in ovens from a “dissident rapper” with a dedicated page on the site. The site features a plethora of channels and videos dedicated to the concept of “white genocide,” which is a core belief for white supremacists. It also hosts channels for explicitly white supremacist organizations including VDare and Patriot Front, which has led masked demonstrations around the country.
TPM’s Hunter Walker explained that Vance and Thiel invested in Rumble in 2021, via the firm they co-founded, Narya Capital, with a purchase of more than 7 million shares. Vance also personally invested at least $100,000 in Rumble. Narya got a seat on Rumble’s board. Although Narya reportedly planned to sell more than three million of its Rumble shares, Vance’s most recent financial disclosure, covering 2022, showed he still owns shares of Rumble.
Rumble is not just extreme and hate-filled but hosts propaganda that is arguably more pro-Russia than pro-America. In October, 2022, The New York Times noted that although the Russian television network RT has been mostly taken off the air since the invasion of Ukraine, the network streams its content on Rumble:
RT’s livestream has received nearly five million views since Rumble began hosting it in March. On Sept. 10, an RT report on Rumble mocked “Kiev’s flawed counteroffensive” as “incredibly unsuccessful,” even as Ukraine was on the cusp of sweeping gains. A more recent RT piece interviewed Ukrainians sympathetic to Russia on the front lines, including one woman saying, “I’m sure the Russian troops will not leave us.” Typical headlines seek to project a sense of competence onto Mr. Putin’s beleaguered military (“Russian sea-based missile strikes hit all designated targets”) and recklessness onto Ukraine and its Western allies (“Ukraine hits Donetsk civilian areas with over 200 NATO-supplied shells”).
Investing in Rumble “fits into an enduring narrative of Mr. Thiel, who has expressed skepticism of democracy and advocated keeping the airwaves open for hard-right voices since his student days at Stanford,” The Times reported. Billionaire Thiel is also described as “the prime patron of Mr. Vance’s Senate campaign” by The Times.
So if you think Vance’s attacks on childless women are repulsive, you ain’t seen nothing yet if this guy gets into the White House.
