Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, one of Donald Trump’s earliest prominent supporters in Silicon Valley, is publicly criticizing the president’s approach to staffing his administration.

And his assessment was unusually blunt.

Speaking with German journalist Mathias Döpfner, Thiel argued that Trump’s second administration overcorrected for one of the biggest problems of his first: constant internal conflict.

During Trump’s first term, Thiel said, the administration brought together people who frequently disagreed with one another, producing infighting and dysfunction.

The second time around, according to Thiel, Trump went too far in the opposite direction.

The administration became focused on loyalty tests, he argued, resulting in a government staffed by people who were “not very smart, but very loyal.”

Thiel said he wished Trump had appointed more competent people.

The criticism is notable because it is not coming from a traditional Trump opponent.

Thiel was one of the most prominent figures in Silicon Valley to publicly support Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, when much of the technology industry was firmly opposed to him.

He contributed $1.25 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign effort through direct contributions and support for pro-Trump political committees.

Thiel later became an important political benefactor of JD Vance.

During Vance’s 2022 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, Thiel contributed $15 million to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC supporting Vance’s candidacy.

That relationship remains significant. Thiel told Döpfner that he continues to be a Vance supporter and described the vice president as thoughtful, open-minded and charismatic.

His criticism, therefore, represents something more complicated than a political defection.

Thiel continues to share significant ideological ground with the Trump movement while questioning how Trump has chosen the people surrounding him.

He contrasted Trump’s two administrations as opposite staffing failures: one plagued by disagreement and another in which loyalty became too important.

Thiel also warned that dissatisfaction with the Republican establishment could eventually be mirrored on the Democratic side.

He expressed concern that voters frustrated with establishment politics could increasingly turn toward Democratic Socialists, a development he described in starkly negative terms.

Those comments make clear that Thiel has not suddenly embraced Trump’s political opponents.

Instead, one of the billionaire investors who helped legitimize Trump within conservative Silicon Valley circles is now questioning whether loyalty has become more important than competence inside the administration.

For a president who has long placed extraordinary value on personal loyalty, the criticism is coming from someone who once invested heavily in the political movement Trump created.

And Thiel’s message is difficult to misunderstand:

Loyalty alone is not enough.