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Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. Hey, Teddy Schleifer here. I’m taking over tonight with a remarkable story revealing how the dark art of political opposition research unfolds in the digital age. I’ve spent months talking to sources and reviewing texts that showcase a tug-of-war between Peter Thiel and a group of Democrats, including David Brock, who have been shadow-boxing with the billionaire for almost a year. Tomorrow, Tina Nguyen will be back with fresh intel on the latest round of infighting rocking the House Freedom Caucus—and the implications for an increasingly beleaguered Kevin McCarthy and his razor-thin majority.
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Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest.

Hey, Teddy Schleifer here. I’m taking over tonight with a remarkable story revealing how the dark art of political opposition research unfolds in the digital age. I’ve spent months talking to sources and reviewing texts that showcase a tug-of-war between Peter Thiel and a group of Democrats, including David Brock, who have been shadow-boxing with the billionaire for almost a year. Tomorrow, Tina Nguyen will be back with fresh intel on the latest round of infighting rocking the House Freedom Caucus—and the implications for an increasingly beleaguered...

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Thiel, Brock & a Gutter Oppo Campaign for Our Times
Thiel, Brock & a Gutter Oppo Campaign for Our Times
When Peter Thiel emerged as the right’s potential heir to Sheldon Adelson during the ’22 midterms, a highly connected Democratic operative launched a guerilla opposition research campaign to chill his political influence. What happened next was sordid, and ultimately tragic, but also a telling reflection of a new era in political combat.
THEODORE SCHLEIFER THEODORE SCHLEIFER
Last October, two weeks before the midterm elections, a budding model named Jeff Thomas walked into the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel for lunch with a friend who had been working with a well-connected Democratic political operative named Jack Bury. Thomas, then 35, dabbled in real estate, the art world, and the inchoate realm of social media influencing. But his most relevant avocation was as a former boyfriend of Peter Thiel, the multi-billionaire entrepreneur and Republican mega-donor. Thomas, who first met Thiel at...
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Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. Hey, Teddy Schleifer here. I’m taking over tonight with a remarkable story revealing how the dark art of political opposition research unfolds in the digital age. I’ve spent months talking to sources and reviewing texts that showcase a tug-of-war between Peter Thiel and a group of Democrats, […]
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