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In campaign ads and stump speeches, Blake Masters is playing Trump’s greatest hits. He complains about “wokeness,” talks openly about American decline, and demands that the government finish building the wall on the southern border. But unlike Trump, Masters’ political ambitions reimagine America in the eyes of Silicon Valley and one of its most powerful — and controversial — investors.
On the heels of Trump’s endorsement, Masters is poised to win Tuesday’s primary and become the GOP’s next Senate nominee in Arizona. But his mentor Peter Thiel casts a long shadow over his candidacy and raises the stakes to something much larger than a single Senate seat. Over the last decade, Masters has studied under Thiel at Stanford, led Thiel’s…