Jessica Tarlov Dismisses ‘Woke Bank’ Claims By Pointing Out Peter Thiel Was Top VC at SVB: ‘It Basically Was’ a MAGA Bank

Jessica Tarlov, co-host of Fox News’s top-rated show The Five, took aim at the ongoing accusations on the right that Silicon Valley Bank failed in recent days because it had gone “woke.”

The discussion on the topic Tuesday kicked off with a lengthy lashing of the bank and accusations from the other co-hosts that the bank had embraced rotten Democrat-aligned policies that led to financial ruin.

Eventually, Tarlov’s time to weigh in came and she rebutted those arguments by reminding her co-hosts that one of SVB’s top venture capitalists was none other than Peter Thiel – the MAGA diehard who poured tens of millions of dollars into Trump-backed campaigns during the 2022 midterms.

Tarlov began by noting that in today’s digital world, bank runs are even more immediate and dangerous.
“And Dana said it happened so quickly. Banking, a bank run is a tale as old as time, right? But being able to do a bank run off your phone is what is new, that a few people can get on Twitter, start tweeting out, ‘get out, get out, get out,’ and suddenly $42 billion needs to leave your coffers within 24 hours,” she noted.

“I mean, that’s an impossibility and something that we have to deal with,” Tarlov added, before diving in on the “woke” narrative:

I want to say something about what the Post said, ‘You know, if it was at a MAGA bank?’ It basically was!

Peter Thiel was one of the top five biggest VCs there. Huge backer of Donald Trump, 2016 2020. In 2022, he resigned from the Board of META. He was one of the original board members, so that he could back J.D. Vance, to join a Trump-aligned PAC for J.D. Vance and Blake Masters. This embarrassing thing, whatever Jesse was talking about, all the wokeness, if you look at who’s running that bank, it’s a bunch of white guys and three women. And the jobs that those three women have, by the way, are roles that traditionally women have H.R. the CMO, and then the chief risk officer, who obviously was not doing a great job there.

“So you are saying we needed more white guys?” jested Jesse Watters.

“No, I’m really not saying that at all. That’s what I hear in terms of ESG investing. So I was looking around for Republicans who believe in it, someone like Steve Schwarzman, who runs Blackstone. It’s a huge pillar of their business. I’ve never encountered someone who works in finance, who cares more about having Black faces or Trans people at the table more than they care about money,” Tarlov added.

Notably, Schwarzman had been a longtime Trump supporter as well, although he recently said he would support another GOP candidate in 2024.

“So obviously, investing in these things is good for the bottom line and it’s not just some woke venture. Who’s on the board is not who’s running these things,” Tarlov concluded.

“Well, who is ever running it is an idiot. They just got wiped out,” Watters shot back.

“Becker is an idiot. But that’s not a wokeness initiative. So that’s a white guy,” Tarlov concluded as the hosts continued the discussion.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.