Peter Thiel on Trump's win: 'He has an awesomely difficult task'

Silicon Valley's most famous Donald Trump supporter has issued a statement on the president elect's historic win.

In a statement sent to Business Insider, Peter Thiel praised Trump's win and acknowledged the uphill battle ahead of the president-elect:

"Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump. He has an awesomely difficult task, since it is long past time for us to face up to our country's problems. We're going to need all hands on deck."

Thiel backed Trump before the Republican National Convention and has spent the last few months defending his position as Silicon Valley groups have called for companies like Facebook or Y Combinator to disassociate themselves from the legendary venture capitalist.

However, in the wake of a Trump presidency, Thiel's once-outlier position now appears mainstream.

In an appearance at the National Press Club on Halloween, Thiel said Trump "points toward a new Republican Party beyond the dogmas of Reaganism."

"He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking, and reckons with reality," he said during the speech. "When the distracting spectacles of this election season are forgotten and the history of our time is written, the only important question will be whether or not that new politics came too late."

The founder of PayPal and prominent venture capitalist, who helped bankroll wrestling star Hulk Hogan's lawsuit that ended up crushing the news website Gawker, acknowledged at the time the election year has been "crazy."

"Real events seem like they're rehearsals for 'Saturday Night Live,'" Thiel said. "Only an outbreak of insanity would seem to account for the unprecedented fact that this year a political outsider managed to win a major-party nomination."

That "outbreak of insanity" was more than just a political outsider winning a major-party nomination. As of early Wednesday morning, Trump is now the president-elect.