Jesse Michels
Investor listed as employed by Thiel Capital on a March 30, 2022 federal campaign contribution and creator of the American Alchemy YouTube channel.
Jesse Michels is the creator and host of American Alchemy, a long-form interview channel on YouTube and a podcast. A February 2, 2023 episode listing of the podcast Infinite Loops, produced by O'Shaughnessy Ventures, describes him as "an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of 'American Alchemy', a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time."2
Thiel Capital
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records list one contribution of 2,900 dollars dated March 30, 2022 from a Jesse Michels of Los Angeles ZIP code 90046 (California), giving his employer as "Thiel Capital" and his occupation as "Investor." The contribution appears twice in the federal database because it was routed through the conduit WinRed (committee C00694323): the candidate committee, Blake Masters for Senate (C00784165), reported it as "earmarked (non-directed) through WinRed" (receipt image 202204159496855525), and WinRed's own report lists it as "earmarked for Blake Masters for Senate" (image 202212159563803397).1 Masters, the candidate, served as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation and was co-author with Peter Thiel of Zero to One; Thiel funded a super PAC supporting his 2022 Arizona Senate campaign.3
The same name appears on four smaller contributions to ActBlue (5 dollars on September 19, 2020 and September 27, 2020, both from Brooklyn, 10 dollars on October 31, 2020 from New York, and 10 dollars on July 22, 2024 from New York, employer "Alpha FMC," occupation "recruiter"), with employers or statuses other than Thiel Capital; no source ties these to the American Alchemy host.1 No FEC contribution under the name was found listing Thiel Capital other than the March 30, 2022 entry.1
American Alchemy
The Infinite Loops listing for the February 2023 episode lists topics including "the transmission theory of consciousness," "Are mushrooms aliens?" and "Nixon, psychedelics & brainwashing," and a reading list including books by Robert Anton Wilson, Tom O'Neill and David McGowan.2 The Skywatcher project's Part I video lists interviews with David Grusch and Col. Karl Nell, among others.4
No channel sponsor list, production company, Form D, 501(c) return or lobbying filing was located for American Alchemy; a search of EDGAR full-text for "Jesse Michels" and "American Alchemy" returned no Form D, and the Senate lobbying database holds no client of that name.5
Relationships 3
- Thiel Capital1
- American Alchemy2
Sources
- Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC schedule A, contributor "Michels, Jesse," sub_id 4042520221472578192 (Blake Masters for Senate, Form 3, receipt type 15E) and 4011120231685948941 (WinRed, Form 3X, receipt type 24T), both March 30, 2022; ActBlue records 4010420212002882486, 4012120212128555907, 4012120212112481546 and 4020620251156252171. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=MICHELS%2C%20JESSE ; images https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202204159496855525 and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202212159563803397 (retrieved October 3, 2026). ↩
- Infinite Loops podcast, "Jesse Michels, American Alchemy (EP.145)," February 2, 2023. https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/jesse-michels-american-alchemy-ep145/ ↩
- Vault pages Blake Masters and Peter Thiel (positions and Thiel funding of the 2022 Arizona race, each citing its own sources). ↩
- Skywatcher, "Media." https://skywatcher.ai/media (retrieved October 3, 2026). ↩
- SEC EDGAR full-text search "Jesse Michels," "American Alchemy," forms D, October 3, 2026; Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database client search, October 3, 2026. ↩
Named without a link 2
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