Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder, said he talks to his friend Peter Thiel less to avoid political discussion and feuding over Donald Trump

Linkedin cofounder Reid Hoffman (left) said he talks to his friend Peter Thiel (right) " a lot less" to avoid bickering about Trump. Greylock Partners

• Reid Hoffman said he talks to his friend Peter Thiel less now on an episode of "On with Kara Swisher." 
• Hoffman wants to avoid arguing with Thiel over former President Donald Trump. 
• The pair have been friends for decades after meeting as Stanford college students.

The decades-long friendship of LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and tech billionaire Peter Thiel — both part of the so-called PayPal Mafia — is not immune to strain caused by former President Donald Trump. 

Hoffman — who donated over $1 million to President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign — said that he doesn't talk to Thiel — a vocal Trump supporter who donated $1.25 million to his 2016 run — as much as he used to due to their different political beliefs. 

"Peter and I talk a lot less now than we used to — I mean a lot less —  partially because if we're going talk, we're going to argue about this," Hoffman said on an episode of podcast "On with Kara Swisher." "It's probably been challenging for both of us." 

According to Hoffman, Thiel suggested that they set aside their differences for the sake of their friendship, but Hoffman refused, saying that the topic of Trump is too important to avoid. 

"Peter at one point was saying 'Hey, let's stop talking about Trump; this is only getting in the way,'" Hoffman said.  "And I was like 'Look, until we got a resolution here, we can't talk about anything else.'"

Hoffman said that he considers Trump a moral issue and that he can't "let go until the moral issue is resolved."

When Swisher asked Hoffman if Thiel hears him, Hoffman said, "I don't know."

He said he tries "as best I can" to change the minds of Trump supporters — and is even open to changing his own mind — but he draws the line over political conspiracy theories like how Biden "stole the election" in some states.

"Get some help!" he said. "This is like martians running the White House kind of theory! Take the tinfoil hat off!" 

Political disagreements has been a source of tension in Hoffman and Thiel's friendship for more than 30 years.

When they met as sophomores at Stanford in the mid-1990s, Hoffman heard Thiel was a "libertarian wacko," while Thiel was told Hoffman was a "pinko commie," Hoffman said on his podcast "Masters of Scale." They began arguing as soon as they started talking to each other, Hoffman previously told Insider, though that didn't stop the pair from working together at Paypal.

Hoffman's rift with Thiel may only continue to grow now that Trump is up for re-election for the 2024 presidency.

Hoffman told Swisher he will "spend as much as I possibly can" to avoid another Trump presidency, saying it would be "destructive to our society." 

"The January 6th insurrection that is sided by Trump is just the beginning of how bad it can be," he said.