After a bitter break-up, Trump makes up with billionaire donors

WASHINGTON – In an electoral system in which money is the ultimate kingmaker, Donald Trump has been courting the country’s billionaires – and they have their chequebooks ready.

The ability of the 77-year-old presumptive Republican presidential nominee to raise money from average Americans remains unchallenged, and his

historic criminal conviction in New York

has not dented the operation in the slightest.

Trump’s campaign team says he raised more than US$53 million (S$71 million) in the 24 hours after the May 30 verdict, when he was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a conspiracy to unlawfully influence the 2016 election.

But for big donors, the light had drained a bit from Trump’s powerful aura in the wake of the chaos surrounding his 2020 loss at the polls to Mr Joe Biden.

On Jan 7, 2021, the day after

Trump’s supporters ransacked the US Capitol

, billionaire businessman and investor Nelson Peltz said he regretted backing the real estate mogul-turned-world leader.

“What happened yesterday is a disgrace. As an American, I’m embarrassed,” the chief executive of Trian Partners, an asset management firm, told CNBC.  

But little more than a year later, this past March, Mr Peltz welcomed Trump to his Florida home for breakfast with other high rollers, including Mr Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and X, The Washington Post reported.

And in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Peltz said he would “probably” vote for Trump again in November, while admitting: “I’m not happy about that.”

Why? The 81-year-old Mr Peltz cited an explosion in the number of migrants illegally entering the US and the “really scary” mental health of President Joe Biden, who is also 81.

Mr Steve Schwarzman, the billionaire chairman and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, one of the world’s most important investment firms, similarly slammed the events of Jan 6, condemning the “mob’s attempt to undermine our Constitution”.

But on May 24, the Wall Street power player also publicly endorsed Trump, likewise naming the crisis on the US-Mexican border as a key concern.

And Ms Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and a major supporter of Israel, is planning to pour tens of millions of dollars into a huge political action committee for Trump, according to Politico.

During his first term, Trump awarded Ms Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Taxes

With US stock markets routinely hitting record highs and the world’s largest economy growing despite persistent inflation, why would business moguls back a convicted felon perceived as a source of national instability?

Economist Paul Krugman believes these heavy hitters are making their political picks based on personal interests, not the health of the nation.

“One straightforward answer is that the wealthy will almost certainly pay lower taxes – and corporations will be less regulated – if Trump wins than if Biden stays in office,” the Nobel Prize-winning Mr Krugman wrote in April in The New York Times.

Mr Biden has made no secret of the idea that, should he be re-elected and his Democrats win an outright majority in both Houses of Congress, he will place a new tax on the super-rich.

In 2022, he tried to establish a minimum income tax for billionaires – 20 per cent for those whose household income exceeds US$100 million, or just 0.01 per cent of the population. But his Bill fizzled out.

Since succeeding Trump in 2021 in the Oval Office, Mr Biden has regularly emphasised the need for more regulations in the world of finance – which could explain why some mega-rich businessmen have not thrown their support his way.

‘Drill, baby, drill’

Mr Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change have also made him less than popular with Big Oil.

“Trump’s ‘Drill, baby, drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green energy approach. It is a no-brainer,” Mr Dan Eberhart, CEO of the oil-field services company Canary, recently told The Washington Post.

Mr Biden’s campaign team regularly attacks his Republican rival’s ties to the uber-wealthy, suggesting quid pro quos are expected.

“Trump’s billionaire friends are propping up the campaign of a white-collar crook because they know the deal – they cut him cheques and he cuts their taxes while working people and the middle class pay the tab,” campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said.

Of course, Mr Biden is not exactly left out of the billionaire campaign donation lottery.

Mr Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a major venture capitalist, recently organised a fund-raising reception for Mr Biden at his California home.

In the end, Wall Street and Big Oil are mainly in Trump’s camp, while Silicon Valley tends to back Mr Biden.

Come Nov 5, voters – perhaps influenced by advertisements paid for with millions of dollars of billionaire money – will have the final say. AFP