Dem
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GOP
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Now that the primaries are de facto over—after all, two very unrepresentative states have voted, with the total vote count so far about 0.14% of the 2020 general-election electorate—the 2024 general election is revving up. Consequently, Donald Trump is going after the donors who backed other candidates, and making some progress getting them. After all, they know that the early bird gets the government contract or the investigation quashed or some other desirable goodie, so they are interested in talking turkey, even though the candidate looks more like a pumpkin.
Today is the kickoff. Trump will dine tonight at the Palm Beach mansion of billionaire investor John Paulson. Also invited are about two dozen Republican megadonors, who want to inspect the merchandise before buying in. What they expect to learn that they do not already know, we cannot imagine.
On Saturday, Trump met in Las Vegas with billionaire hotel owner Don Ahern, billionaire casino owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and billionaire aerospace tycoon Robert Bigelow. The latter, a former fan of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), promised Trump $1 million for starters. There might be more later, but that might be contingent on Trump adopting positions Bigelow likes. In particular, he is something of a moderate and does not approve of extreme positions on abortion. In fact, when DeSantis signed a ban on abortions after 6 weeks, Bigelow closed his checkbook and bade DeSantis farewell.
Another big donor Trump has nabbed is Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn, who just tossed $5 million in for MAGA Inc. Oklahoma oil man Harold Hamm recently had lunch at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is also working to get billionaire Robert Mercer and his activist daughter, Rebekah Mercer, back in line. The Mercers were onboard in 2016 but have cut back on giving since then. Ditto casino billionaire Steve Wynn, but he seems to be warming up to Trump again.
Cozying up to the moneymen is a huge change for Trump. In his previous two runs, he depended almost entirely on small donors. Now he realizes that the big ones have nowhere else to go if they want favors, or if they just want big tax cuts without some specific quid pro quo for their generosity.
Still, Trump does not have a monopoly on the whales. Charles Koch is still backing Nikki Haley, though if she loses South Carolina big time, he's probably going to throw in the towel. It is very unlikely that he will support Trump, he could just keep his money to himself.
While both Trump and Biden are furiously raising money, in the end it probably doesn't matter that much. By now, everyone 18 and older in the country surely has a pretty good idea of who Trump and Biden are and what they stand for. Watching 500 more TV commercials is unlikely to change much. The PR associated with having the bigger fundraising quarter might actually be more important than the money, though, so they are both focusing on collecting as much as they can, just to beat the other team. There's also value in spending on ground game—getting people registered and to the polls—which Biden certainly knows. There are people in Trump's orbit who know, as well, but can they convince Trump? It's a good question. (V)