Some anti-Donald Trump Republican big donors worry the former US president is building an unassailable lead in the primaries as his party unites around him in his battle with federal and state prosecutors.
Trump leads his nearest rival in the election by about 30 percentage points Iowa, New Hampshireand south carolina, according to RealClearPolitics poll averages.he extended his lead national polls He became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges since late March.
“I think a lot of people are really questioning how unfair this democratic push against Donald Trump is,” billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm told the Financial Times. “What has become of America? Are we a third world country?”
The shale pioneer, a former close confidant of Trump who donated more than $1.2 million to Make America Great Again groups in 2016, 2018 and 2020, has cooled off the former president and set plans for 2024 Donated to Republican rivals Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis in the 2016 election. He recently organized an energy conference in Oklahoma City that Haley and candidate Doug Burgum attended.
Hamm said Trump’s poll numbers are “getting stronger” as he faces growing legal troubles.
Variety Wholesalers Chairman Art Pope, a big supporter of former Vice President Mike Pence’s presidential campaign, agrees that Trump’s legal troubles are helping him Won the Republican primary but insisted he couldn’t win the general election.
“I do think President Trump has a lot of sympathetic support because he’s been unfairly persecuted,” Pope said. He supported Pence in part because of his “character.”
“It was not my choice for President Trump to be the Republican nominee, but I think these charges are also unfair. I do think these prosecutions actually benefited President Trump among Republican primary voters.”
Trump faces four criminal cases. In Manhattan, he was accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to porn stars before the 2016 election. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith also accused the former president of mishandling classified documents, including some related to the U.S. nuclear program. A federal case and another in Georgia accuse Trump of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election.
In a major civil decision, Trump may be forced to dispose of his properties, including Trump Tower in Manhattan, after a New York judge this week found that the former president and his two eldest sons paid off by significantly overvaluing various buildings and buildings. Defrauding the value of the building. golf Club.
Trump’s legal and political strategies are intertwined, as pro-Trump political action committees spend millions of dollars in donations defending the former president in court. Trump’s federal criminal trial for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election is scheduled to begin on March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday, when voters from more than a dozen states will go to the polls.
Top Republican donors are divided over whether they would support Trump if he wins the Republican nomination. Hamm said “of course he would” because he had “no choice” and praised the previous government’s policies.
But others are expected to be hesitant. For example, Pope said he didn’t know whether he would donate to Trump.
“How long will it take for people to write checks to the Trump campaign to pay his legal fees,” asked one of the former major donors to the former president. “I think donors decided after January 6 (the 2021 Capitol attack) that we needed to go in a different direction. . . . The legal bills are just part of the collateral issue.”
While some mega-donors have warmed to Haley, several billionaire donors are still on the fence. Republican strategist Karl Rove said the former South Carolina governor has “momentum” after the first debate, noting that she is ahead of President Joe Biden in some early polls.
Florida venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a DeSantis fan, told the Financial Times that he had recently made a “significant contribution” to Haley’s campaign, adding Said it was “unthinkable” that she would lose the 2024 election.
But others kept their wallets tightly closed.
Hedge fund founder Richard Chilton told the Financial Times that Trump is a “narcissistic”, “terrible” and “despicable” person, while Haley is “smart”, “compassionate” and “cute”. letter”.
But as of Monday, Chilton had donated the same amount (zero) to every 2024 presidential campaign.
“I’m not just spending money to help the Republican Party,” said Chilton, founder and chief investment officer of Chilton Investments. “You know why? Because a lot of people do it. I want my money to count. I’d rather give my money to poor children than do this.”
“I donate money to make a difference.”
Club for Growth board member Freda Levy said that while some big donors dislike Trump’s anti-trade and anti-immigration policies, his support comes from “the grassroots.”
“There are no big donor candidates yet,” Levy said. “Big donors really have little say in what’s going on in the Republican Party today.”
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