Over Five Dozen Billionaires Are Now Backing Trump as He Promises to Slash Taxes for Ultra-Wealthy
By David Moore and Donald Shaw, Sludge
More than a dozen new billionaire donors to Donald Trump’s campaign groups were revealed this week when new campaign filings were posted with the Federal Election Commission. Coming from industries ranging from private equity to oil pipelines to cryptocurrency, the billionaires opened their checkbooks for former President Trump during the second quarter of this year.
The new donations were revealed as the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk is planning to pump $45 million a month into a pro-Trump super PAC, and more billionaires like venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz went public with their plans to make large donations to Trump-backing groups. Andreessen and Horowitz’s firm a16z has moved heavily toward incubating crypto startups in recent years, and Trump has been outspoken about his support for the industry, saying at a recent San Francisco fundraiser that “he would be the crypto president” if elected.
At least 63 billionaires have now publicly endorsed Trump, hosted a fundraiser for him, or contributed to Trump campaign groups, as detailed in the table below, building on an analysis published last month by Sludge and More Perfect Union.
In addition to his promises of support for specific industries like crypto and fossil fuels, Trump has also been telling wealthy prospective donors that if he is elected one of his top priorities will be to extend his 2017 tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest. Some key provisions of the Republican-passed tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of next year, including the higher estate and gift tax exemption that allow more wealthy individuals to transfer assets tax-free, and a special deduction for business income received through pass-through entities.
During the second quarter, several of the biggest Republican megadonors followed through on pledges and reports that they were planning to donate to Trump’s campaign. Billionaire casino mogul Miriam Adelson, who with her late husband Sheldon were the top donors to outside spending groups in the 2020 election, donated the legal maximum of $844,600 to Trump 47 Committee, a joint body that splits money with Trump’s campaign, leadership PAC, the RNC, and dozens of state Republican groups. Giving nearly $420,000 to the same committee was billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, a prolific GOP megadonor—ranked by OpenSecrets as among the top 10 donors at the federal level since the 2018 midterms—and CEO of Blackstone, the largest private equity firm in the world. Schwarzman was a strong backer of Trump’s first term, but during the 2024 primaries he chose to stay on the sideline and called for “a new generation of leaders,” before endorsing Trump again in late May.
A bevy of other billionaires chipped in with six-figure contributions to Trump 47 Committee after having previously endorsed the former president’s bid, been seen at one of his fundraisers, or hosted a fundraiser: banker Andy Beal; from the tech industry, Kenny Trout, Tom Siebel, and Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey; and New York City retail and oil refinery owner John Catsimatidis, an old friend of Trump’s who has been a public defender of the former president’s character and public record.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, of Facebook fame, each donated 15.47 Bitcoins to Trump 47 Committee—an amount worth over $1 million apiece, or more than the committee could accept. The committee told the FEC it refunded the excess to the billionaire twins.
A couple more billionaires piled on top of previous donations they had made to pro-Trump super PACs by giving more than $800,000 apiece to Trump 47 Committee during the second quarter: James J. Liautaud, the founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich chain who donated $1 million to the largest Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., earlier this year; and real estate investor Richard Kurtz, founder and CEO of New Jersey-based management company the Kamson Corporation. Scott Bessent, a prominent Trump fundraiser, Republican donor, and founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, contributed more to the Trump 47 Committee after previously giving six-figure sums to it and a pro-Trump super PAC. In interviews, Bessent, rumored to be a candidate for Treasury secretary under a second Trump administration, has sought to reassure finance industry donors that Trump would not threaten the rule of law.
More billionaires became new Trump 2024 contributors during the second quarter of this year: banker Warren Stephens of Little Rock, Arkansas, also a multimillion-dollar donor to Republican campaign groups, gave $250,000 to Trump 47 Committee; and Ray Davis, former CEO of oil and gas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners and a co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, gave $407,000 to the group.
A super PAC called America PAC that was formed in May by an Austin, Texas-based attorney filed its first quarterly FEC report on July 15, revealing that it raised nearly $9 million, including large donations from friends and associates of Elon Musk. Among the donors who gave the group $1 million are billionaire private equity investor Antonio Gracias, a SpaceX board member and Musk ally; Ken Howery, a former U.S. ambassador to Sweden under Trump and an early PayPal executive alongside Musk; and Lonsdale Enterprises, a company belonging to Palantir co-founder and Musk confidante Joe Lonsdale. Musk is planning to donate to America PAC, according to The Washington Post, citing an anonymous source.
Donors who gave $500,000 to America PAC include billionaire venture capitalist Doug Leone, as well as Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, Los Angeles doctor Daniel G. Bedarkin, cybersecurity firm Lookout co-founder John Hering, and the CEO of beef jerky company Link Snacks Tory Link. Joe Craft, CEO of coal company Alliance Resource Partners, which bills itself as the largest coal producer in the eastern United States, gave $1 million to the super PAC in June.
America PAC has spent $15.8 million since early June on digital media, text services, and canvassing/field operations that either support Trump or oppose Biden, according to FEC records. The Wall Street Journal reported that an unnamed person familiar with the group’s plans told it that America PAC will be focused on registering voters and encouraging voters in swing states to vote early and get mail-in ballots.
(If you’re not able to see the full chart below, you can view it here.)
remember when the richest in our society used to compete with each other on supporting works for the public good?
The Roberts SCOTUS Citizen’s United, oh-so-verdant verdict, gave the green-light for money to $peak politically.
Here in this Billionaires’ gang’s flood of donations in support of Trump we may see how money-speech may be able to further promote the consolidation of money-speech.
But not to worry: SCOTUS sez it’s OK to arrest people who can’t afford a place in which to live.
If you’re NOT a billionaire with a VOID ego that can never be filled with enough dollars, please vote Blue all the way in the upcoming election, regardless of how Biden has slurred his speech his whole life.