2 weeks Ago By Falyn Stempler
Though Kamala Harris has nearly twice as many billionaire backers, Donald Trump 's campaign relies far more heavily on the wealthy elite for funding . The vice president has the backing of 81 billionaires - ranging from Meta's Sheryl Sandberg to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, film director Steven Spielberg and tech tycoon Bill Gates - compared to 52 supporting the ex-president, according to Forbes . However, a Financial Times report found that about a third of the money raised by Trump's campaign and allied groups comes from the billionaire class compared to only 6 percent for Harris.
What is Donald Trump's real net worth? Kamala Harris' staggering net worth - and unexpected Vice President salary Trump's most notable billionaire supporter is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who has contributed more than $75 million to his campaign . Trump has suggested he would tap Musk for a new position , Secretary of Cost Cutting, if re-elected - and Trump has a history of hiring wealthy people on staff. A Politico report from 2017 found that Trump created a Cabinet with "unheard-of wealth" after filling positions with business executives and CEOs as well as quietly appointing several rich friends and allies for important unpaid jobs.
Those figures included the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Carl Icahn, Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth. Similarly, a New Yorker report from this month outlined how Trump is courting billionaires by catering his campaign promises to appease their agenda. The issues raised by billionaires have ranged from TikTok to cryptocurrency, fossil fuels and foreign policy, according to the report.
His other billionaire supporters include but are not limited to hedge fund executive Nelson Peltz and hotel mogul Robert Bigelow. Even prominent figures - including Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, hedge fund executive Bill Ackman and Citadel's Ken Griffin - all of whom denounced Trump after he refused to concede the 2020 election and allegedly incited the Jan. 6 insurrection, are backing his re-election bid, according to Politico .
Wall Street's Schwarman described Jan. 6 as "an affront to the democratic values" of the country, Ackman called on Trump to resign over the riot and Griffin branded Trump a "three-time loser" after the 2020 election. DON'T MISS.
.. Harris 'outraised and outspent' Trump by an eye-watering sum in October - listed Kamala Harris accused of ‘$91.
5m campaign cash heist’ by Donald Trump's team Donald Trump's net worth jumps by $1bn just days after assassination attempt Billionaires also played their hand in favor of Trump this week leading up to the high stakes election after a few prominent newspapers refused to endorse a candidate, a longtime tradition of the journalist class. The Washington Post has lost at least 200,000 subscribers after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who bought the legacy paper in 2013, reportedly killed the editorial board's endorsement of Harris. The paper's editor-in-chief took the blame and resigned after Bezos doubled-down on the decision and denied quid pro quo accusations.
Similarly, the Los Angeles Times' billionaire backer Patrick Soon-Shiong killed the paper's Harris endorsement. Democrats have been quick to accuse Trump of only "fighting for himself and his billionaire friends," though the Democratic party is not immune to accepting billionaire donations either. According to OpenSecrets, big donors - who gave more than $100,000 to a political party - contributed $5.
2 billion to Democratic causes and candidates in the last election cycle compared $3.3 billion to Republican ones. However, in contrast to Trump, the Democrats oppose the dismantling of regulatory bodies, which would benefit big businesses.
And although the Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from Project 2025 , deregulation is the fundamental core of the ultra-conservative agenda. A recent analysis in The Nation argues that Trump's current policy proposals harken back to former President William McKinley, whom he has praised, during the Gilded Age when high tariffs and laissez faire regulations abound. Harris' running mate Tim Walz said at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, last week: "They’re saying the quiet parts out loud now, because Donald Trump has already promised that he would put Elon in charge of government regulations that oversee the businesses that Elon runs.
"In other words, Donald Trump , in front of the eyes of the American public, is promising corruption," he continued. "That’s what he’s promising you." The Nation piece argues that Trump's billionaire ties, both personally and financially, run far deeper than that of Harris.
To explain the phenomena, it references a Politico interview from June with Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a group that lobbies on behalf of business leaders. She told the outlet that many wealthy Republicans have told her they view “the threat to capitalism from the Democrats [as] more concerning than the threat to democracy from Trump.”.
