Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

dalton99a

(81,516 posts)
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 08:53 AM Mar 29

Many GOP billionaires balked at Jan. 6. They're coming back to Trump. (Because their tax cuts are expiring next year)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/29/trump-billionaires-gop-donors/

https://archive.ph/VPqlh

Many GOP billionaires balked at Jan. 6. They’re coming back to Trump.
Elite donors are rediscovering their affinity for the former president over taxes — even as he vows to free Jan. 6 defendants, promises mass deportations and faces 88 felony charges
By Josh Dawsey, Jeff Stein, Michael Scherer and Elizabeth Dwoskin
March 29, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

The day after pro-Trump forces stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, billionaire and GOP megadonor Nelson Peltz called the attempted insurrection a “disgrace” and expressed remorse for voting for Donald Trump. “I’m sorry I did that,” Peltz said of supporting Trump in 2020.

But earlier this month, Peltz had breakfast with Trump and other billionaires at his luxurious Palm Beach oceanfront mansion, including hotelier Steve Wynn, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk and former Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting. Peltz, a famous activist investor currently in a battle over Disney, then told the Financial Times that he would “probably” vote for the GOP front-runner in 2024. The New York Times first reported that Trump dined with Musk and other donors but did not name Peltz, Wynn or Perlmutter.

As hopes of a Republican alternative have crumbled, elite donors who once balked at Trump’s fueling of the Capitol insurrection, worried about his legal problems and decried what they saw as his chaotic presidency are rediscovering their affinity for the former president — even as he praises and vows to free Jan. 6 defendants, promises mass deportations and faces 88 felony charges.

The shift reflects many conservative billionaires’ fears of President Biden’s tax agenda, which if approved would drastically reduce their fortunes, and in some cases their discomfort with his administration’s foreign and domestic policy decisions. Some also have been assiduously courted by Trump and his advisers in recent months.

...


8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Many GOP billionaires balked at Jan. 6. They're coming back to Trump. (Because their tax cuts are expiring next year) (Original Post) dalton99a Mar 29 OP
I am curious about the status of the slew of corporate donors who... Hugin Mar 29 #1
+1. dalton99a Mar 29 #2
Aw, thanks for the disappointing and predictable follow up. n/t Hugin Mar 29 #5
I wish the tax cuts on the rich were expiring jimfields33 Mar 29 #3
Oligarchs love a fascist leader. Irish_Dem Mar 29 #4
It is so small minded edhopper Mar 29 #6
What these Super Rich donors do not understand... ProudMNDemocrat Mar 29 #7
How soon they forget the instability of Trump's first term Freethinker65 Mar 29 #8

Hugin

(33,164 posts)
1. I am curious about the status of the slew of corporate donors who...
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 08:58 AM
Mar 29

Claimed that they would no longer donate funds to TSF after Jan6.

Have they stuck to their pledge, especially after the RNC has become a de facto pipeline directly into Smelvis’s pockets.

dalton99a

(81,516 posts)
2. +1.
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 09:01 AM
Mar 29
https://www.propublica.org/article/companies-funding-election-deniers-after-january-6

What Fortune 500 Companies Said After Jan. 6 vs. What They Did
A new ProPublica app tracks corporate contributions to election deniers. From GE to Boeing, here are some of the behemoths that proclaimed that they were suspending donations — then resumed giving to the very politicians they had sworn off.
by Alec MacGillis and Sergio Hernandez
Nov. 1, 2022, 8:01 a.m. EDT

...

Take, for instance, General Electric, which issued a particularly strong clarion call in announcing a new post-Jan. 6 policy for its GE Employee Political Action Committee. “The GEPAC board has voted to suspend donations to those who voted to oppose the Electoral College results,” said Meghan Thurlow, GE’s global director of public affairs. “This is not a decision we made lightly, but is one we believe is important to ensure that our future contributions continue to reflect our company’s values and commitment to democracy.”

Less than two years later, GE has made contributions to 11 of the Republicans who voted against certifying the results. The company’s explanation of the shift? “The GEPAC board’s broad suspension of donations to those who voted to oppose the Electoral College results remains in place,” said a company spokesperson. “However, like many other PACs, it will consider individual exceptions on a case-by-case basis.”

Among the lucky beneficiaries of those exceptions: Rep. Ken Calvert of California, who said after the 2020 election that Trump “has the right to ensure vote counts are complete, accurate and legal”; Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, who tweeted, “I stand with President Trump. Every legal vote must be counted in complete transparency”; and Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas, who decried the FBI search for classified records in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home as an outrage that “undermines the credibility of the FBI.” All voted against certifying the election. All are also on committees of importance to GE: Calvert is on the appropriations subcommittees for defense and energy spending, Graves is the top Republican on the committee overseeing transportation and infrastructure, and Estes is on the ways and means subcommittee overseeing taxation.

...

jimfields33

(15,823 posts)
3. I wish the tax cuts on the rich were expiring
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 09:04 AM
Mar 29

The Rich’s tax cuts were permanently passed. The working class tax cuts are expiring.

edhopper

(33,587 posts)
6. It is so small minded
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 09:14 AM
Mar 29

people with more money than God will wreck the country just to get a tax cut that amounts to the change in their worth on one big swing of the stock market.
They have more than they, their kids, or their grand kids will ever use. Yet they obsess with a 2% cut in the taxes they don't pay anyway.

ProudMNDemocrat

(16,786 posts)
7. What these Super Rich donors do not understand...
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 09:17 AM
Mar 29

In lieu of Tax Cuts and no regulations if TSF were to win, he would DEMAND a cut of their overall wealth as a LOYALTY payment to him in order for them to exist. What percentage of that cut would have yet to be determined. That is how Vladimir Putin allows Russian Oligarchs to be rich.

After all, TSF thinks he is Numero Uno and thus there is a cost to be paid. The Dutchman must always have a Captain.

Freethinker65

(10,024 posts)
8. How soon they forget the instability of Trump's first term
Fri Mar 29, 2024, 10:07 AM
Mar 29

The threatening of renegotiating and/or pulling out of trade agreements, the threatening of cutting/cancelling government contracts, the threatening of removing funding from cities/states/countries that Trump felt were defying him personally. The trade war tariffs because Trump felt insulted.

The economy is booming for billionaires. A majority of Trump's tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations were intentionally made permanent, those for everyone else set to expire in 2025. Ballooning the deficit for the wealthiest was a priority for Trump and the GOP. Giving most everyone else a temporary cut was politics to bludgeon Democrats if they voted no to the entire package.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Many GOP billionaires bal...