Billionaire megadonors are lining up behind Donald Trump now that he's won the first two Republican primaries.
The former president will meet for dinner with two-dozen GOP donors Thursday at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson, after meeting Saturday with several other megadonors, including aerospace tycoon Robert Bigelow, who had been the biggest contributor to Ron DeSantis, reported Politico.
“If it’s Trump against Biden,” said grocery store mogul John Catsimatidis, “I’m voting for Trump.”
Although Nikki Haley remains in the race, and she's got 10 fundraising events of her own lined up for the next two weeks, many wealthy GOP donors are moving on to the general election pitting Trump and President Joe Biden in a rematch of the 2020 race, and the ex-president is courting both new contributors and former supporters.
“Everyone was wanting to know, ‘How can we get involved?’ And then New Hampshire, same thing,” said Ed McMullen, a South Carolina-based fundraiser and Trump’s ambassador to Switzerland. “The quality of the donors is large gifts, very strong people who were very much involved in ‘16 and ‘20, some of whom decided they wanted to try something different, and now they’ve come home.”
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Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn gave more than $5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., his largest political gift ever, and Trump has been working to woo back Rebekah Mercer, daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, both of whom had been some of his biggest backers in 2016.
The former president met last year with Rebekah Mercer last year at Mar-a-Lago, and she and her father have been financially supporting his latest campaign, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
Other former donors who have recently gotten off the sidelines include Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick, Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud, casino mogul Steve Wynn and Oklahoma energy executive Harold Hamm.
“The fundraising has been as easy as anything I’ve ever seen,” McMullen said. “Normally, you’re making the phone calls. Now you’re answering the phone calls and trying to get back to people.”
