“It’s a shame. As an American, I’m embarrassed,” Nelson Peltz said after a crowd of Donald Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to prevent the certification of Trump’s election. Joe Biden. Since then, for the very rich boss of the investment fund Trian Partners, water has flowed under the bridges. Last March, Nelson Peltz hosted Donald Trump at his home in Florida for breakfast with other billionaires, including Elon Musk, and said he would “probably” vote for him in November.
It is far from being an isolated case. Steve Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, one of the largest investment funds in the world, also denounced “the attempt by a pack to undermine our Constitution”. But it appears that’s no longer a problem for the $37 billion man, who announced he would support Donald Trump this year.
The latter should have “resigned and apologized to all Americans” in 2021, according to Bill Ackman, another Wall Street figure. This billionaire should also formalize his support in the coming days. It’s not just words or symbols: Miriam Adelson, widow of a casino mogul, is expected to donate more than $90 million to Donald Trump’s campaign, even more than in 2020, according to the newspaper Politico.
Tax cuts
All these billionaires have their reason. Often, these are the same as for many other American voters. Thus, the fear of uncontrolled immigration at the border with Mexico is mentioned by Nelson Peltz and Steve Schwarzman. Donald Trump has made it his hobby horse. “They come by the thousands,” he warns in a campaign clip. So much so that Joe Biden is trying these days to be more firm on the issue. It is also the mental health of the current head of state “which really scares” Nelson Peltz.
But it is above all personal considerations which motivate these billionaires to support the ex-president. During galas to raise funds, he promises that he will renew the tax cuts that he had already adopted in 2017 for the wealthy. Unlike Joe Biden, who wants to introduce a 25% tax on the wealth of all Americans with more than $100 million if he is re-elected in November.
Many billionaires are also seduced by the end of environmental regulations proposed by Donald Trump. The former head of state delights “Big oil”, the fossil fuel lobby, by repeating the old slogan “drill, baby, drill” to develop oil drilling, regulated by Joe Biden. In April, the Republican candidate received oil bosses and lobbyists at his Mar-a-Lago residence and allegedly asked them to donate a billion dollars to his campaign because he would remove environmental rules and help their industry once elected, according to the Washington Post. Democratic senators have also opened an investigation into what they describe as “quid pro quo”.
Benefits of the verdict
After his criminal conviction at the end of May for 34 charges, including accounting falsification, Donald Trump was able to count on his supporters to finance him, regardless of the size of the portfolio. According to his campaign team, more than $53 million was raised in the 24 hours after his guilty verdict, mostly from small donors. But several billionaires have also united behind him. Shaun Maguire, a Silicon Valley investor, sent $300,000 to the Republican candidate. “I’m ready to lose friends”, wrote this Hillary Clinton voter in 2016 onwho abstained in 2020.
Behind his choice: the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, Joe Biden’s “weakness” in the Middle East, immigration and… trials that he considers “unfair”. David Sacks, another Silicon Valley investor, welcomed his stance and added that there was “only one outcome in this election: whether the American people will accept that the United States becomes a banana republic ?”
In April, Donald Trump’s campaign raised $76 million, far more than the Democrats, who raised $51 million in the same month. Money should not play a determining role in this election. It mainly serves to make the candidates gain notoriety, but the two contenders are already famous and crystallize a large part of opinion. However, the support of all these billionaires for the Republican candidate also indicates the distrust of many economic elites towards President Biden and the temptation to prefer Donald Trump, even in the very Democratic Silicon Valley.