17th August, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump is struggling to get big donors from 2016 to invest in his 2020 campaign.
With just months until the election, BusinessInsider explained that the millionaires that helped bankroll Trump and continued to give in 2018 are nowhere to be found as the election nears.
“Just six of the top 38 donors to Trump-aligned super PACs over the last two cycles have donated to America First — the super PAC created to gather all the biggest donations to Trump’s 2020 campaign, Business Insider reported quoting The New York Times.
The donors are apparently hedging their bets, fearful that Trump doesn’t have a chance in 2020 and they’re redirecting their money to trying to hold onto the U.S. Senate, which is growing increasingly likely to turn Democratic.
Sheldon and Miriam Adelson gave Trump $20 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2018. This year, they haven’t given him a dime.
Adelson, who makes a huge amount of money from casinos in China, is disturbed about Trump’s anti-China rhetoric.
Former Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon is another huge Trump donor who now heads up his PAC America First.
She said that the PAC and Trump’s non-profit group would raise $300 million for the campaign. They’ve only made it to $107 million.
Even she hasn’t been a good Trump donor. In 2016 she gave $7 million to the president, but she’s only given $4 million this year.
In contrast, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has raked in massive sums from mega-donors.
Pro-Biden super PACs have gathered a combined $45 million in dark money so far this cycle, Business Insider reported on Monday .
That figure is seven times what Hillary Clinton-aligned PACs raised in the entire 2016 cycle. Biden’s biggest PAC raised more than double what America First did in June.
*Source: RawStory.com and Business Insider and NYT