Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Billionaires, including those from Silicon Valley, have recently made a beeline to Donald Trump, organizing fundraisers on their behalf or publicly endorsing him. Weighing in on the development, former White House Director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday it is a “dangerous approach.”
Fund-raising Claims: Trump has immunized the American publican from his legal travails, said Scaramucci in the latest installment of the “The Rest is Politics U.S.’ podcast. His comments came in response to claims that the former president’s campaign has succeeded in raising about $200 million in the three days that followed his criminal indictment.
Scaramucci, however, does not think the number is credible. The view is based on his experience in 2016 when he and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin got together to build the protocol to raise money from high-net-worth donors. “They're saying ‘No, you don't want to give money to Donald Trump he's off his kilter and it's bad for our business,'” he said.
The former White House aide said it was then, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and a few other people who organized this small donor drive, sending out ads on Facebook, Instagram, etc. “We were picking up tens of millions of dollars at an average clip of about $61,” he said.
Come 2020, Trump got the big donors as a sitting president, he added.
Although the former president claims he is getting big donors, money now flows in only from small donors, Scaramucci said. He noted that Trump’s campaign closed outreach offices in some swing states even as he needed votes in these key states. “So, there is a lot of misinformation happening in that campaign,” he added.
Scaramucci also raised the possibility of the campaign pulling in funds from other places. “Yes, he raised money, yes he probably raised money from new people but I don't think he's raising the money he said,” the SkyBridge Capital founder said.
Billionaire Backing: Scaramucci also delved into why billionaires, including those from Silicon Valley, were throwing their weight behind Trump. “If I support Donald Trump he wins, very good for me; If I support Donald Trump he loses doesn't matter, Joe Biden is a traditionalist, he's not coming for me,” he said. Alternatively, If they support Biden and Trump wins, it is very bad for them, he added.
“So, they're going to put their money behind Donald Trump and they’re going to put it there superficially with the first derivative analysis,” Scaramucci said.
The perception is that Trump will lower taxes and he may be better for business regulation, said Scaramucci, adding “but what he’s not good for is the system and he’s not good for the predictability of the laws.”
“As a capitalist I'll tell you that's what's made America so successful is the stability of our legal system, the common law, contract laws that allow capital to flow from the rest of the world into the United States.”
Weighing into why the billionaires are gravitating toward Trump, the ex-White House aide said these billionaires are “momentum guys.” “This is a call option. I can put $300,000 down on the Trump call option [if he] goes in the money as president, I get the windfall of having the relationship with him,” he said.
“If I lose the money on this call option…I chalk that up to my P&L and some other trades that I've lost money on. so that's the approach that they're taking and I think it's a dangerous approach.” That approach, Scaramucci said, “doesn't peel back what is really going on in the society under the surface of what Trump wants.”
Through the project 2025, Trump wants to deport 15 million people from the U.S., and these people are in fact benefiting the economy, given they pay Social Security tax, he said.
Scaramucci also said Trump perceives himself as a billionaire and he will never call the other billionaire and ask for money. But he will call them if they have already given him the money, he said. “Trump is trying to pretend he's in their peer group,” he added.
Why It’s Important: Trump along with the Republican National Committee collected $141 million in May, the New York Times reported, citing the ex-president’s campaign team. The Times said the veracity of the claims can be ascertained only when federal filings are released later in June.
Last Thursday, venture capitalist David Sacks hosted a fundraiser at his home in San Francisco, which was attended by Trump. The event reportedly raised $12 million for Trump but more importantly served as a platform for galvanizing liberal-minded businessmen.
Sacks for his part put out a long post on X, formerly Twitter, as to why he is backing Trump. The long and short of the post was disgruntlement over Biden’s handling of the economy, border crisis, and foreign affairs.
“The voters have experienced four years of President Trump and four years of President Biden. In tech, we call this an A/B test. With respect to economic policy, foreign policy, border policy, and legal fairness, Trump performed better. He is the President who deserves a second term,” he said in the post.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, though not very categorical with this choice, has spelled out his support for Trump. In mid-March activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management reportedly told Financial Times in an interview that he would back the former president.
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