Trump's Top Billionaire Donors
Some of the nation’s wealthiest people are powering Trump’s bid to return to the White House: His 26 biggest billionaire backers, worth a combined $143 billion, have poured $162 million into the effort so far.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/leokamin/2024/08/14/here-are-trumps-top-billionaire-donors/
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Transcript
00:00Today on Forbes, here are Trump's top billionaire donors.
00:06At the Republican National Convention last month,
00:08Donald Trump's vice-presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, said,
00:14"...we need a leader who's not in the pocket of big business, but answers to the working man,
00:19a leader who won't sell out to multinational corporations,
00:22but will stand up for American companies and American industry."
00:27However, federal election commission filings tell a slightly different story.
00:32Many of the nation's richest individuals, including founders and executives
00:36at some of America's biggest businesses, have backed the Trump-Vance ticket.
00:41In fact, 26 billionaires have already given more than $1 million apiece
00:46to pro-Trump PACs and committees.
00:49But there may still be something to Vance's distinction between
00:52multinational corporations and, quote,
00:55American companies, at least when it comes to who supports Trump.
00:59Of the former president's 26 biggest billionaire donors,
01:0316 derive their fortunes from private, often family-held corporations based in the U.S.
01:08Many of them, like Diane Hendricks' ABC Supply and Liz and Dick Uline's Uline,
01:14openly celebrate their track record of operating mostly in the U.S.
01:18and generating American jobs.
01:21This list includes a few heirs like Johnson & Johnson's scion, Woody Johnson,
01:25and Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
01:30But the vast majority of the donors, 22 out of 26,
01:34have built their own billion-dollar empires.
01:37The top industries among Trump's top billionaire backers
01:40are casinos, 4 billionaires, finance, 3 billionaires,
01:45and oil and gas, 3 billionaires.
01:48In an election year, money flows fast.
01:51Since Forbes first looked at Trump's top billionaire backers two months ago,
01:55Adelson has rocketed up the ranks,
01:57now the fourth biggest donor after a huge lump-sum gift in late May.
02:02And she reportedly has plans that could soon take her to the top of the list.
02:06Also new to the top ten are stock exchange billionaire Jeff Sprecher
02:10and his wife, former senator Kelly Loeffler.
02:13Hendricks has also moved up, from fourth to third.
02:17Those moves push the New York Jets owner Woody Johnson
02:20and the Los Angeles real estate magnate Jeffrey Palmer out of the top ten.
02:25Five of these donors have given to the newly launched AmericaPak,
02:29which Elon Musk says he helped start.
02:32It was created in May and has already spent close to $8 million
02:35on pro-Trump field operations and text campaigns.
02:39It was widely reported that Musk had pledged $45 million a month to the SuperPak,
02:44Musk has since said he will be supporting the group at a, quote,
02:46much lower level, and he has not reported a federal contribution since 2020.
02:52Musk may not yet make the list,
02:54but his longtime friend and investor Antonio Gracias does.
02:58He gave AmericaPak $1 million in June.
03:02Here are a few of the billionaires at the very top of Trump's donor list.
03:06Number one, Timothy Mellon, whose net worth is nearly $1 billion
03:10and who has given $76.5 million in donations to Trump groups.
03:15Mellon keeps a low profile.
03:17He's rarely photographed and lists a P.O. box
03:20in a 1,000-person Wyoming town as his address.
03:23But no donor has made a bigger splash this election.
03:27An heir to an American fortune that dates back more than a century,
03:31he made some money of his own in the railroad industry.
03:34Mellon's donations to Trump groups include a $50 million gift
03:37the day after Trump's felony conviction.
03:40Separately, he gave $25 million to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
03:45Number two, Linda McMahon, whose net worth is $3.1 billion
03:50and who has given $16 million to Trump groups.
03:53McMahon and her husband, Vince, built World Wrestling Entertainment
03:57into a billion-dollar entertainment juggernaut.
04:00She has been involved in politics for years,
04:02running unsuccessfully for Senate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012,
04:06and then serving as head of the Small Business Administration under Trump.
04:10She's still close to the center of the MAGA orbit,
04:12chairing the pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policy Institute
04:16and serving on the board of Truth Social's parent company,
04:19Trump Media and Technology Group.
04:22Number three, Diane Hendricks, whose net worth is $20.9 billion
04:27and who has given $6.3 million to Trump groups.
04:31On the stage at the Republican National Convention
04:33in her home state of Wisconsin last month,
04:35Hendricks celebrated her title of America's richest self-made woman,
04:39spoke about her pro-life views,
04:41and accused the Biden-Harris administration of stifling entrepreneurship.
04:45A former Playboy bunny, her building materials company, ABC Supply,
04:50now does $20 billion in yearly revenue.
04:54For full coverage and to see our whole list of all 26 billionaire Trump donors,
04:59check out Leo Kamen's piece on Forbes.com.
05:04This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.