Donald Trump’s Beverly Hills Fundraiser: Don’t Expect Huge Hollywood Turnout

Ted Johnson

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President Donald Trump travels to Los Angeles on Tuesday for a high-dollar fundraising event, but don’t expect a huge turnout among Hollywood celebrities.

The event, with real estate developer Geoff Palmer expected to host, already generated plenty of attention, first because Trump’s visit is taking place during Emmy week, but then because of actress Debra Messing’s call for The Hollywood Reporter to publish a list of industry figures who are attending. “The public has a right to know,” she argues. Trump later claimed that she was trying to create a “blacklist” of his supporters.

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But even before the Trump-Messing Twitter tiff, the president’s previous fund-raising swings through Southern California weren’t drawing big numbers of showbiz backers.

While he does have a number of industry figures who support him including Jon Voight and Antonio Sabato Jr., others are reticent to go public with their support because they fear the blowback in a left-leaning industry.

“The ones who could afford it wouldn’t dare be seen there, and the ones who really want to go can’t really afford it,” quipped one politically connected industry insider.

The fundraiser isn’t cheap. Tickets range from $1,000 per person to $100,000 for couples, according to the invite. Proceeds will go to the Trump Victory Fund. Also listed on the invite are Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, RNC co-chair Tommy Hicks Jr., National Finance Chairman Todd Ricketts and Trump Campaign Chairman Brad Parscale.

Anyone who pays to attend won’t be kept secret. The Trump campaign is required to disclose donors each quarter, with the next reporting deadline on October 15. Trump has raised nearly $100,000 from showbiz sources in the first half of 2019, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, ranking just behind Beto O’Rourke and ahead of Amy Klobuchar among presidential aspirants.

Trump headlined a fundraiser in April at the home of Lee Samson, president and CEO of Windsor Healthcare, and also attended an event last year at the Beverly Park home of developer Ed Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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