Trump Panders to Billionaires, Vows to Keep Their Taxes Low During Fundraiser

Peter Wade
·3 min read
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Donald Trump promised to keep billionaires’ taxes low at a fundraising dinner Saturday night in Palm Beach, Fla., held at the home of billionaire John Paulson.

A Trump campaign official told NBC News that the former president “spoke on the need to win back the White House so we can turn our country around, focusing on key issues including unleashing energy production, securing our southern border, reducing inflation, extending the Trump Tax Cuts, eliminating Joe Biden’s insane [electric vehicle] mandate, protecting Israel, and avoiding global war.” NBC News requested to have a reporter present at the fundraiser, but the campaign refused.

Trump’s campaign told media that the fundraiser yielded more than $50.5 million for Trump’s campaign, his political action committee, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and state parties — although that total has not been independently verified. If Trump’s numbers are accurate (reminder: a court found that Trump committed fraud by lying about his net worth), they would set a record and nearly double the $26 million Biden brought in during a New York City fundraiser with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Biden is still ahead of Trump in dollars raised. In March, Biden outpaced Trump in funds raised by a significant amount. Biden and the Democratic National Committee brought in $90 million combined last month, while Trump and the Republican National Committee raised $66 million. At the end of March, Biden had almost $100 million more in cash on hand than his GOP rival.

Some billionaires who abandoned Trump in the wake of Jan. 6 and who supported his opponents in the primary have come crawling back to the former president in hopes of keeping their tax burden low.

Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz — who apologized after Jan. 6 for supporting Trump, telling CNBC, “I’m sorry I did that” — recently hosted a breakfast at his Palm Beach mansion attended by Trump and several other billionaires, including Steve Wynn and Elon Musk, according to The Washington Post. Oracle’s Larry Ellison is also considering cutting Trump’s campaign a check, while billionaire heirs Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein told the Financial Times that they intend to donate to the former president’s campaign.

“While Donald Trump has been busy awarding himself golf trophies at Mar-a-Lago and palling around with billionaires, Joe Biden has been crisscrossing the nation connecting with voters and outlining his vision to grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.

“Donald Trump spent his entire presidency lining the pockets of wealthy tax avoiders like himself at the expense of the middle class,” Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Now, Trump is making it clear to his billionaire buddies that he’ll take his first chance to double down on tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy – all while he fights to rip away Americans’ health care, gut Social Security and Medicare, and raise costs on working families. The American people deserve a president that fights for main street, not Wall Street – that’s why we have to reelect President Biden and reject Trump’s billionaire-first agenda this November.”

The day of the fundraiser, Trump posted about his legal woes on Truth Social, complaining about a gag order the judge in his upcoming hush money trial imposed on him. “If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela – It will be my GREAT HONOR,” Trump wrote.

Jasmine Harris, Biden-Harris 2024 Director of Black Media, said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone: “Imagine being so self-centered that you compare yourself to Jesus Christ and Nelson Mandela all within the span of little more than a week: that’s Donald Trump for you.”

This article was updated to include a statement from Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika.

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