It won’t be pretty
Speaking of GOP cat fights, this one’s going to be lit:
As Ron DeSantis gears up for a likely 2024 White House bid — with or without Donald Trump in the race — the Florida governor is winning over some of the former president’s biggest benefactors.
DeSantis has attracted the attention of some of the nation’s wealthiest Republican donors, including many who were key financiers of Trump’s reelection bid or backers of high profile Republican candidates and causes, according to POLITICO analysis of campaign finance data.
A DeSantis-aligned political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, has received $3.4 million this election cycle from 10 donors who collectively spent $24 million on Trump’s reelection bid. Most of the high-dollar donors had never given contributions in state-level Florida elections, while those who have previously provided funds have significantly increased their spending for DeSantis during the 2022 midterms.
Though many donors are focused on November, when the governor is up for reelection, DeSantis’ fundraising signals that he is both a viable 2024 candidate who may not need the former president’s backing and one whois sapping some financial support from Trump.
“I think Ron’s fundraising really speaks for itself,” said Francis Rooney, a former construction company owner, longtime Republican donor and former Florida congressman who was open to impeaching Trump in 2019. “It is possible Trump’s percentage of the Republicans keeps going down and I think it’s possible people will start looking elsewhere.”
DeSantis has already raised more than $100 million — a record setting pace for a single election cycle in Florida — and is an overwhelming favorite to win reelection this year, a victory that could leave him with a huge war chest as the 2024 election cycle begins.
DeSantis has long been expected to run for president in 2024 but over the past year has drastically expanded his national footprint and following among conservatives across the country, who were drawn to his anti-shut down Covid-19 policies and staunch opposition to pandemic-related mandates. He has recently started to run neck-and-neck with Trump or even beaten the former president in early 2024 straw polls, leaving some of the GOP’s biggest donors writing huge checks for DeSantis at a time when that could still come with political risk.
“I know a lot of donors who are kind of in wait-and-see mode,” said Shiree Verdone, who served as Trump’s campaign co-chair in Arizona for both his presidential campaigns. “They really, really like DeSantis, who is very popular, but you don’t want to upset Trump.”
Major Trump donors contributing to DeSantis since his 2018 campaign for governor includes William Buckley, a retired venture capitalist with a home in Lost Tree Village — a wealthy Palm Beach County enclave that’s home to some of the nation’s largest political donors. Buckley gave $1 million.Major GOP donor Richard Uihlein, an Illinois-based businessman who supported DeSantis in 2018, contributed $700,000 to the governor four years ago. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have given $1.2 million in 2022.
Since his first campaign for governor, DeSantis’ committee has also received $500,000 from Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus — double what he gave DeSantis in 2018 — and $100,000 each from Steven Witkoff, real estate investor, and Willis Johnson, a Tennessee billionaire who founded a vehicle auction and salvage company. Neither had previously given significantly to any Florida candidate.
Las Vegas Casino mogul and Trump friend Phil Ruffin has also given DeSantis $100,000 this cycle, double what he gave the governor four years ago.
Johnson is supporting DeSantis financially, but has also signaled his support for other potential 2024 Republican candidates, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. He funded Noem’s efforts to send 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, something several Republican governors, including DeSantis, did last year to try and spotlight the Biden administration’s border policies.
John North, chief financial officer of Copart, the company Johnson founded, said Johnson “isn’t interested” in discussing his support for Trump or political contributions.
Trump’s team, as they have in the past, brushed off any suggestion that their key donors giving heavily to DeSantis indicates they would not support any future Trump White House run.
“Like other candidates who have been propelled to victory thanks to the endorsement of President Trump, Governor DeSantis is among a large group of elected officials from across the country who continue to benefit from President Trump’s MAGA movement,” said Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich.
That sounds just a little bit snotty. They aren’t happy…
The big money wingnuts are hedging their bets. They don’t know if Trump is going to survive but they like Trumpism very much so they’re already putting money on the man who is doing the best job of institutionalizing it.
And yes, these rich miscreants want to protect their money, first and foremost, but they are true believers too. There has never been a shortage of rich, right wing extremists in this country.