Florida Governor Ron DeSantis opted out of a large, grassroots-led announcement for his campaign for the Republican nomination, instead opting to spend the day schmoozing billionaire donors at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, before appearing on billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter, followed by billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s Fox this evening.
His “if you can’t be a billionaire, have them run your campaign” approach appears in stark juxtaposition with former President Donald J. Trump’s campaigning style. Trump prefers to shun the donor class, and host rallies for ordinary Americans across the country. DeSantis clearly intends to shore up his war chest before hitting the real campaign trail, proper. If he does at all.
On Wednesday evening, DeSantis will announce his candidacy alongside Twitter owner Elon Musk and David Sacks.
While Musk recently handed over the reins of Twitter to his new Chief Executive Officer, Linda Yaccarino, a long-time World Economic Forum executive, Sacks’s history as a donor to both Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney will likely raise eyebrows about his involvement with Ron DeSantis.
The Billionaires Are Back, Buying Elections?
Another of DeSantis’ major donors is Citadel capital’s hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin. Griffin, who has already donated more than $5 million to DeSantis. Griffin “bundled between $50,000 and $100,000″ into Obama’s 2008 campaign and is listed as a $1+ million donor to the Obama Foundation.
Despite being considered a GOP supporter, Griffin has made large political donations to other leading Democrats, including former Senator Chris Dodd, former Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emmanuel, and the current United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry.
Griffin is also unambiguous in his dislike of Donald Trump, calling the former President a “three-time-loser” and insisting the GOP should “move on” from Trump.
Nor is Elon Musk above shelving his principles when investors begin waving dollar bills – or rather Chinese yuan – under his nose. Chinese Communist Party-linked companies and investment funds even helped fund his Twitter takeover in 2022. A year prior, Musk celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on Weibo, a Chinese alternative to Twitter, by adding a jubilant banner to his profile, complete with the hammer and sickle on a blood red background.
By Raheem Kassam
