Trump win gives loyal billionaire backers power to sway top jobs
Loyal supporters of the president-elect are poised to play a major role in his second administration.
DONALD Trump demands loyalty. And Howard Lutnick is tasked with figuring out who fits the bill.
As co-chair of the US president-elect’s transition team, the billionaire Cantor Fitzgerald chief is drawing up shortlists for jobs across government and requires that candidates be exceedingly loyal to Trump.
Lutnick was among the first calls for many powerful businesspeople in the wake of Trump’s victory, according to a top Wall Street executive.
Currying favour with a new administration has always been important for billionaires and titans of industry, but Trump has taken the practice to new extremes.
Republican mega-donors who cast him aside after the Jan 2021 insurrection, such as Stephen Schwarzman and Nelson Peltz, quickly returned to the fold once he felled his party rivals.
Even those who strove to stay politically neutral showed signs of fearing his wrath – Mark Zuckerberg, who Trump has mused about jailing, called him “badass” in July; while Jeff Bezos, who Trump mocked as “Jeff Bozo” in 2019, was quick to offer a “big congratulations” on a “decisive victory”.
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Still, it’s those who have been by Trump’s side the longest – and who provided the most cash – who are poised to have the biggest sway as his administration takes shape, ranging from Cabinet positions to unofficial advisory roles.
Investor John Paulson is among those who have been mentioned as a possible head of Treasury in the next administration, while Trump has said Elon Musk will have a new role as government cost-cutter. Lutnick, himself a paragon of devotion, has become a linchpin of US political power and could be tapped for a formal role as well.
“A lot of big Republican donors are in this for very specific reasons,” said Mike Lux, co-founder of political consultancy Democracy Partners.
“Trump has been delightfully blunt about telling donors, ‘If you give me US$1 billion, I will undo all the regulations you don’t like’, or telling Musk that if he gives him a bunch of money he will appoint him to whatever government job he wants. He’s been very open about being completely transactional with his donors.”
Many big-ticket donors flocked to Trump late in the campaign, setting aside reservations about his policies, personality and legal woes. Schwarzman, Ken Griffin, Ron Lauder and Thomas Peterffy were among those who made plain their intentions to block his path to the nomination. Only in March, when he officially become the Republican nominee, did his billionaire support begin to coalesce.
No one showcased the power of a money backer more than Musk. The world’s richest person was late to back Trump but once he announced his endorsement, immediately following the July attempt on Trump’s life, he became a vocal and fervent supporter.
He shared sensational, frequently false pro-Trump messages on X and became a fixture at rallies. Once a critic of political spending who voiced support for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Musk poured almost US$119 million into America PAC, a super political action committee he formed to fund Trump’s run. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Already, Trump’s victory is boosting the fortunes of the world’s rich. The 10 wealthiest people on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index gained a record US$63.5 billion on Wednesday (Nov 6), with Musk alone adding more than US$26 billion to his net worth.
But having the ear of an amenable president is useful in more subtle ways too, especially for those seeking to shape legislation in their favour. Policy and laws around evolving sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, social media and privacy have the potential to make or break fortunes.
For venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, the pivot to Trump came after four years of mounting frustration with the Biden administration. The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon and Meta Platforms, where he sits on the board, and the Securities and Exchange Commission targeted Coinbase Global, a major Andreessen Horowitz investment.
He based his support for Trump on what he calls the “little tech agenda” or creating a market favourable to startups. His firm has stepped up lobbying in recent years to help many of the sectors it’s invested in, such as AI, crypto and defence technology.
Former Never Trumper Jeff Yass, founder of trading firm Susquehanna International Group and a major shareholder in TikTok’s Chinese owner Bytedance, wrote a The Wall Street Journal column in April favouring Trump.
He said he preferred Trump’s position on school choice, one of Yass’s pet causes. Trump also reversed his position on TikTok, which he attempted to ban during his first presidency, after speaking with Yass at an event in Florida, though Yass’s spokesperson said they never discussed the app.
The potential gains from a Trump administration stretch beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street.
Three of the world’s richest energy billionaires – Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm, Hilcorp Energy chairman Jeff Hildebrand and Energy Transfer LP founder Kelcy Warren – contributed a combined US$13.1 million to Trump’s campaign.
Warren’s company built the nearly 1,930 km long Dakota Access Pipeline, whose route crosses federal and tribal land and relies on a contested easement to operate. Trump expedited approval of the pipeline’s construction in his first administration and could similarly fast-track a stalled natural gas export project Warren has in Louisiana.
In exchange for potential favours, Trump’s billionaire backers gave a major leg up to his campaign, which lagged Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in fundraising throughout the race.
Super PACs supporting Trump raised more money from three individuals – Musk, Las Vegas Sands majority shareholder Miriam Adelson and banking heir Timothy Mellon – than his campaign and the Republican Party got from his once-mighty army of small US dollar donors. That was a huge change from his previous campaigns when those modest contributors gave him three times as much as those writing checks of US$1 million or more to super PACs.
But not every billionaire-backed Trump. Although Harris raised less money from the ultra-rich, she had more supporters on Bloomberg’s wealth index, including former Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt and Meta co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Then there were those who stayed silent.
Trump’s first term revealed his contempt for detractors, who were ridiculed and threatened. He attacked Amazon on X (then Twitter), claiming it skirted taxes and took advantage of the US Postal Service. His vitriol for Zuckerberg, or “Zuckerbucks”, as he calls him, soared after Facebook temporarily blocked Trump from the site following the Jan 6 riots.
In Trump’s new book Save America, published in September, he accused Zuckerberg of steering Facebook against him during the 2020 election and warned if he did it again he’d “spend the rest of his life in prison”.
For some billionaires, the downside risks of angering Trump are too great. The Washington Post, owned by Bezos, broke with a 36-year-long tradition late last month in declining to endorse a candidate, prompting more than 250,000 people to cancel their subscriptions. In an editorial explaining the decision, Bezos said endorsements have no impact on election results and heighten a perception of media bias.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, who appeared on stage with former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in 2016, issued a terse statement through his investment firm last month clarifying he “does not currently and will not prospectively endorse” political candidates.
Zuckerberg, who has backed many progressive causes through his foundation, recently shifted his stance to one as seemingly apolitical as possible. He said in July he was not endorsing anyone and spoke admiringly of Trump’s “badass” defiance after nearly getting shot at a rally.
“Trump has stated very openly that he wants revenge on people,” said Lux from Democracy Partners. “Of course, there’s concern about blowback, I think it’s a very real possibility based on the statements and actions of Trump.” BLOOMBERG
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