Donald Trump is Losing Jewish Donors and Intellectuals, But Will it Impact His Bottom Line?
Donald Trump may have the full support of Jewish mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, along with his reported pledge of $100 million, but the New York billionaire might sorely miss several other Jewish Republican donors turned off by his views on immigration and minorities and his choice of words and tone.
As the general election heats up, most Jewish GOP funders are already accounted for, and some of the major donors who have brought in six-figure contributions in previous election cycles are out of the game: either they’ve denounced Trump on the record, or they’re not willing to commit to supporting him. In either case, they have no intention of sharing their wealth with Trump in his effort to win the presidency.
Could the lack of Jewish donor solidarity with Trump make a dent on the presumptive nominee’s campaign? “Yes, if he cared,” said presidential historian and former White House aide Tevi Troy, “but he does not put the same emphasis on fundraising as previous candidates.”
Nor does he court the conservative Jewish elite the way other candidates have. Some of the Jewish community’s most prominent conservative voices have rejected Trump. He recently even lost the support of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, an outspoken critic of the Obama administration who previously spoke enthusiastically about Trump, and is now on the fence. The campaign will reveal whether reduced Jewish financial and political support will matter, or whether Trump has rewritten these rules as he has others.
While Jewish Republicans are still a minority within the community, they play an outsized role in GOP politics by virtue of their sizable financial contributions to candidates and by their prominence in the ranks of conservative intellectual elites. Both these groups, this time around, are finding it hard to coalesce behind the Republican candidate.
One of them is Paul Singer, a New York hedge fund manager who has given an estimated $17 million in the past 25 years to Republican campaigns.
A harsh critic of Trump from the start, Singer supported Trump’s rivals during the primary season and recently announced he will not contribute to the upcoming Republican convention, set to begin July 18 in Cleveland. In past election cycles, Singer has given significant donations to the costly party event, reaching $1 million in 2012 and $500,000 in 2008. He’s also hosted top donor events on the convention sidelines.
(1/2)
archive.is
twitter.com