Chuck Darwin<p>Trump was fund-raising off his conviction with small-dollar donors as well; </p><p>His campaign, which portrayed him as the victim of a politicized justice system, brought in nearly $53 million in the twenty-four hours after the verdict. </p><p>Several megadonors who had held back from endorsing Trump announced that they were now supporting him, <br>including <br>🔸<a href="https://c.im/tags/Miriam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Miriam</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Adelson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Adelson</span></a>, the widow of the late casino mogul <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sheldon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sheldon</span></a> Adelson; <br>🔸the Silicon Valley investor <a href="https://c.im/tags/David" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>David</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a>, who said that the case against Trump was a sign of America turning into a “Banana Republic”; <br>🔸and the venture capitalist <a href="https://c.im/tags/Shaun" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shaun</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Maguire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Maguire</span></a>, who, less than an hour after the verdict, posted on X that he was donating $300,000 to Trump, 👉calling the prosecution a “radicalizing experience.” 👈</p><p>A day later, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Timothy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Timothy</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mellon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mellon</span></a>, the banking-family scion, wrote a $50-million check to the Make America Great Again super pac.</p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Ed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ed</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rogers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rogers</span></a>, a longtime G.O.P. lobbyist, had never publicly endorsed Trump or raised money for his campaigns. </p><p>On May 31st, the day after Trump’s conviction, he sent his first contribution to the ex-President. “There was no case to make that that was not targeted prosecution,” he told me. </p><p>He predicted that other Republicans who, like him, had been “allergic” to Trump would now get on board as well. </p><p>“I tell people I am a Bill Barr, Chris Sununu, Nikki Haley Republican,” he said, listing the names of Republican officials who had criticized Trump in blistering terms only to support him again in 2024; </p><p>Haley, despite having called Trump “unhinged” and a threat to the Republic, had announced the week before his conviction that she would vote for him. </p><p>“The choices are 🔹Biden or Trump🔹, and I’m at peace with that,” Rogers said in June. <br>“I wish it was a different equation, but it’s not.”</p><p>❗️Many donors I spoke with at the time described <br>🧨Trump’s trial as an impetus, <br>but they tended to cite a litany of other reasons, too, including questions about <br>🔸Biden’s age and fitness to serve another term, concerns about his <br>🔸economic policies, and gripes about some of his <br>🔸appointees, such as the head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, who has launched high-profile antitrust investigations. </p><p>Trump, despite his populist rhetoric, deficit spending, and support for market-distorting tariffs, <br>has sold himself as a pro-business candidate. </p><p>He has promised extensive deregulation, <br>nearly unfettered drilling for oil and gas, <br>and tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals. </p><p>“A lot of the donors have just come to the conclusion that, when you add it all up, <br>the risks with Trump are behavioral<br>—personal behavior and what he says<br>—versus the policies,” the attendee at the Fifth Avenue fund-raiser told me. </p><p>It was a “rationalization” adopted by “even those who were initially very put off, very alienated, by his behavior at the end of his Presidency.”</p><p>🆘 By late May, Trump’s campaign had more money in the bank than Biden’s. </p><p>The incumbent President’s disastrous performance in a June 27th debate against Trump only accelerated the trend. </p><p>“After the debate, Biden looks like a loser, <br>so these people who were never going to give to Biden, <br>they’re now even more attracted to the idea of giving to former President Trump,” <br>the attendee at Fanjul’s dinner said. </p><p>“Because he looks like a winner.”</p><p>The following month, as Democratic donors and elected officials frantically pressured Biden to drop out of the race, <br>Trump and the Republicans again outraised the Democrats. </p><p>“The Zeitgeist in the business world is that Trump is going to be President again,” <br>a billionaire C.E.O. who is not a Trump supporter told me at the time. </p><p>“Therefore, why fall on your sword on principle?” </p><p>He added, “Businesspeople<br>—their main focus in life is to make money, <br>and you make money by backing winners. . . . </p><p>They’ve concluded, O.K., he’s going to be President, <br>let’s hold our nose and do what we have to do.”</p>