Eli Lake on the sudden rise of the "Never Bidens."
Donors who once worried more about Donald Trump now see the president's bid for a second term as the greater threat to America.
By Eli Lake
Joe Biden's threat last week to freeze arms shipments to Israel along with reports that his administration is withholding intelligence about Hamas leaders' whereabouts has reverberated throughout U.S. politics. Now, some Never Trump donors say the Biden administration's policy toward the Jewish state is such a betrayal they're considering jumping on board the Trump train.
Call it the rise of the Never Bidens, donors who once were more worried about Trump but now see Joe Biden's bid for a second term the greater threat to America. The Free Press spoke with four donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars in the last election cycle. They say they are reconsidering their political giving in light of the president's approach to the Israel-Hamas war. All of them expressed their frustration with Biden's CNN interview last Wednesday, in which he said of Israel, "if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah."
Cliff Asness, a Republican donor who says he "spent well over seven figures" to support Trump's primary opponent Nikki Haley, told The Free Press that "My 'Never Again' is trumping my 'Never Trump' these days."
Cliff Asness, of course, funds the "Clifford Asness Chair of Liberty" currently occupied by Jonah Goldberg's immense, well-padded ass at AEI or whatever grifter operation that pays him for propaganda.
"Biden is a huge disappointment, really a moral outrage with this arms embargo being only the latest and greatest outrage," continued Asness, the co-founder of AQR Capital Management. "Despite my long opposition to him, this makes me more likely, though I haven't quite gotten there yet, to see Trump as the better of two bad alternatives."
You may remember that Jonah and several of his chins reported that he was speaking to very serious NeverTrumpers who were all considering ditching Biden in favor of Trump. I assume Asness would be a likely one.
If Asness flips to Trump, does Jonah continue to collect his grifter checks from Asness?
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Billionaire entertainment mogul and major Democratic donor Haim Saban wrote of Biden's policy switch in an email to two senior White House advisers last week: "Let's not forget that there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters that care about Hamas."
And after CNN aired Biden's comments on Wednesday, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, a registered Democrat, took to X to call the move "one of the worst acts against an ally of a sitting president ever. Hopefully, this means he won't be sitting for longer."
David Friedman, who served as Trump's ambassador to Israel and has been in touch with many Trump-skeptic Jewish donors though he has no official role on the campaign, told The Free Press that he has seen "more Jewish money coming in" for Trump in the election.
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Michael Granoff, a managing partner of Maniv, a venture fund dedicated to clean transportation technology, told The Free Press that he voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but has lost confidence in the president: "I am not voting for Biden. I'm not saying I'm voting for Trump, but it's a nonzero chance now." Granoff was a staffer on the Clinton-Gore campaign and was a close friend of the late senator Joe Lieberman.
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Though Ackman contributed to both the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Al Gore and gave $1 million to Rep. Dean Phillips' primary run against Biden this year, he has more recently declared himself a "centrist" who "will vote for and support whoever is best for our country regardless of their party affiliation."
And now, he seems to be leaning toward Trump.
As I snarked before, so now there's no longer an Absolute Moral Necessity to support Biden (and before Biden, Hillary) over Trump?
I guess when your own ox is being gored, airy, vague notions of morality kind of go out the window.
In related news, the Republican Jewish Coalition has announced a big $20 million commitment to elect Trump, citing Biden's betrayal on Israel.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) has announced its largest-ever fundraising campaign, committing $20 million to support former President Trump's 2024 bid, citing President Biden's hostility towards Israel and inaction towards Palestinian, Hamas-sympathizing protests on university campuses.
The RJC is committed to raising a minimum of $5 million through donors and the RJC Victory Fund super PAC.
An additional $15 million independent expenditure is planned, the largest in RJC's history.
The announcement comes amid anti-Israel protests on college campuses and criticism of Biden's stance on Israel.