On Thursday, May 30, in the wake of Donald Trump's conviction, the Republican Party website WinRed went down. Republican supporters were flocking to it to donate to Trump's campaign, and it crashed. On Friday, the convicted former president announced a fundraising record of $34.8 million (€32.11 million) following the verdict. In one day, he collected half of what he had raised in April ($76 million). While the press around the world hailed Trump's conviction, money flew to the Republican candidate's rescue. It came from small donors, but also Wall Street and big business, and for three reasons.
First, the trial itself is controversial on the right, as evidenced by Elon Musk's irritation, who could become an adviser to Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Great damage was done today to the public's faith in the American legal system. If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate," Musk wrote on X, in response to a post by Geiger Capital, an anonymous account. That post seems to have struck home, as it has been viewed by 70 million users and reposted 36,000 times: "The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn't for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars [George W. Bush], illegal CIA coups [Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon...], drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans [Barack Obama...]. It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star's NDA [non-disclosure agreement]," Geiger Capital wrote. Trump was convicted on a secondary case, not having stood trial for his coup attempt on January 6, 2021.
Then there's the war in Gaza and the rise of antisemitism on American campuses, which have turned many billionaires against the Democratic left and Joe Biden, deemed too conciliatory with the Palestinians. This is the case with Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, who is ultimately expected to vote for Trump, according to the Financial Times.
Well-understood interests
Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackstone – who, like Ackman, is Jewish – also ended up patching things up with his old friend Trump. "The dramatic rise of antisemitism has led me to focus on the consequences of upcoming elections with greater urgency," he told Bloomberg on May 24. "I share the concern of most Americans that our economic, immigration and foreign policies are taking the country in the wrong direction. For these reasons, I am planning to vote for change and support Donald Trump for President," the billionaire added.
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