Vigilante
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
The GOP’s biggest donors are mostly united in their distaste for the party’s presidential front-runner Donald Trump, but they increasingly are coming to grips with the prospect of his nomination, and many are now signaling they would support him in a general election.
The shift, detailed in interviews with a dozen major donors and their representatives, is less an indication that the party’s donor class is warming to Trump, and more a reflection of their disdain for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Their willingness to rally in opposition to Clinton should tamp down concerns on the right that the lingering unease with Trump would mean a free pass for Clinton from big-money attacks in a prospective general election matchup with Trump.
“If it were Trump vs. Hillary, I would have to give to Trump. And I would kind of hold my nose doing it, but I would have to do it,” said Minnesota billionaire Stan Hubbard, adding that he’d prefer that the GOP nominate either Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Hubbard ― whose family donated more than $100,000 to committees supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s GOP presidential campaign before eventually siding with Kasich ― has donated at least $10,000 to an anti-Trump super PAC.
“Although Trump’s not my first choice, I’d have to do what I can [to] support him, and hope he’d have more sense than he’s shown so far, because I certainly would never go for Sanders, and Clinton kind of scares me,” said Hubbard. “I think many donors feel that way, and I’ve heard people say so.”
Among the major donors who told POLITICO that they would support Trump ― or oppose Clinton ― in a Trump-versus-Clinton matchup are Hubbard, T. Boone Pickens, Toby Neugebauer and Dan Eberhart.
Read more: Trump makes inroads with megadonors
The shift, detailed in interviews with a dozen major donors and their representatives, is less an indication that the party’s donor class is warming to Trump, and more a reflection of their disdain for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Their willingness to rally in opposition to Clinton should tamp down concerns on the right that the lingering unease with Trump would mean a free pass for Clinton from big-money attacks in a prospective general election matchup with Trump.
“If it were Trump vs. Hillary, I would have to give to Trump. And I would kind of hold my nose doing it, but I would have to do it,” said Minnesota billionaire Stan Hubbard, adding that he’d prefer that the GOP nominate either Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Hubbard ― whose family donated more than $100,000 to committees supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s GOP presidential campaign before eventually siding with Kasich ― has donated at least $10,000 to an anti-Trump super PAC.
“Although Trump’s not my first choice, I’d have to do what I can [to] support him, and hope he’d have more sense than he’s shown so far, because I certainly would never go for Sanders, and Clinton kind of scares me,” said Hubbard. “I think many donors feel that way, and I’ve heard people say so.”
Among the major donors who told POLITICO that they would support Trump ― or oppose Clinton ― in a Trump-versus-Clinton matchup are Hubbard, T. Boone Pickens, Toby Neugebauer and Dan Eberhart.
Read more: Trump makes inroads with megadonors
