He might be trailing in the polls and isn’t entirely sure where he is at any given moment, but President Joe Biden has built a sizable war chest for his reelection bid against Donald Trump.
Bolstered by a celebrity-filled fundraising event in New York City, USA Today writes that “Democrats’ $192 million war chest more than doubles the $93.1 million Republicans reported having on hand as the general election battle between Biden and former President Donald Trump begins to take shape.
Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced $65.6 million in fundraising for the month of March. The party committee and the former president’s campaign are sharing resources now that Trump has clinched the Republican nomination.”
The Washington Post reported that Team Trump understands it’s behind, and they’ve begun making changes to catch up.
Trump’s team is aware that it is behind and wants to catch up quickly, according to one of the people familiar with its fundraising who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private activities.
Trump’s fundraising team has been asked to secure as many checks as possible as soon as possible to boost the former president’s numbers. Republican officials are eager to narrow the gap so they can compete with Biden’s field effort and advertising campaigns. They hope to ensure that GOP candidates win up and down the ticket. But Trump’s legal woes are placing a strain on several of his political committees.
This weekend’s dinner in Palm Beach is expected to raise about $50 million, people close to Trump said. The former president told donors during a call Friday afternoon that this weekend’s event would bring in double the $25 million Democrats said they raised during a recent New York fundraiser with Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with Trump’s remarks on the Friday call.
Trump is closely tracking who is attending the fundraiser Saturday, who has given the maximum and how much has been raised, according to a person who spoke to him recently. His advisers regularly brief him on the attendees. “He is focused on this fundraiser,” one person familiar with his thinking said. “He has a lot of friends in Palm Beach, and he’s saying, are they giving?”
Now that he’s secured the nomination, billionaires who have sat on the sidelines this election cycle are jumping back on the Trump Train.
Fox News noted that the mega MAGA fundraiser was “led by hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson” and “co-chaired by hedge fund tycoon Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, oil tycoon Harold Hamm, hotelier Robert Bigelow and casino mogul Steve Wynn.
Bigelow and Hamm had previously funneled money to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his ill-fated presidential run against Trump in the primary. Hamm previously donated to former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign as well.
Scott Bessent, founder of the investment firm Key Square Group and former chief investment officer at George Soros’s Soros Fund Management, will also be co-hosting the event. Bessent has been rumored to be a potential cabinet nominee in a second Trump administration.”
“Now that President Trump won the primaries, defeating all 10 contenders by a landslide, I think it’s time for Republicans to unite behind him,” Paulson said during an interview with Bloomberg.
“For that reason, I’m hosting this inaugural event to galvanize the broad support there is for the president.”
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