Thomas Hedges

Almost 10 years ago, when Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, he bragged to the public that he would be fueling it with his own money and not the money of the billionaire class that every other politician was so reliant on. "I don't need anybody's money," he said in an interview. "It's nice. I'm not using any donors."


Donald Trump

"I don't know. I self-fund, and I don't know if it's worth it. A lot of times, I feel foolish. I feel foolish that I'm turning down millions of dollars."


Thomas Hedges

Not only did Trump go on to rely heavily on billionaire donors like Sheldon Adelson, Vince McMahon, and Robert Mercer, he's gone on to rely on them even more eight years later in a campaign that really has lost touch with his original anti-establishment rhetoric.
This election cycle, Trump hasn't given even a dime to his own campaign. Instead, he's expanded his support network of billionaires, betraying those who believe him to be a self-funded and self-sufficient billionaire even more egregiously than he betrayed them back in 2016.

In fact, Trump's need for big money donors this election cycle explains his pick for Vice President, J.D. Vance, a candidate who's very cozy with Big Tech, and that's an industry Trump still needs to win over. In selecting Vance, who used to be a "never-Trumper," Trump has signaled to Silicon Valley that he's ready to meet the demands of America's elite across the board, that he'll do anything to be able to get approval from the true owners of America in order to get back into the White House, where he again wield power and be in the world's brightest spotlight.


Donald Trump

"I will give you back your freedom, your life, and your country. Everyone will prosper, every family will thrive, and every day will be filled with opportunity and hope. We're going to bring back the American dream."


Thomas Hedges

For many, even on the left, Trump is just an eccentric billionaire and former reality TV star who's auditioning for America's most competitive job position. He's even kind of silly and unpredictable. But is that really the case?

In this video piece, we'll be taking a look at the other side of Donald Trump. We'll be taking a look at the billionaires that are behind him in this race. What are their agendas? And how do they plan to use this larger than life politician as a Trojan horse for policies that could change the direction of this country's politics far into the future?

The first billionaire on our list is somebody you may not have heard of, Timothy Mellon. He's heir to the Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Mellon. Mellon has dumped $165 million into the 2024 elections, much of which has gone to super PACs supporting Trump. His agenda is surprisingly unclear, given the amount of money he's pumped into the elections. He supported the Democrats in the past, for example, and even Independence, which makes it all the more curious that his contributions to the Trump campaign dwarf the rest of Trump's major donors.
No one has spent more trying to reinstall Trump in the White House. 43% of all money that has gone into Trump's main super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc, has come from the '81-year-old heir.

Mellon is an elusive figure, and he shies away from the public spotlight. Most of what's known about the secret billionaire is from his autobiography, in which he mentions his disdain for social safety net programs, especially for Black Americans, which he calls Slavery Redux, in which he says make Black people even more belligerent.

Another big billionaire backer of Trump is hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who, days after Trump was elected in 2016, said he was excited for a president who would run America like a, quote, "big business."


Bill Ackman

"I said, look, it's a great thing that we have a businessman as president. He knows how to make deals, and growth can solve a lot of our problems. If we can get rid of a bunch of regulations that are holding back the country and have a president who just changed the tone on being a pro-business president, I thought that would be good for the country."


Thomas Hedges

Although Ackman's support of Trump had a bit of a hiccup after Ackman condemned Trump for condoning the January 6 riot, Ackman has been a big order of Trump on everything from his stance on Israel to Trump's tax bill, which favored the ultra-wealthy. Ackman's support doesn't represent a new big-money donor for Trump, but what it does signify is that those billionaires, especially Wall Street billionaires who were disillusioned with Trump after January 6, as well as the failed MAGA sweep that was expected in 2022 across state and congressional elections, are ready to come back and fight just as hard for a candidate they think is ready to continue passing legislation that will be in their interest.


NBC News

"Millionaires like Nelson Peltz, who once denounced former President Trump over the attack on the Capitol on January 6."


Nelson Peltz

"I voted for him today. I'm sorry I did that. We need to heal from Trump. It was really a devastating blow."


NBC News

"Now saying he'll vote for Trump again, and he's not the only one turning around his support. There's also a venture capitalist, Doug Leone, former PayPal exec, David Sacks, and real estate tycoon, Robert Bigelow, who even gave $1 million of his own cash to help cover Trump's legal fees."


Thomas Hedges

A third key donor to the Trump campaign this year is Kelcy Warren, whose company Energy Transfer is looking for final approval of its infamous Dakota Access Pipeline. During his first term in office, Trump helped to expedite the pipeline project, but it faltered and slowed after facing a number of legal obstacles. Warren's donated $5.8 million this election. In 2016, he donated a paltry $100,000. But after Trump's victory, he's jumped at the opportunity at having a very pro-oil President in the White House. In 2020, for example, he gave $11 million.

Warren represents a whole slew of wealthy billionaire energy and oil tycoons who want Trump to keep us in the age of fossil fuels. Some have even more extreme agendas, like Tim Dunn, a billionaire pastor from Texas who's used his oil money to push the state towards what reporter Russell Gold calls a Christian theocracy. Gold, who wrote a long exposé of the evangelical billionaire for Texas Monthly back in March of 2024, explained how Trump donors like Dunn are building blueprints in states like Texas as a way of bridging the gap between church and state.


Russell Gold

"Tim Dunn has made it clear that he believes this should be a Christian-run government. Texas is a Christian state and should be run by Christians, which is a remarkable statement in a state like Texas, which has millions of people who are not practicing Christians. What would that look like if his allies gained control of the Texas legislature? I think the answer is that we would have a second class of citizenry."


Thomas Hedges

Next on our list is Linda McMahon, wife of worldwide entertainment founder Vince McMahon. Vince took a step back from the public spotlight after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. But over the years, the couple has donated $16 million to various pro-Trump groups and have been long-time MAGA heads. Linda has also tried running for office herself, launching two successful bids for Senate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012. The McMahons represent an ultra-wealthy class of donors who built businesses from the ground up over many years and who want to see Trump's 2017 tax plan, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, and which happens to expire in 2025, become permanent.


Linda McMahon

"When he's reelected, Donald Trump will make those tax cuts permanent."


Thomas Hedges

Of course, many in Washington are quick to point out that those tax cuts are permanent only for corporations and not for families or individuals.


Sheldon Whitehouse

"What Republican tax cuts achieve without fail is to increase debt and deficits and to lavish billions' worth of tax breaks on wealthy donors and large corporations. Trump's tax cut was so loaded up for the rich that foreign investors enjoyed a larger windfall than the bottom 60% of Americans."


Thomas Hedges

Other billionaire donors who have similar interests in protecting their self-made financial empires are Diane Hendricks, a former Playboy Bunny, who founded the building materials company ABC Supply. There's also Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein, who founded the packing materials company, Uline, and Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot.

Another major player and MAGA founder is Miriam Adelson, spouse of the late Sheldon Adelson, who made all his money as a casino magnet. Of course, Miriam would also benefit from Trump's tax break, and you can be sure that's a big factor in her support of Trump. But the bigger issue, perhaps, for the Israeli-born medical doctor is making sure that Trump not only remains very pro-Israel but continues to push an aggressive foreign policy in the region.


Donald Trump

"President Trump deserves the full support of the entire Jewish people and of anyone who cares about Israel's security and prosperity."


Thomas Hedges

In 2016, for example, she and her husband donated to the Trump campaign in what was basically a quid pro quo. We back you, and you do everything in your power to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They even offered millions of dollars just for the construction of the embassy building itself.


Josh Lederman

"It's extremely unconventional for private citizens to help contribute towards the construction of a U.S. government building overseas."


Thomas Hedges

In 2017, the Trump administration put out a statement saying that they recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which many saw as a first step to moving the embassy there as well. But this year, Miriam has an even more ambitious goal, annexation of the West Bank, for which she's ready to pledge $100 million to the Trump campaign.

Miriam's continued support, along with the fact that Donald Trump's billionaire son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a right-wing Zionist, guarantees that Trump will not only defend Israel as it continues its genocide against Palestinians and larger war into Lebanon and perhaps Iran but will accelerate its violent campaigns in the region.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly/famously, Trump has won an endorsement from Elon Musk, who has created his own super PAC called the America PAC.


Elon Musk

"We had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot."


Thomas Hedges

Last week, Musk announced that he would pledge a million dollars day in support of the Trump campaign leading up to the elections in November. He's also not just another rich person supporting Trump. Musk, aside from his immense wealth, is as much an elite billionaire as he is a pop figure. He's as much a CEO as he is a meme or meme maker. He talks about climate change solutions while peddling in conspiracy theories about global warming. He pushes the idea of meritocracy while supporting a candidate who's going cut funding to an already starving public school system. He touts freedom of speech. I mean, that's why he says he bought Twitter while then staying silent on book bans in Republican MAGA states.

What Musk stands to gain from supporting Trump has nothing to do with any of the principles he says he espouses. Instead, Musk stands to gain enormous and unprecedented contracts from the Trump administration, the militarization of AI and space, efforts to build a new iron dome system, which will directly affect the landscape of nuclear warfare. He wants to annihilate the threat of unions, which Musk says have taken over the Democratic Party. These are the issues Musk not only wants to influence, but control.

The support represents Silicon Valley's willingness to embrace a candidate that they previously had been skeptical of. In fact, Silicon Valley has been skeptical to endorse either party in the past two previous elections, positioning themselves in many ways as a power separate from Washington that would do anything and everything to defend itself from accusations of data sharing abuse and free speech restriction, artificial intelligence, taxes, cryptocurrency, and more.

Big Tech has been forced to make friends in Washington, one of whom, as we said, is J.D. Vance. In many ways, Trump's decision to pick J.D. Vance, which the public has seen largely as a disaster for his image, was more of a nod to Big Tech and people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and longtime supporter of J.D. Vance, as a way of saying that they are prepared to meet the industry's demand on all these emerging hot button issues.


Charles Lopresto

"But now, tech leaders, at least, are kissing Trump's MAGA ring in a big way. Why? For one thing, J.D. Vance is deep in the pockets of right-wing tech billionaires like Peter Thiel. This guy has been throwing money around for decades with the hopes of seizing power and basically installing a right-wing monarchy in America. These guys hate regulations. These oligarchs want unchecked control over AI, crypto, social media, big mergers, whatever else they please. And they know that federal agencies under Trump will basically let them do whatever they want."


Thomas Hedges

The Democratic Party's leadership and Kamala Harris also rely on their own set of billionaires. It's true. And they also refuse to take on big business, from Wall Street to fossil fuels. Indeed, the hollowing out of suburban and rural America has happened under both parties. But over the last 10 years, we've seen a dramatic departure from the Trump that half of America fell in love with, from the eccentric New York billionaire who pitted himself as a bitter foe to Wall Street in Washington to now being their biggest defender.

Trump's not only completely discarded his self-funder persona, he's added threats that, if unchecked, could lead to extreme destabilization and repression. He said he would unleash the military and National Guard to subdue dissidents and leftists. He said to Christian voters that if they vote for him, they wouldn't need to vote again in an election, and he's suggesting that if he wins, this will be the last democratic election.


Donald Trump

"Christians get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not going to have to vote."


Thomas Hedges

He's told the country that he would enact mass deportations of migrants. He plans to build a new anti-ballistic missile system that risks nuclear war. He would also unleash trade wars with most of the countries in the world. And the billionaires behind Trump seem not to mind. As long as they get their business interests met, it seems Trump can be as unpredictable and inflammatory as he wants. No one at the top is going to bat an eye.