Winning the White House costs money. A lot of money.
And the price keeps soaring. In 2016, the presidential candidates spent about $2.2 billion. In 2020, that jumped to $6.6 billion.
Like it or not, no one wins without money. That’s bad news for former President Donald Trump.
Yet another wealthy Republican financier is bailing on Trump and instead backing Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 election.
Hal Lambert, founder of Texas-based Point Bridge Capital, thinks the GOP needs to move on from the 76-year-old former president and go for DeSantis, 44.
“I’m in for DeSantis this time. I plan to do a lot to help DeSantis win,” Lambert told The New York Post.
“Ron is good at giving a message,” Lambert said, adding that his wife Casey “is amazing.” “She will be a real asset.”
Lambert said Trump’s performance during a recent CNN town hall left a bad taste in his mouth.
“What voters who didn’t vote for Trump in 2020 are going to vote for him this time based on his performance? I don’t think anyone will,” Lambert said.
“We can’t talk about things from four years ago that can’t be changed,” he said. “Trump is going to have a difficult time winning the general election. The election won’t be about Joe Biden’s bad record. It will be a referendum on Trump instead.”
DeSantis, Lambert said, would also offer a greater contrast to 80-year-old President Joe Biden on the debate stage.
Trump might be worth $2.5 billion (at least according to a Forbes report), but The Don doesn’t like to spend his own cash. He’s looking to the money whales to fund his 2024 run, and they’re busy swimming out to deep water.
“GOP megadonors Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer have no current plans to help former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House, according to people familiar with the matter,” CNBC reported.
“The Mercers, a father and daughter who were among Trump’s major benefactors during his first run for president in 2016, are distancing themselves from the ex-president’s third White House bid and cutting back their overall campaign fundraising, these people said. The people who spoke to CNBC did so on the condition of anonymity in order to talk about private conversations.”
And more are bailing.
“Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, wealthy New York businessman Andy Sabin and billionaire Ronald Lauder are among the wealthy GOP donors opting against helping Trump’s latest campaign — at least during the Republican primary,” CNBC reported. “Some of the country’s wealthiest GOP donors do not believe Trump can win again and have argued for a new face to represent their party in the race for president.”
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“I’d like to think that the Republican Party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser,” Griffin said at Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum in Singapore, referring to the last three election cycles, The Hill reported.
Schwarzman was more harsh. “America does better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday,” he said in a statement. “It is time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.