Once upon a time, some überwealthy individuals who’d previously supported Donald Trump declared that they were done with the 45th president of the United States. After January 6, 2021, billionaire GOP donor Nelson Peltz called the insurrection a “stain on America” and publicly apologized for voting for Trump in 2020. Real estate and aerospace mogul Robert Bigelow said Trump “lost me as a supporter” and showed, during the attack on the Capitol, that “he was no commander.” Billionaire donor Howard Hamm told Trump point-blank not to run for office again, saying the Republican Party needed a chaos-free candidate, and gave money to his competitors instead.
So it may or may not surprise you that those exact people, and others whose net worths include roughly nine zeros, are now singing an extremely different tune. Which, and we don’t want to shock anyone, might have something to do with Joe Biden pledging to raise their taxes. As The Washington Post reports, Peltz hosted Trump for breakfast this month at his Palm Beach mansion, later telling the Financial Times he will “probably” vote for him in November. Bigelow told Reuters in January he donated $1 million to help cover Trump’s legal fees and promised to give $20 million more to a Trump-aligned super PAC. According to the Post, Hamm is headlining a fundraiser next month—hosted by fellow billionaire John Paulson—for which the maximum contribution is $814,600.
This is why Biden’s team needs better publicity
Widespread awareness that the billionaires are flipping to Trump to dodge taxes would boost Biden’s profile.
This isn’t a play Biden has really every done his entire time as a politician. Biden is the definition of a politician who identifies the status quo and builds their platform from it.
Whatever, most of the time it doesn’t matter, but it is truly incredible in this moment how much more politicians like Biden could be successful if they just promised to tax billionaires and then actually did it. Yes you would receive zero campaign funding from the rich for the rest of your life but you would also become extremely popular in the eyes of the public?
Small donation campaign financing works, this isn’t black magic.
Tbf he has promised to raise taxes on billionaires. If he actually is able to do it is another matter.
I mean, he has done some stuff. NRLB has been good, antitrust has been really promising.
It comes down to who the cabinet members are right? Especially for someone so old (not that trump isn’t older and more unhinged anyways).
He sure has done stuff. I’m not questioning his willingness to do it, honestly, but you know how politics can be bogged down by other factors like house seats etc. The only thing that can make it happen is voting!
Honestly, I think for many countries it might require very far reaching constitutional changes to actually tax the ultra wealthy.
For the USA, an amendment was needed to introduce the income tax.
Another amendment might be needed to introduce a wealth tax.
And a legal distinction would need to be made between the property of the common man vs. the ultra wealthy.
That 14th house, yacht and the hundreds of billions of the billionaire currently enjoy the same legal protections as the owner-occupied single family home and that family’s meagre savings account and the car they need to get to work.
The problem is that he can’t raise such a tax without congress and congress is anything but on his side.
His administration really needs better PR in general.
They’ve accomplished quite a bit but they don’t publicize it enough. They also need to quit making those silly ads like the one that was up on socials during the Super Bowl. Show us the clips of the man at work. It would work absolute wonders.
He talks about it all the time. You just aren’t following any media that report it.
Except for those that still believe in trickle-down.
Drinking piss to own the libs
“Yes, I ushered in the an age of fascism, but at least I didn’t lose 3% of my income each year! Think of the millions I saved!”
But as billionaires they might get a good few decades of living like royalty under a fascist regime before they inevitably fall out of favor (and a window).
Money is their God and they will do absolutely everything possible to worship at its feet.
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Nah, it’s a sickness for billionaires. Billionaires are never satisfied and want to increase their wealth no matter the cost to everyone else. It’s on a whole different level. Most people just want enough to cover living expenses and maybe a few niceties. In other words, it’s a means to an end for normal people, but it’s the end itself for these sick billionaires.
I don’t think you understand the difference between sustenance and worship.
Do you think the average lottery winner gives their winnings away to charity?
It’s easy to be moral when it’s not a choice you actually have to make.
Money is the bottom line and nobody gives a fuck!
The average lottery winner isn’t playing the lottery for any reason other than greed. Of course they don’t give their winnings away.
On the other hand, MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, is giving away billions of dollars to charities with no strings attached.
Seems like the morality was not in question in her case. It also seems like it would be if you were in her shoes.
We have a great saying in Danish for people like you: “Thief thinks everyone steals”. Just because you think money’s all that matters doesn’t mean that applies to everyone.
Absolutely right. I don’t want to be rich. I want to be comfortable, but I don’t want to be rich. I don’t need a giant house. I’d be happy with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a nice neighborhood. I don’t need a Ferrari, but I wouldn’t mind being able to afford a nice EV or PHEV. I certainly don’t need a butler or a chef or whatever. I’m happy doing all of that myself. But I wouldn’t mind being able to afford a plumber.
That’s really all I need in terms of money. Sure, it’s richer than I am now, but it’s nowhere near rich.
You mean like plenty of people do in many parts of the world and still survive?
Money should be nothing more than a tool that can do one specific job.
Speak for yourself.
We already knew billionaires are soulless sociopaths. What’s the point of this article?
What’s the point of this article?
Trump bad.
Inb4, I agree Trump is bad, but it’d be nice for people to be inspired to vote for someone they believe in rather than having to just vote against someone they hate.
It would be nice, but that’s not how it works, so many articles talking about the many reasons not to vote for Trump are useful.
It would be nice, but without a system of non-plurality voting, refusing to participate in strategic voting is akin to refusing to participate in tipping culture.
You’re not taking some noble stand against the system, you’re making the most vulnerable to it pay for how annoyed you are about it.
I don’t understand how billionaires can have such apathy for the country that gave them so much.
Because to gather such vast sums of money you will have had to go over a few bodies. Or more.
If they cared about the wellbeing of others they would’ve never become billionaires.True. No such thing as an ethical billionaire.
They have nothing else to do except take more and fear losing it somehow.
Deep down, all they have is fear of losing it all.
If I somehow lost every material possession, I could still get a decent engineering job somewhere and rebuild my life. These billionaires are truly worthless, not qualified or able to run a lemonade stand. They know if they lost it all, they would be begging for dollars on the side of the road. Why they fight so hard to rig the system.
I think the fear is that they know they’re absolutely fucking stupid rich and that it draws a target on their backs. Not that they’re going to lose it to general financial misfortune, they would have to be the worst sort of inept and self-destructive to actually wind up poor.
Like Trump selling sneakers and bibles.
Billionaires have class solidary. There is no reason if you’re working class/poor you shouldn’t do the same.
Cool, take note and tax the fuck out of them and their businesses and investments once Biden gets in.
Harold Hamm, not Howard. We did curls next to each other at the company gym once lol.
Not to be confused with Howard Hamlin
Probably good you weren’t doing curls with John Hamm. You would only be able to do a couple of reps before being distracted by his chiseled beauty.
Fucking traitors. They should be prosecuted.
Some Billionaires play with fire. Even Warren Buffett agrees that taxes have to rise on the ultra rich. That says a lot.
