The billionaires Trump is relying on to fund his White House run

Donald Trump, who rose to political power fuelled by grassroots contributors giving in small increments, is now reliant on wealthy backers, including billionaires Elon Musk and Miriam Adelson, to underwrite his third White House bid.

The former president’s political operation has raised nearly twice as much money — $US514.7 million ($773 million) — from donors giving $US1 million or more to super political action committees, compared to the $US260 million his campaign has raised from small-dollar donors giving $US200 or less, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.

The master of small-dollar fundraising, who’s cumulatively raised more money from modest donors than any other politician in history, is losing his touch, the filings show. He brought in only about one-third of the $US321 million Vice President Kamala Harris raised from people giving less than $US200 a pop, third-quarter filings with the FEC show. That enormous sum helped Harris and the Democratic Party raise a record-shattering $US1.1 billion for the quarter, more than double what Trump and the Republicans raised during that period.

Changes to Facebook’s rules for targeting political advertisements have hobbled Trump’s ability to wring cash from its users as effectively as he did during his rise to the White House. Campaigns can no longer directly target followers with fundraising appeals, nor target users by political views, making it harder and more expensive to prospect for contributors.

The switch from grassroots support to billionaire donors also shows how Republican mega-donors have embraced Trump as he has transitioned from party outsider to the GOP standard-bearer. The former president has also brought in new donors, including Musk, who are relative newcomers to political circles.

The Democrats’ fundraising edge over their Republican rivals means they’ve entered the final — and most expensive stretch — of the campaign with $US63 million more in the bank. Harris is also spending more: $US826 million in the third quarter compared to just $US340 million for Trump.

The massive spending advantage managed to cut Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics average of battleground state polls to a fraction of a per cent by October 1, and the two head into the final two weeks of the campaign deadlocked.

Trump has outsourced his ground game, as well as much of his advertising efforts, to super PACs that support him. Fuelled by eight-figure donations from Tesla and SpaceX’s Musk, Las Vegas Sands majority shareholder Adelson, former Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac Perlmutter and his wife Laura Perlmutter and investor Timothy Mellon, four pro-Trump super PACs combined to rake in $US337 million in the third quarter, more than the $US218 million raised by super PACs whose spending is predominantly aimed at supporting Harris over the same period.

Billionaire donors

Recent donations to boost Trump’s super PACs include another $US25 million from Mellon, bringing his total donations to the super PAC to $US150 million. The PAC also received $US5 million donations from Linda McMahon, the co-chairwoman of Trump’s transition team, and former Primerica co-chief executive officer John Addison. Harold Hamm and his company, Continental Resources Inc., each chipped in $US1 million.

Harris’ campaign launched an initial $US370 million paid media campaign in August, about 10 days after she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket following President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek a second term. She’s also invested heavily in thousands of paid staffers in hundreds of field offices in battleground states. She’s outspending Trump and his allies in most swing states.

The big cheques backing Harris are largely coming from donors who don’t want their identities known. Future Forward, the main super PAC supporting her, raised $US104 million in September, with $US40 million coming from its allied political nonprofit, Future Forward USA Action, which doesn’t disclose the names of its donors.

The super PAC received $US9 million from a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, Evidence For Impact. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz donated $US10 million, while Ripple Labs co-founder Christian Larsen gave $US9.9 million.

Bloomberg

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