There is talk among the GOP’s biggest donors that they are already looking ahead to 2024 and the possibility that the party would nominate someone other than President Trump.
Some Republican business titans, many of whom rejected Trump in the run-up to the 2016 elections, have redoubled their efforts to loosen his grip on the party in the wake of the midterm election results, which were disastrous for candidates favored by Trump.
They also take heart from the fact that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, easily won reelection.
Several prominent Republicans have come out in support of DeSantis, despite his opposition to Trump.
The head of a billion-dollar hedge fund, Ken Griffin, who was the third-largest donor to either party in this election cycle, has publicly denounced Trump. On Tuesday, he said the previous president should make way for DeSantis since he was a “three-time loser.”
Griffin also emphasized the success of DeSantis’ “winning strategies” in transforming Florida from a purple state into a solidly Republican one during his presentation at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
Griffin added, “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,” referring to the GOP’s losses in the Senate races in both Georgia and this year.
Griffin, the state of Illinois’ wealthiest inhabitant, has lately stated that he will be relocating his company, Citadel, to Florida. If Griffin decides to run for office, it wouldn’t be unexpected if he helped fundraise for DeSantis.
According to publicly available documents, New York billionaire Andy Sabin supported Jeb Bush during the 2016 primaries but afterwards donated $100,000 to the Trump Victory fund. Sabin then donated an additional $120,000 to Trump’s re-election effort.
But he has moved on from Trump.
Sabin told CNBC, “I’m not going to give [Trump] a f***ing nickel,” implying that the former president was to blame for the failure of the GOP’s red wave. According to the businessman, Trump “supported politicians who were not necessarily competent until they said ‘I love you, Donald.'”
“People stayed away because of Trump,” Sabin said, adding that he would back Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a run for president in 2024.
Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, reportedly told friends that he would support DeSantis in a presidential bid, despite hosting a fundraiser at his Hamptons home for Donald Trump in advance of the 2020 election.
Ross, whose Related Companies owns Equinox and SoulCycle, has given more than $200,000 to a political action committee backing DeSantis this year. Ross is not a lifelong Trump devotee and never has been. He admitted to having conflicting feelings about Trump in 2020.
The President and I go way back. I liked him while I knew him. There are several of his policies that I disagree with. “I believe there’s a lot of good and I believe there’s a lot of terrible,” Ross told the New York Times.
