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.
“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).