Famous Billionaire Endorses Trump For President

By
David Rufful
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OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.

Former Disney boss, Ike Perlmutter, is backing Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.

The billionaire is planning to make a significant donation to support Trump’s run. Perlmutter has yet to decide how much he plans to donate, but said it will be “meaningful.”

Perlmutter is well known as the former chairman of Marvel Comics as well as the top executive for Disney.

This is a key endorsement from the former Disney executive who spends much of the year at his home in Florida under the governorship of Ron DeSantis, who is also running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Perlmutter has made his choice clear for Americans, according to his spokesman. In 2020, he donated $10.5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Perlmutter’s wife provided an additional $10.5 million to the same PAC to support Trump’s 2020 run.

During Trump’s time in the White House, Perlmutter acted as an outside advisor on issues related to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The megadonor has net worth of over $3 billion and is one of the wealthiest supporters of Trump’s 2020 campaign.

The donation will likely go to the “Make America Great Again” super PAC that supports Trump’s 2024 run.

The super PAC reported over $54 million so far and has spent over $19 million on advertisements. Many of these ads appear on television and digital platforms.

Trump holds a massive lead in the polls despite facing two federal indictments as well as his former vice president Mike Pence who is running against him. The 2024 Republican primary is shaping up to be unlikely any other in U.S. history.

Despite these obstacles, Trump has still managed to crush the Republican primary field in historic fashion. No other presidential candidate in U.S. history has held such a commanding lead this early in the primary season.

Averaging all polls, Trump is leading the GOP field by over 30 points, according to RealClearPolitics (RCP). The only other candidate receiving noticeable support is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but it remains significantly lower than support for Trump.

Trump maintains a strong lead in every key state, which includes Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. In each state, Trump’s lead is 23 points, 28 points, 30 points and 23 points, respectively.

This is based on recent polls conducted between June 10 and June 26.

Kyle Kondik, a nonpartisan polling analyst at the University of Virginia, said, “This GOP primary is truly unprecedented, because Trump is not technically an incumbent, but Republican voters seem to be treating him as at least a quasi-incumbent.”

“This primary is similar to 2016 in the sense that the field is large, meaning that it’ll be hard for a non-Trump to consolidate the non-Trump supporters,” Kondik continued.

GOP polling analyst Jon McHenry agreed with Trump’s unprecedented performance in the Republican primary. He even argued that Trump appears to be reshaping of the party.

“This really is a unique cycle, at least since we’ve used primaries and caucuses as the primary vehicle to nominate our presidential candidates,” McHenry began. “In that time, we haven’t had an incumbent president lose a reelection and run again, much less lead in the polls.”

“President Trump’s lead right now is in part a testament to the extent to which he reshaped the party from a conservative party to a populist party,” he added.

“With the New York charges in particular being seen as politically motivated and questionable legally — with a very different context than holding top secret documents in an unsecure location — the Republicans who might have been ready to move on to a fresh face have at least for now rallied back to the former president,” McHenry said.

“Is there a comparable election? Nope. And that’s fine,” Nathan Klein, pollster for OnMessage Inc., said. “The one thing Americans, and especially the GOP primary electorate, don’t want is to do things the way they have been done.”

John McLaughlin, CEO and partner of the polling firm McLaughlin & Associates, said Trump’s lead in the Republican primary is “historic.”

“Compared to Trump’s success — on the economy, on national security, on the border and other issues — Biden’s failures are glaring, and there’s really a lot of buyer’s remorse,” McLaughlin said. “President Trump is leading in the national popular vote, and Republicans have not seen that since 2004.”

“This is historic in multiple ways, but I think the epitome of it is that Joe Biden has indicted his political opponent, his leading political opponent — that’s never happened in American history. That’s what happens in communist countries,” McLaughlin continued.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung also acknowledged the unprecedented level of Trump’s performance in the polls. “President Trump continues to dominate in poll after poll — both nationally and statewide,” Cheung said. “He is the only person who is beating Joe Biden by significant margins because voters know President Trump’s return to the White House means a strong economy, a secure border, and a safer America.”