Despite suffering a heartbreaking loss in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley has more than a dozen fundraisers scheduled between now and the South Carolina primary, but insiders are now One wonders how many of the blunders are actually committed.
On January 30th in New York City, billionaires including Leonard Stern, Cliff Asness, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ken Langone and Henry Kravis attended an event for the former South Carolina governor. is co-hosted.
Silicon Valley mogul Tim Draper will host Hailey in Atherton, California, on February 6, according to an invitation seen by On the Money. Haley will also be celebrated in Dallas on February 15th by real estate mogul Harlan Crowe.
Haley will attend other fundraisers from Greenville, South Carolina to Houston to San Antonio, with organizers including real estate mogul Ross Perot Jr. and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife Cecilia. – Includes Attias, Susan Rockefeller, Republican strategist Karl Rove's wife Karen, and former presidents. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), according to an invitation obtained by On the Money.
This is despite Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, trailing Trump by 30 points in her home state of South Carolina.
Many donors acknowledge that Haley's chances of winning the nomination are slim to none, but for billionaires with deep pockets, supporting Haley means she could cause an upset. Impressing friends at a cocktail party may be more important than betting on something, some people say.
In fact, for some hedge fund managers and venture capitalists, it's far more important to show their friends that they tried to stop Trump than to actually bet on a winning horse, the source added. .
The sources added that Haley's band activists see their support as a kind of “vanity project” to show support for centrist candidates, and that the cash outlay is due to rounding errors in their bank accounts. They point out that it has not even become a reality.
But other sources say some event organizers believe Haley has no chance of winning and are reconsidering whether a bad result is worth spending big money on.
“They want to honor her and not cancel the next day, so we don't know what's going to happen in the next few days,” one source said. But on the other hand, “This is a weird dance where people are figuring out how to make sure no one gets upset.
“Some of these people hate Trump to their core, but they are also some of the most sophisticated and successful Americans…and they know when it's time to break up.” added another source.
Last week, Ken Langone said of Haley, “Even if she doesn't get support in New Hampshire, she's not going to throw money down a rat hole.”
However, he stopped short of saying that he would withdraw from the fundraiser if he was disappointed with her performance. As of Wednesday, the Jan. 30 event in New York is proceeding as planned.
Part of the new calculation includes avoiding the wrath of former President Trump, who is now expected to win the nomination and potentially become president again.
The situation is made worse by the fact that Haley won't necessarily win the nomination if Trump resigns. Delegates to the party convention will ultimately decide and vote on a successor. Rather than choosing a centrist candidate like Haley, they may choose someone who supports MAGA policies.
On the Money previously reported that while Ms. Haley garnered support from Republican kingmakers like the Koch brothers, some wealthy Democratic donors also quietly poured cash into her campaign. It was reported.
Insiders said wealthy participants viewed the unusual diversion of funds as an “opposition campaign” against President Trump's reelection. Haley raised $24 million in the last three months of 2023.
Other fundraiser organizers include hedge fund managers, venture capitalists, law firm partners like Kirkland Ellis and Paul Weiss, and former and current executives from Meta, Google, and UBS. .
Kristin Lemkau, CEO of JPMorgan Chase's wealth management division, is also participating in the New York fundraiser for Haley. Last year, her boss, Jamie Dimon, encouraged people on Wall Street to support Nikki Haley. Recently, he has defended many of Donald Trump's policies, saying they are “right in a sense.”
