Elections used to be dominated by Wall Street donors. Not so much today, but fat rich men (and women) will play a big role in how long Nikki Haley stays in the race against Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Dew.
Haley’s somewhat bizarre quest to win the Republican nomination will require more money than votes from the party’s rank and file. What’s helping her stay in the race for so long is that perhaps even if she doesn’t win a single state, she can count on President Trump to counter in a way that makes her the nominee, people close to her say. The consultant agrees.
Haley’s dilemma, of course, is that she is a moderate in a populist party. The old country club guys, Wall Street executives and flea market owners are now a backroom caucus. Donald Trump’s MAGA movement has turned the Republican base into a “blue” group: blue-collar, anti-globalist, and obviously not pro-Wall Street.
He finances his campaigns with his (allegedly) vast wealth, but most of it comes from donations from these basic voters and what amounts to free ad buys, every time he says something crazy. This is due to the intensive media coverage.
For candidates like Ms. Haley to compete and hopefully outlive Ms. Donald, they need money from the non-populist but still cash-rich fat cat minority.
Will it work? I have a doubt. Indeed, she plans to launch a number of fundraisers in the coming weeks. She claims her super PAC raised about $50 million in the second half of 2023, surpassing Mr. Trump’s massive funding.
Haley’s pitch of being a one-to-one match for Biden over Trump appealed to the big donor base, as independents won’t vote for someone who is likely to be a convicted felon. It seems like it is. With all of these charges, there is a good chance that Trump could be sent to prison within the next few months. They should keep her playing and wait for his inevitable doom.
But not all of her money has swayed Republican voters. She lost to Trump in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, and if polls are correct, she will lose in her home state of South Carolina in February. Not exactly a good start for someone who wants to eventually become president.
Moreover, Wall Street will soon demand a return on its investment. Fat Cat’s cash comes with a number of strings attached. That’s where Haley’s greatest strength can quickly become her greatest weakness.
Remember, as all Republican polls show, basic voters don’t care whether Trump rules from a prison cell. They also think Trump will crush Biden. Big-money donors are worried about these polls. Some people have already left Haley. People like Home Depot founder and legendary investor Ken Langone would throw money away if Haley didn’t seem to be winning in her home state or any other state. I’m warning you not to.
And if Langone withdraws, the rest will follow.
Again, Haley said she was hanging in there until the very end, and so did Ron DeSantis. Last Sunday, I reported in X that, citing major donors, Trump’s lead was so insurmountable that the once Republican front-runner was on the verge of dropping out.
“We have already responded,” his campaign spokesperson emailed me. The representative further asserted that DeSantis participated until the end and was aiming for a two-way race with Trump even after Haley withdrew after suffering a crushing defeat in her home state.
Less than three hours later, DeSantis announced he was ending his campaign. reason? He was on board with it until big-money donors told him they weren’t going to throw away their money on a losing effort.
Like DeSantis, Haley will have to win state at some point. If she doesn’t, her “last shot” moment will end just like his, and probably sooner than she realizes.
New “Silverback”
In case you haven’t noticed, the former “Silverback” who led the meme stock army is no longer AMC’s Adam Aaron. As AMC’s stock price has fallen more than 99% from its all-time high, the theater chain’s talkative (and sometimes pompous) CEO has remained largely silent.
Fear not, meme stars, it looks like there’s a new silverback in town. Bill Pulte, scion of the famous Pulte family of residential architects.
Mr. Pulte, 35, the grandson of founder William J. Pulte, no longer participates in the management of the family business (though he is a majority shareholder). Rather, he runs a private equity shop, does a fair amount of philanthropy, and has become very active on social media, including defending meme investors who were slaughtered as the boom went down. He spews out various topics to his over 3 million X followers.
The question is why? Prut describes it as part of his philanthropic efforts. He said he wanted to “get answers and get transparency” from management about what went wrong.
Yes, the executives of these companies have their shortcomings (as we have reported on these pages), but they have warned us many times about the speculative nature of their stocks. Meanwhile, those who Mr. Pruitt claims to be defending have chosen to take the “advice” of fund raisers on social media, including Reddit’s Wall Street Bets forum, to criticize the financially troubled AMC. They tout $1,000 stocks, or Bed Bath & Beyond stock, as the next Apple. It was delisted and the company went bankrupt and was about to be liquidated.
Unreasonably excited by the steroids, the memestars were understandably devastated.
When I asked Pruitt during a Fox Business interview if he knew all this, he seemed unconvinced. “Please tell me a name or something… I don’t know who it is.” He then said that while he knew there were pump users on social media, “I don’t need specifics to hold anyone accountable.” He said he needed a unique name.
Sounds a little strange. My advice to Bill is that if you want to find out who is responsible for the meme losses, you need to know more about Reddit and fully understand its stock-buying practices.
