Trump Lashes Out as a Powerful Network of Donors Disappears
Former President Donald Trump has lashed out in anger after a network of wealthy Republican donors indicated they will not be supporting his 2024 presidential bid.
Trump, in a Truth Social post on Thursday, ripped The Wall Street Journal as “globalists” for reporting earlier this week about the conservative group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) urging Republicans to turn away from Trump and “write a new chapter” in 2024.
The former president insisted that he did not want donations from the group, which was founded by conservative billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David Koch in 2004, while repeating false claims that his 2020 election loss was due to the contest being “rigged” against him.
“The Globalist Street Journal, in a recent article, said the Koch (missing!) ‘Network,’ which doesn’t understand that 2020 was Rigged, and that I was 233 Wins out of 253 races in the 2022 Midterms, won’t be supporting me this time around,” Trump wrote.
“THEY NEVER DID SUPPORT ME,” he continued. “And I don’t want their support, even though David Koch was, before his passing, a very happy member of my Clubs {as are other Koch family members}. They are Globalists who want cuts to Social Security, Medicare, & worse. No Thanks…..”
Mario Tama; BrianAJackson
Trump said in an additional Truth Social post that Charles Koch had told donors that AFP had “made more progress in the past 5 years (because of ‘Trump’) than I’ve made in the previous 50.”
In a memo made public on Sunday, AFP CEO Emily Seidel lamented that the Republican Party had recently been “nominating bad candidates” who were “advocating for things that go against core American principles.”
While the memo did not mention Trump by name, Seidel urged conservatives to “turn the page on the past” and support a 2024 presidential candidate “who represents a new chapter.”
It is unclear who AFP will back for president in 2024. Trump is the only Republican to have formally entered the race, although former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is expected to announce her candidacy next week.
Former Vice President Mike Pence—who may be considering a run—reportedly has “ties” with the group, which has at times had financial resources that exceed those of the Republican National Committee, according to The New York Times.
In addition to AFP and Koch, a number of other wealthy GOP donors have also recently indicated that they will be turning their backs on Trump.
Conservative anti-tax group Club for Growth, which supported Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, earlier this week conspicuously left the former president’s name off the guest list for the organization’s annual donor retreat.
Trump raged over the slight in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, calling the group the “Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers.”
Republican megadonors and Trump 2016 backers Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer, have also indicated that they will not be supporting the former president in 2024, preferring a potential run by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis instead, according to CNBC.
Newsweek has reached out to AFP for comment.