Herd Animals and The Venality of Evil
I warned you Republican donors would go home to Trump.
“I’m going to need things from him.”
“Come on, this time, he’ll be normal.”
“My company does business with the Department of X.”
“Look, it’s either him or communism.”
“I need another tax cut…”
I could go on, but the litany above will become very familiar in a few months as Republican donors swallow their enormous pride and, as they say in donorland, “reengage” with Donald Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign and its constellation of SuperPACs.
One of the cherished illusions by the GOP monied class since 2015 is that they could force an alternate to Trump.
Now, they’re coming home to their master.
Given the continued stagnation of the GOP primary field, I’ve been watching for the signs for a few weeks now. Somehow, the DeSantis campaign’s colossal, utterly absurd burn rate on private jets for Duchess Casey of Tallahassee, his staggeringly anti-charisma, and his off-putting affect just didn’t work out. Even his massive staff of alt-reich dipshits, skells, and incel meme lords couldn’t turn DeSantis into a marketable political product. Tim Scott is polling 4th in his home state. Mike Pence is…well, you know. As for the rest, it’s clowns, noise, static, and scammers. They’re done.
Consider the following stories from the last month:
‘Get in the Game’: G.O.P. Candidates Plead Their Case to Major Donors
Trump Challengers Are Begging For Money, But Big Donors Aren’t Giving
That was the freeze-out phase.
The Iowa caucus is racing toward us, and the top candidates are focused on that contest in forlorn hope of a miracle. Remember, kids, Iowa is the LEAST predictive early state for Republican primaries. Just ask Iowa's last three GOP winners: Presidents Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz.
They need gas in the tank, and they’re not getting it. The knock-on dollars from the beginning of the quarter from major donors are likely the last major tranches of money these folks will see.
Then came the turn.
Trump-skeptical rainmakers are taking another look at Trump from Matt Dixon and Katherine Doyle and Brian Schwartz, and Jonathan Allen (which is a damn political money-reporting dream team, right there) was the sign spoor on the forest floor I was seeking.
This is the phase where the men and women in major donor circles suddenly forget that they swore that they and Trump were never, ever, ever getting back together. The article clarifies that donors to Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley et al. are now stroking checks to Donald Trump.
The Trigger Event
The money will trickle until it floods. Remember, these major donors are herd animals. They move as one. They’re poised. They’re ready. In the coming year, Trump will likely raise around $200-300 million from these men and women. His team knows how to demand now.
The flood starts the minute Trump wins Iowa or South Carolina. Some media and political folks will try to slap the paddles onto the campaign’s chest a few times to keep the race going into March, but once Trump wins one big one, the preference cascade goes very swiftly.
The Why
They’re not sporting the red hats in public quite yet, but they will. For all their cultural and social loathing of Trump, they and their donor advisors know two big things about the former President. And yes, they loathe Trump.
First, he’s vindictive as hell. They know that Trump will demand twice whatever they gave Tiny Ron or Tim Scott. If they stay on the sidelines too long, the price goes up. If they don’t publically fellate him, the price goes up.
Next is a simple point; these people are partly who they — wealthy, immune to most economic pressures, and essentially above the law — are because of the sweeping power of regulatory and political capture. GOP megadonors get their problems legislated or regulated into oblivion. They understand the purely transactional nature of MAGA capitalism, namely, kleptocracy.
They know if they give, they get. They know if they don’t, they get punished.
It’s the freakshow mirror of the free market the old GOP preached. Lobbyists, friendly regulators, captive legislators, and an army of eager political, media and public relations consultants thrive off the largesse of this donor community.
The system works very well for them, and even if the President is a madman, a criminal, and an insurrectionist, they truly believe they’ll get what they want.
It’s not just transactional.
It’s the venality of evil.
All that money and zero give-a-shit for democracy. May they rot under the weight of Mango Mussolini’s bloated corpse when the reaper finally, mercifully comes his way.
So, so depressing and true.