• Biden spokesperson Ammar Moussa says billionaires have flocked to Trump’s event due to tax preferences
• Polling suggests that RFK Jr is hurting Democrat candidate more than Republican challenger

Palm Beach (Flori­­da): Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign said a major fundraiser in Flori­da on Saturday raked in a massive $50.5 million as the former president seeks to replenish diminished coffers in his rematch against Democrat Joe Biden.

The event, his biggest fundraiser yet, is a much-needed boost for Trump, who has been routinely outraised by Biden and is in the midst of a financial squeeze due to ballooning lawyer fees and legal payouts from his criminal and civil court cases.

The dinner, hosted at billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Palm Beach home, will allocate a portion of the money to be raised to a fundraising group that has spent tens of millions of dollars on Trump’s legal fees.

While Trump has struggled to get some major traditional Republican donors on board, he retains the support of some heavy hitters. Co-hosts on Saturday, for example, include hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter and conservative activist Rebekah, investor Scott Bessent, and casino mogul Phil Ruffin, according to the fundraiser invitation.

“People are just wanting change. Rich people want it, poor people want it,” said Trump in comments ahead of the fundraiser, flanked by his wife Melania Trump, who has largely stayed away from the campaign trail so far.

Biden spokesperson Ammar Moussa said on social media site X that billionaires had flocked to Trump’s event due to tax preferences. “The ultra-wealthy are really mad at Joe Biden for making them pay their fair share,” he posted.

Paulson has been floated by Trump as a potential Treasury secretary, according to two sources. Bessent has also been floated for the role, one of those sources said.

In a statement on Saturday, Paulson said the “overwhelming support” at the dinner, which 100 guests were expected to attend, was a sign of enthusiasm for Trump.

Trump spoke for roughly 45 minutes, touching on the economy and the southern border with Mexico, fundraiser George Glass, Trumps former ambassador to Portugal, said. “He also talked a lot about the unification of the party.” The Republi­can candidate’s camp stressed the haul was double what Biden raised last month in an over $25 million star-studded fundraiser with Democratic former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

RFK Jr alarms Democrats

Armed with the most storied surname in US politics, Robert F. Kennedy’s wildcard shot for the presidency holds a clear and present danger for Joe Biden’s hopes of a second term in the White House.

The environmental law­yer and conspiracy theorist is boasting double-digit support, and polling suggests that independent candidate “RFK Jr” is hurting the president more than Republi­can challenger Donald Trump.

Democrats have learned to fear long-shot outsiders after George W. Bush and Donald Trump won tight elections in 2000 and 2016, buoyed by Green Party candidates leeching votes from Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.

“Hyper-polarisation is the reason that a third-party candidate with name recognition is such a threat at this time,” said Donald Nieman, a professor and political analyst at New York state’s Binghamton University.

“There are only six or seven truly competitive states, and some of those states will be decided by as few as 10-20,000 votes. So anything that siphons a group of usually reliable voters away could be a deciding factor.” Kennedy’s popularity — he is pulling around 10 per cent in election polling averages — complicates the strategy for the Biden campaign, which is seeking to make November’s vote a binary choice between the president and Trump.

Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic who has spread misinformation downplaying the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, has yet to secure ballot access in most of the country.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2024