Republican billionaires will tolerate a dictatorship while Democratic billionaires want to recapture our democracy. That’s why the Democratic National Committee ended June with more than $2 million in debt while the Republican National Committee held $129 million. The RNC has also outpaced Democrats in the rush for cash leading into the midterm elections, holding a nearly $100 million advantage.
Of the roughly 800 U.S. billionaires on the Forbes list, approximately 300 -350 lean Democratic and 250-300 lean Republican. Yet, of the $1.9 billion spent on federal campaigns by the richest Americans, $1.36 billion went to support Republicans while about $700 million supported Democratic. Specifically:
- Elon Musk spent about $277 million on Trump’s presidential campaign and PACs that support him,
- Timothy Mellon’s $165–197 million political donations went overwhelmingly to Republicans that support Trump.
- The vast majority of Miriam Adelson’s $132 million donation went to Trump’s presidential campaign, Republican super PACs, GOP candidates and his self-glorifying construction projects.
- Ken Griffin and Stephen Schwarzman who initially distanced themselves from Trump gave substantial sums to support him after he was nominated.
Most Republican billionaire donations went to support Trump’s efforts, while Democratic billionaires spent more on the public good.
For example, Republican billionaire money is helping Trump:
- Fix election outcomes (he’s already trying),
- Control the judiciary (they already control the Supreme Court),
- Consolidate full government control in Trump,
- Continue to weaponize the DOJ against Trump critics and political opponents, and
- Abolish freedom of the press by
- Allowing Trump loyalists to buy news outlets. Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post,
- Controlling online platforms. Elon Musk bought Twitter,
- Using bogus Lawsuits to extract monetary settlements from the press.
- Funding cuts to Public Broadcasting,
- Blocking multi-billion-dollar deals that media companies need to survive.
- Exchanging political favor for the surrendering editorial independence.
In contrast, Democratic billionaires such as George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and Reid Hoffman funded causes such as expanding voter registration, protecting voting rights, environmental policy, gun safety, and public education.
Although these causes benefit Americans more than what Republican billionaires are funding, it’s urgent that Democratic billionaires start more heavily funding projects that arrest Trump’s path to dictatorship. There’s plenty more they can fund, such as:
- Stronger messaging, for example messaging that directly shames Trump-enabling Republicans,
- Legal defense for journalists facing retaliatory lawsuits so Trump can’t bully them into settling.
- Injunctions that prevent election interference,
- Real-time public factchecking during Trump and other GOP misleading public addresses.
- Reviving local newspapers that have disappeared to:
- Inform locals on the issues that impact their lives,
- Motivate civic engagement and higher voter turnout,
- Reduce reliance on misinformation on social media,
- Fund local election campaigns of Democrats. (Republicans have been funding their candidates for decades.)
Why do Republican billionaires fund policies that enrich them, like tax cuts and less business regulation, and Democratic billionaires mostly fund causes for the public good?
Republican billionaires argue that lower taxes encourage economic growth and more jobs. But history paints a very different picture. Starting with President Reagan, every Republican administration cut taxes and promised that it would spur economic and job growth. It didn’t do either. Instead it resulted in record deficits and U.S. Treasury debt. And the cuts benefitted mostly the top 20% of earners. Shamefully, the Republican tax law requires Medicare and Medicaid cuts. That means lower earners will suffer lower take-home income.
The best way to throttle the path to a dictatorship is for Democrats to recapture both majorities in Congress. But first, Democrats need to stop Trump from rigging the midterms. Here’s how.
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