While former President Donald Trump got a fundraising boost last year after he was indicted, the GOP 2024 presidential candidate frontrunner’s campaign wallet has become a bit light recently. So light that he met with Elon Musk over the weekend.
According to The New York Times, Trump met with Musk – the second richest man in the world as of the time this article was being written, per the Forbes ‘Real-Time Billionaires List’ – and other wealthy donors on Sunday in Palm Beach. It cited “three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion.”
After the article was published, Musk posted this to X: “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President,” referring to Trump and current President Joe Biden.
What’s up with Trump’s donations?
Last month, the Associated Press reported that campaign finance reports showed Trump raised an “anemic” $13.8 million in January. It also said that the campaign spent more than it took in, likely to pay for bills related to four indictments he faced last year, as well as other legal troubles.
“Donald Trump’s legendary ability to raise massive sums of political cash may be on a collision course with a new and unpleasant reality,” said the AP.
This week, Newsweek also reported that donations to a GoFundMe page set up to pay for Trump’s civil fraud fine have slowed down. Since it was first launched by Elena Cardone, the wife of real estate businessman Grant Cardone, the page has raised more than $1 million. However there still isn’t enough to cover the $355 Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay for committing fraud.
“Mr. Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he heads into an expected general election against President Biden,” said The New York Times report.
What’s up with Biden’s donations?
As Trump’s fundraising prowess wobbles, Biden’s fundraising story is looking rosier, according to CNN.
According to campaign officials cited by the outlet, the president raised at least $42 million for his reelection campaign and the Democratic Party in February. These officials said these funds came from grassroots campaigning, which they said demonstrates under-appreciated enthusiasm for Biden.
Recently, some polls have indicated that voters are not happy for the expected Trump-Biden rematch in November.
“Biden campaign officials told CNN that last month’s grassroots fundraising included nearly $2 million in grassroots donations on the final day of the month, February 29,” said the report. “That marked the campaign’s second strongest grassroots fundraising day of the cycle so far, following the official launch of the Biden reelection operation on April 25.”
How does Musk fit into this?
Although Biden’s campaign had a successful fundraising month, Wall Street Journal poll results released this week showed that 47% of voters would pick Trump compared to his 45% if the presidential election was held now.
Both men still have to work to convince undecided voters, something experts who joined Audacy this week said will be an expensive endeavor.
“Trump’s diminished cashflow presents an alarming picture of the overwhelming favorite to be the GOP’s presidential nominee, particularly to would-be donors who aren’t eager to subsidize Trump’s legal challenges,” said the Associated Press.
Musk said he wouldn’t donate to either candidate. He has been critical of both in the past, but The New York Times noted that Musk has made it clear that he’s leaning more Republican. When he took over Twitter (now X) last year, he reinstated Trump’s account (which was suspended after the Capitol Riot).
“Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Musk to allies and hopes to have a one-on-one meeting with the billionaire soon, according to a person who has discussed the matter with Mr. Trump,” said the Times.
In the wake of the report, Musk made X posts that appeared critical of Democrats.
“Until the loss of votes from ushering in vast numbers of illegal immigrants exceeds the likely gain of votes over time (as they are gradually legalized), the Democratic Party has a strong incentive to maximize illegal immigration,” he said in one post. In another, he criticized proposed border legislation.
Musk also said this week that he hopes “more people like Marty [O’Donnell] run for office.” O’Donnell is a retired composer who is running for office in Nevada as a Republican.
“The person close to Mr. Musk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that if he does get behind Mr. Trump, his views about immigration will have been a significant motivator,” said the Times report. It also said aides for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.