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Trump was fund-raising off his conviction with small-dollar donors as well;
His campaign, which portrayed him as the victim of a politicized justice system, brought in nearly $53 million in the twenty-four hours after the verdict.
Several megadonors who had held back from endorsing Trump announced that they were now supporting him,
including 
#Miriam #Adelson, the widow of the late casino mogul #Sheldon Adelson; the Silicon Valley investor #David #Sacks, who said that the case against Trump was a sign of America turning into a “Banana Republic”; and the venture capitalist #Shaun #Maguire, who, less than an hour after the verdict, posted on X that he was donating $300,000 to Trump, 
calling the prosecution a “radicalizing experience.” 
A day later, #Timothy #Mellon, the banking-family scion, wrote a $50-million check to the Make America Great Again super pac.
#Ed #Rogers, a longtime G.O.P. lobbyist, had never publicly endorsed Trump or raised money for his campaigns.
On May 31st, the day after Trump’s conviction, he sent his first contribution to the ex-President. “There was no case to make that that was not targeted prosecution,” he told me.
He predicted that other Republicans who, like him, had been “allergic” to Trump would now get on board as well.
“I tell people I am a Bill Barr, Chris Sununu, Nikki Haley Republican,” he said, listing the names of Republican officials who had criticized Trump in blistering terms only to support him again in 2024;
Haley, despite having called Trump “unhinged” and a threat to the Republic, had announced the week before his conviction that she would vote for him.
“The choices are 
Biden or Trump, and I’m at peace with that,” Rogers said in June.
“I wish it was a different equation, but it’s not.”
️Many donors I spoke with at the time described 
Trump’s trial as an impetus,
but they tended to cite a litany of other reasons, too, including questions about Biden’s age and fitness to serve another term, concerns about his economic policies, and gripes about some of his appointees, such as the head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, who has launched high-profile antitrust investigations.
Trump, despite his populist rhetoric, deficit spending, and support for market-distorting tariffs,
has sold himself as a pro-business candidate.
He has promised extensive deregulation,
nearly unfettered drilling for oil and gas,
and tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals.
“A lot of the donors have just come to the conclusion that, when you add it all up,
the risks with Trump are behavioral
—personal behavior and what he says
—versus the policies,” the attendee at the Fifth Avenue fund-raiser told me.
It was a “rationalization” adopted by “even those who were initially very put off, very alienated, by his behavior at the end of his Presidency.”
By late May, Trump’s campaign had more money in the bank than Biden’s.
The incumbent President’s disastrous performance in a June 27th debate against Trump only accelerated the trend.
“After the debate, Biden looks like a loser,
so these people who were never going to give to Biden,
they’re now even more attracted to the idea of giving to former President Trump,”
the attendee at Fanjul’s dinner said.
“Because he looks like a winner.”
The following month, as Democratic donors and elected officials frantically pressured Biden to drop out of the race,
Trump and the Republicans again outraised the Democrats.
“The Zeitgeist in the business world is that Trump is going to be President again,”
a billionaire C.E.O. who is not a Trump supporter told me at the time.
“Therefore, why fall on your sword on principle?”
He added, “Businesspeople
—their main focus in life is to make money,
and you make money by backing winners. . . .
They’ve concluded, O.K., he’s going to be President,
let’s hold our nose and do what we have to do.”
Elon Musk and Donald Trump have reportedly been speaking together frequently in recent months,
and their bitterly reactionary politics obviously align.
Within days, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk was committing a remarkable
$45 million per month to "America PAC",
a new pro-Trump super PAC that would
also be supported by Palantir cofounder Joe #Lonsdale, Mark #Zuckerberg castoffs Tyler and Cameron #Winklevoss,
and several members of what’s sometimes called the Paypal mafia,
a right-wing network of tech industry leaders with Peter #Thiel as its presiding majordomo.
If, two years ago The New York Times could make the dubious claim that tech giants like Musk were hard to pin down politically, there is no room now for even that level of credulousness.
It’s official:
Silicon Valley has been fully MAGA-pilled, and the tech authoritarians are bringing their money with them.
Trump unveiled as his VP pick Ohio Senator J.D. #Vance, a former Thiel employee and venture capitalist who owes his election to the Senate to a $15 million campaign cash infusion from Thiel.
For the tech industry, whose rightward swerve has been hard to ignore this campaign cycle, the Vance selection was sensational.
“We have a former tech VC in the White House,” crowed Delian #Asparouhov, a partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund who once drew notice for sharing a comic by the neo-Nazi cartoonist known as StoneToss. “Greatest country on Earth baby.”
Musk, who had reportedly been agitating privately for Trump to choose Vance, celebrated the pick on X.
“Resounds with victory,” he wrote.
Vivek #Ramaswamy posted wistful, supportive remarks about being drinking buddies with Vance at Yale Law School.
Using the term of endearment favored by his fellow mega-rich “All-In” podcast hosts,
Chamath #Palihapitiya celebrated the news: “A Bestie adjacent as the VP?!?!?!”
Thiel, who is infamous for his stated aversion to democracy, has claimed that he is sitting out this election,
but his baton has been passed to a gaggle of ornery venture capitalists and tech CEOs whom you may recognize from their grievance-laden X posts: #Lonsdale, David #Sacks, Shaun #Maguire, Marc #Andreessen, et al.
They are all very rich and control a lot of capital beyond their own.
They are also wielding increasing influence over the Trump campaign: Sacks spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/silicon-valley-trump-support-donations/
Elon Musk’s X is apparently getting money from some pretty shady people.
A federal judge ordered Tuesday that a list of investors who helped fund Musk’s $44 billion takeover of X, formerly Twitter, in October 2022 be #unsealed.
Buried among the lengthy list of nearly 100 investors are several particularly troubling figures.
One entity listed is Sean Combs Capital, LLC—better known as #Sean “#Diddy” #Combs, the rapper who has been accused of rape, assault, forcible drugging, and even implicated in a sex trafficking operation.
“I don’t know if you know this, but #Puff is an investor in Twitter,” Musk said, using Combs’s nickname. “You know, he’s a good friend of mine, we text a lot.”
The list also includes several Silicon Valley entities run by billionaires like Musk himself and backing Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
One of the first names included is Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm run by #Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who recently announcedthat they were backing Trump in 2024.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the big issues that people care about,” Andreessen claimed, making clear that he was ignoring Trump’s platform on immigration and abortion, for a more favorable view on issues like crypto
—in which Andreessen and Horowitz claim to be some of the world’s largest investors.
Also on the list is Sequoia Capital, run by #Douglas #Leone and #Shaun #Maguire, who donated a whopping $1 million and $500,000 respectively to Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC, the #AmericaPAC, which is currently under investigation for the shady way it was collecting voter information.
Another investor is 8VC, a venture capitalist firm run by #Joe #Lonsdale, who also donated $1 million to Musk’s PAC in June.
Lonsdale is a co-founder of intelligence contractor and data analysis platform Palantir, which was also headed by Peter Thiel.
While it’s hardly surprising that Musk’s billionaire buddies are invested in his social media company, it’s clear that X is being heavily underwritten by the same individuals funding Trump’s campaign.
Also included on the list of investors is #Saudi #Prince #Al #Waleed #bin #Talal #Al #Saud, who has long had a stake in the social media company.
In 2015, bin Talal owned 5.2 percent of Twitter, more than the company’s co-founder Jack Dorsey
https://newrepublic.com/post/185174/elon-musk-x-investors-shadiest-people-diddy
Elon Musk’s new super PAC is 
️collecting scores of voters’ personal information ️under the guise of inviting them to register to vote, ️as part of his effort to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Earlier this month, #Musk denied reports that he would be donating $45 million a month to Trump’s campaign during an interview with right-wing commentator Jordan Peterson.
Instead, the technocrat clarified that he had created a new super PAC, called the #AmericaPAC.
Musk’s America PAC is a door-to-door canvassing operation,
which allows it to work in direct coordination with the Trump campaign, according to an FEC advisory from earlier this year.
This allows Musk, and his fellow Silicon Valley donors, to stick their hands
—and their cash
—right into the presidential race on Trump’s behalf.
How exactly they plan to do this is even more disturbing.
The America PAC has launched a series of digital ads using the image of Trump’s assassination,
to invite people browsing Google to “register to vote,” CNBC reported Friday. In states where the outcome is certain, such as California, the ads actually do direct them to a voter registration site.
But in key battleground states, users are directed to a very different page,
which prompts them to enter their phone number, address, and age.
Once complete, users are then greeted by a “Thank You” page, 
with no actual link to voter registration in sight.
Musk’s America PAC has poured $800,000 into digital advertisements
to target voters in the key battleground states of
Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,
according to AdImpact.
The information collected from user responses to this ad campaign will inform the PAC’s canvassing efforts in those states.
Musk’s America PAC has already attracted the financial support of a few Silicon Valley billionaires.
Douglas #Leone and Shaun #Maguire, general partners at Sequoia Capital, donated a whopping $1 million and $500,000 respectively, according to The American Prospect.
(Their V.C. firm is also an investor in Musk’s SpaceX.)
Joe #Lonsdale, one of the co-founders of the military contractor Palantir, donated $1 million in June.
Palantir was founded by Peter #Thiel, who helped to fund J.D. Vance’s start in politics.
Apparently, Musk’s plan for the America PAC is already off to a rough start.
After spending at least $15 million with In Field Strategies, a field vendor that organizes canvassers,
the PAC ended its relationship with the company, two people familiar told The New York Times.
It’s unclear what happened to that money, and now, more than 100 canvassers who had been hired by In Field on America PAC’s behalf in mid-June have been left scattered across the country, looking for work.
The PAC will now have to scramble to mount its canvassing campaign before early voting can begin, according to the Times.
Trump campaign manager Chris #LaCivita called the Times report “more fake news …
the New Program 100% better than the old gang. Solidly support this effort,” in a post on X.
https://newrepublic.com/post/184517/terrifying-way-elon-musk-stealing-peoples-data-help-trump
Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris
“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy #Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn.
Aaron #Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”
The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump.
The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.
Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right.
On Tuesday, Mr. #Andreessen 
and Mr. #Horowitz, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. #Musk had also endorsed Mr. Trump.
They had been preceded by David #Sacks and Chamath #Palihapitiya, two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug #Leone and Shaun #Maguire of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.
Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs #Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm.
“By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
John #Coogan, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.”
Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.
“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. #Khosla said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.”
Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated.
Mr. #Mehta said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India.
To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said.
Mr. #Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy.
“You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.
Mr. #Levie of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November.
He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers.
“We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr. #Hoffman endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. #Khosla called for an open process at the Democratic convention.
Mr. #Suster said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.”
He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump.
The moral bankruptcy of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz
Two of Silicon Valley’s famous venture capitalists make the case for backing Trump:
-- 
that their ability to make money is the only value that matters.
Last week, the founders of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz declared their allegiance to Donald Trump in their customary fashion:
talking about money on a podcast.“Sorry, Mom,” Ben Horowitz says in an episode of The Ben & Marc Show. “I know you’re going to be mad at me for this. But, like, we have to do it.”
Marc #Andreessen and #Horowitz insist they voted for Democrats until now. They are friends with liberals. They claim to be nervous about the social blowback they will receive for this, especially because of the historically progressive nature of the tech industry and the Bay Area.
But given the general movement among their class toward Trump, I think those claims about being nervous are overblown, if not performative.
There is, for instance, Elon #Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC, which has support from Sequoia Capital’s Shaun #Maguire and 8VC’s Joe #Lonsdale, among other notables.
(The Wall Street Journal reported Musk is planning to donate $45 million a month -- which Musk has denied.)
There’s the $160 million the #crypto movement has put forward in support of crypto-friendly candidates.
We can’t forget their VC pal David #Sacks speaking at the Republican National Convention.
And last but not least, there’s Trump’s running mate choice of JD #Vance, a former venture capitalist whose firm’s investors included Peter #Thiel, Eric #Schmidt, and Andreessen himself.
This isn’t a movement. It’s a clique.
The podcast itself is an extraordinary performance.
At one point, Andreessen concedes that their major problems with President Joe Biden
— the ones that led them to support Trump
— are what most voters would consider “subsidiary” issues.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the big issues that people care about,” he says.
If we take this podcast at face value, we are to believe that these subsidiary issues are the only reason they’ve chosen to endorse and donate to Trump.
️These subsidiary issues take precedence for Andreessen and Horowitz over, say, mass deportations and Project 2025’s attempt to end no-fault divorce.
️We are looking at a simple trade against personal liberty
— abortion, the rights of gay and trans people, and possibly democracy itself
— in favor of crypto, AI, and a tax policy they like better
https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24204706/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-a16z-trump-donations
Musk, other pro-Trump billionaires have helped shape shooting narrative
A chorus of right-leaning tech and business leaders, led by X owner Elon Musk, used their online megaphones in the wake of Saturday’s attack to
criticize the Secret Service’s diversity initiatives,
condemn Democratic donor Reid Hoffman,
and make unsubstantiated allegations about the shooting.
The claims by powerful business leaders with large online followings helped influence the direction of platform itself,
as well as the storylines viewed by millions of people.
Musk’s post endorsing Trump after the shooting received the most engagement of any post on X related to the attempted assassination,
said Graham Brookie, the Atlantic Council’s vice president for technology programs and strategy.
The post received more than 118 million views and 332,000 retweets,
surpassing a post from Barack Obama that said there was
“no place” for violence in democracy.
By Saturday night, the terms “Deep State” and “antifa” were among the top trending topics across X, formerly known as Twitter.
Members of #Musk’s inner circle, including venture capitalists David #Sacks and Shaun #Maguire, have thrown their weight behind Trump in recent months,
but Musk appeared to hold out.
Like Ackman, he supported Biden in 2020, and the shift from both men underscores how significantly the political landscape in business and tech has transformed in just a few short years.
Musk, turning to a familiar refrain of his, appeared to point the finger for the security breach at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts
— amplifying a post that ridiculed the U.S. Secret Service’s director for what it called
“diversity hires.”
The argument is being made on many right-wing political accounts, which have also called out individual female secret service agents.
Musk had previously directed that argument at the airline industry, drawing condemnation over the insinuation that diversity efforts left the skies less safe, news outlets reported. “It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE,” Musk wrote, in what appeared to be a deliberate misspelling.
Ed Balls kicks Susanna Reid in the head on Good Morning Britain | ITV News | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/jan/17/ed-balls-kicks-susanna-reid-in-the-head-on-good-morning-britain
#EdBalls
#Balls
#SusannaReid
#Reid
#Violence
#PublicTransport
#GoodMorningBritain
#SocialMedia
#DailyMail
#Maguire
#Mirror
#Pierce
Should be sent off. #Maguire
OTD 4th September 1607 the Flight of the Earls. Not a great day for some of us Maguires. #OTD #Maguire #Fermanagh #LoughSwilly #Rathmullan #Ulster #FlightOfTheEarls #Chieftains #CúChonnachtÓgMágUidhir #ONeill #ODonnell #Mastodaoine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Earls
Not the best of starts for #manutd
