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Fast Company
07-08-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How crypto billionaires took over Trump's political machine
Last week, President Donald Trump's super PAC revealed that it has an unsettling amount of cash on hand for a president who is, his occasional musings to the contrary notwithstanding, constitutionally ineligible to run for a third term in office. According to a midyear report filed with the Federal Election Commission, MAGA Inc. is sitting on nearly $200 million, a sum that includes a shade over $175 million collected just in the past six months. Unless collections fall off a cliff in the second half of the year, Trump should enter 2026 with well over a quarter-billion dollars to spend on the midterm elections—a war chest that would make him not only the Republican Party's unquestioned standard-bearer but also perhaps its deepest-pocketed financier for the foreseeable future. Many of the donors to MAGA Inc. would likely donate to any Republican president: real estate developers, oil and gas companies, firearms manufacturers, Wall Street banks, allegedly crooked mortgage brokers, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and so on. Others made what proved to be prudent investments in their relationships with Trump, who has long viewed the presidency as a tool for rewarding loyal friends and punishing perceived enemies. A Florida personal injury attorney nominated by Trump as the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, for example, gave $500,000; an investor who now serves on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board gave $250,000. Longtime Trump donors Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company owns the New York Stock Exchange, and his wife, former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, gave a cool $2.5 million apiece in June. In a wild coincidence, Trump announced that he would appoint Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration six months earlier. But the most notable collection of names—and some of the biggest numbers—are associated with the cryptocurrency industry, which has, in another wild coincidence, netted Trump and his family hundreds of millions of dollars since he took office in January. Foris Dax, which does business as gave MAGA Inc. $10 million. Tools for Humanity, better known as World Network or Worldcoin (and cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman), chipped in $5 million, as did Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose eponymous Silicon Valley firm has invested heavily in crypto projects (including Tools for Humanity), combined to donate $6 million. The Winklevoss twins and their crypto exchange, Gemini Trust Company, donated a total of nearly $4 million. (Tyler donated about $15,000 more in his name than his brother, Cameron, which is how you can tell them apart.) All told, crypto and crypto-adjacent interests have contributed at least $40 million to MAGA Inc. so far this year. This figure does not include $5 million from Elon Musk, whose companies hold crypto assets worth billions of dollars. Despite his extremely funny public falling-out with Trump, Musk evidently still knows what's best for business: On June 27, he ponied up $5 million to the man who more or less just gave him the boot. The steady flow of cash to Trump's political machine is a peek at the struggle for control of the movement Trump created—not necessarily now, when he is both president of the United States and the leader of the Republican Party, but over the next 24 months or so, as his term winds down and he prepares to return to Mar-a-Lago for good. Everyone involved here understands that it is not only the current White House that is for sale, but also the future of a party that has really not had an identity apart from Trump, a 79-year-old man who is decompensating before our eyes, for a decade now. Many of the people who are giving to MAGA Inc. are roughly analogous to investors racing to get in on the ground floor of a promising startup: For anyone who can foot the bill, the chance to own even a sliver of one of this country's two major political parties is too valuable to pass up. And because the first six months of Trump's second administration have been so good for the crypto industry, its wealthier-than-ever luminaries have been among the most aggressive early buyers of (even more) political influence. They envision the country as a nascent Silicon Valley plutocracy, and themselves as its leaders—equal parts fabulously wealthy oligarchs, industry-friendly regulators, and currency revolutionaries on the verge of making fiat money obsolete. Wealthy people have always been able to buy power in Washington, D.C., but rarely have they been this comfortable being this obvious about it. Part of the challenge with gauging the value of these investments is that there is basically no precedent for them. Super PACs have only been around since 2010, after the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opened the floodgates to unlimited political spending by megacorporations and the billionaires who run them. As a result, President Barack Obama is the only other term-limited president who has ever raised money under the same circumstances, and at the time his supporters plainly did not perceive the same value in continuing to write checks: Again, over the past six months, MAGA Inc. has raked in around $175 million. As The New York Times notes, during the same period in 2013, the primary super PAC affiliated with Obama raised a grand total of $356,000. Generally, candidates from the same party as a sitting president face a tougher road to victory in the midterm elections that follow—a dynamic that is especially salient when a president whose approval rating was already dropping is also trying to fend off persistent questions about the nature of his friendship with the nation's most famous child sex abuser. But the fact that Trump will be the GOP's de facto kingmaker in 2026 will make it very challenging for Republican candidates to break with him on the campaign trail, to the extent that any Republican candidates would have interest in doing so in the first place. If you want to win a primary, you cannot afford to pass up Trump's money—or, worse yet, to do something to make him angry, such that he starts giving to your more enthusiastically MAGA opponent instead. What I am saying here is that the Republican candidates trying to win in purple districts next fall—and, in all likelihood, the serious contenders vying for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028—are not going to be traditional conservatives trying to appeal to swing voters with promises of limited government and lower taxes. They are going to be Trump acolytes steeped in X clips and manosphere content who promise to do his and his donors' bidding. Trump's dominance of the modern GOP has also come at the expense of what remains of the Republican establishment, whose leaders on Capitol Hill are now dealing with the consequences of having long ago ceded control of the party to a made-for-TV businessman who has never cared about its long-term success outside the context of his own political and financial fortunes. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House, had around $33 million in cash on hand as of June 30, and the GOP-affiliated Senate analogue came in just behind it, at $29.7 million. If you're doing the math at home, this means that the combined spending power of the Republican lawmakers trying to preserve their majorities in the House and Senate is about one-third the spending power of the party's outgoing president. The only group with anywhere close to as much money as MAGA Inc., The Times reports, is Fairshake, a super PAC backed by—you guessed it—the crypto industry. In other words, Republican candidates can take crypto industry cash funneled through MAGA Inc., or directly from its super PAC. But they are taking that money either way, and dealing with whatever strings come attached to it. For several years now, there has been an open question about what will happen to the Republican Party once Trump, for one reason or another, is no longer in control of it: whether it will revert to the establishment conservatives Trump has rendered all but irrelevant, or whether it will continue as a cult of personality propped up by a coalition of bigots, billionaires, and billionaires who are also bigots. MAGA Inc.'s massive fundraising haul yields a grim answer: As venal as Trump is, the next generation of party leaders will be even more transparently for sale to the highest bidder. Those who can afford it are already spending accordingly.
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Group run by billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $47 million in the first half of the year
The super PAC run by billionaire Elon Musk spent $47.4 million in the first half of the year, when the group was actively engaged in helping former Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel run unsuccessfully for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The new filing by America PAC includes for the first time confirmation of $1 million payments that Musk gave to each of three individuals at a Green Bay rally "in appreciation for you taking the time to vote." It also reports that America PAC spent $27 million on in-kind payments for "petition incentives" on June 30. The payment came from the United States of America Inc., a new business created by Musk last year. It is not clear what those payments were for, but the super PAC offered Wisconsin voters $100 to register their opposition to "judicial activists" via a website. Musk's group also made numerous payments to consultants, media groups and canvassers in the first six months of the year. Overall, the report indicates Musk gave a little more than $18 million to America PAC in the first half of the year. That comes on top of the $27 million in-kind payment by the United States of America Inc. A spokesman for America PAC could not be immediately reached for comment. On April 1, liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford defeated Schimel, a conservative, in an election that determined the ideological control of the Supreme Court. Liberals now hold a 4-3 edge with Crawford's investiture on Aug. 1. The race set a record for the most spent on a judicial race in the United States. Even before America PAC's latest report, all sides had reported paying out more than $100 million on the hotly contested race, with independent groups far outspending the two candidates. Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@ Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@ Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Group run by billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $47 million Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
01-08-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: U.C.L.A. Is Latest University to Face Federal Funding Cuts
The super PAC that supports President Trump will have a huge role in Republican spending for the midterms next year. President Trump's super PAC is sitting on about $200 million that it can spend against his rivals, giving a term-limited president a never-before-seen amount of power in his party's finances and future. In the first half of 2025, Mr. Trump's group, MAGA Inc., collected about $177 million from the likes of Elon Musk, Mr. Trump's erstwhile ally, the TikTok investor Jeffrey Yass and the Silicon Valley executives Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, according to a filing on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Trump has been able to capitalize on a thirst from corporate America to get into his good graces. He held a half-dozen fund-raisers for his super PAC this year with tickets costing seven figures a seat. At the dinners, often held at one of Mr. Trump's properties, executives and lobbyists had the chance to tell the president about their businesses. The super PAC's exact cash on hand is $196.1 million, according to the filing. There is no precedent for politicians so aggressively raising money for their own entities when they do not have a campaign to use it for. In the first half of 2013, a similar political group supporting a term-limited Barack Obama, Priorities USA, raised just $356,000. As of that June, it held $3.4 million, less than 2 percent of the cash on hand of Mr. Trump's super PAC. The money raised by MAGA Inc. during the first six months of the year is almost twice the amount collected by the Republican National Committee, which is subject to contribution limits. Mr. Yass donated $16 million to the super PAC and Mr. Horowitz and Mr. Andreessen combined to donate an additional $11 million. His group also collected several seven-figure contributions from crypto companies, an industry that Mr. Trump has embraced, and $5 million from a crypto entity co-founded by the OpenAI chief Sam Altman. That Mr. Trump is raising so much money for his group has confounded some Republicans. Some of Mr. Trump's most loyal supporters have argued that he should try to run for a third term, despite it being unconstitutional. Mr. Trump's aides have argued that he would be foolish not to accept money that is essentially for the taking, and that the assets can be used to target Mr. Trump's rivals, beginning with Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican whom MAGA Inc. is attacking. Mr. Massie broke with Mr. Trump on the president's decision to bomb Iran and on his domestic bill. With a $200 million war chest, MAGA Inc. figures to be a big part of Republican primaries, making Mr. Trump's endorsements in those races all the more important. The money is sure to be spent on advertising to back Mr. Trump's endorsed candidates. The sum raised by Mr. Trump's group has scrambled the Republican fund-raising landscape and worried some conservatives. Mr. Trump's group, not those of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate, will most likely be the biggest spender in the 2026 midterm elections, weakening the power of allies like Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune, the majority leader. Mr. Johnson's and Mr. Thune's groups, the Congressional and Senate Leadership Funds, reported holding just $32.7 million and $29.7 million as of June 30. Super PACs had to file reports with the F.E.C. by midnight Thursday, detailing fund-raising and spending activity from January to June. Perhaps the only group that could rival the influence of Mr. Trump's super PAC is Fairshake, a super PAC supported by the crypto industry that entered July with about $140 million on hand, filings show. MAGA Inc. also has an allied political nonprofit group that is not required to disclose its donors or total donations but can spend some of its money on political advocacy. The New York Times reported in May that MAGA Inc. and the nonprofit had raised about $400 million since the November election. Support from Mr. Musk was never guaranteed. He initially pledged to Mr. Trump that he would spend about $100 million on the president's political operation, but his eventual contributions were far smaller — just $5 million. Mr. Musk's relationship with Mr. Trump has recently blown up, and Mr. Musk now considers himself unaligned politically. The Tesla chief also made contributions to the Senate and Congressional Leadership Funds, the filings reveal. Mr. Musk donated $5 million to each group a few weeks after his public blowup with Mr. Trump, seemingly a signal that he planned to back Republicans in the midterms. But a few days later, after Mr. Trump's budget bill passed, he pledged to leave the Republican Party and start a rival entity. He has made little headway in that work. The filings also reveal that Mr. Musk spent about $45 million through his super PAC, America PAC, on a Wisconsin judicial race. Two-thirds of the money that Mr. Musk put into the super PAC in the first half of the year went to incentives for people who had signed or promoted a petition hawked by the super PAC, according to its filing. Mr. Musk's chosen candidate lost badly. Other significant donations in the first half of 2025 revealed this week included $10 million from Mr. Yass to a super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio; $1 million from the Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to support Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and a longtime friend; and millions from Paul Singer, John Paulson and a group backed by Miriam Adelson to another anti-Massie group, donations that Mr. Musk deemed 'interesting.'
New York Times
01-08-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump, Term-Limited, Amasses $200 Million War Chest for Political Ambitions
President Trump's super PAC is sitting on about $200 million that it can spend against his rivals, giving a term-limited president a never-before-seen amount of power in his party's finances and future. In the first half of 2025, Mr. Trump's group, MAGA Inc., collected about $177 million from the likes of Elon Musk, Mr. Trump's erstwhile ally, the TikTok investor Jeffrey Yass and the Silicon Valley executives Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, according to a filing on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Trump has been able to capitalize on a thirst from corporate America to get into his good graces. He held a half-dozen fund-raisers for his super PAC this year with tickets costing seven figures a seat. At the dinners, often held at one of Mr. Trump's properties, executives and lobbyists had the chance to tell the president about their businesses. The super PAC's exact cash on hand is $196.1 million, according to the filing. There is no precedent for politicians so aggressively raising money for their own entities when they do not have a campaign to use it for. In the first half of 2013, a similar political group supporting a term-limited Barack Obama, Priorities USA, raised just $356,000. As of that June, it held $3.4 million, less than 2 percent of the cash on hand of Mr. Trump's super PAC. The money raised by MAGA Inc. during the first six months of the year is almost twice the amount collected by the Republican National Committee, which is subject to contribution limits. Mr. Yass donated $15 million to the super PAC and Mr. Horowitz and Mr. Andreessen combined to donate an additional $11 million. That Mr. Trump is raising so much money for his group has confounded some Republicans. Some of Mr. Trump's most loyal supporters have argued that he should try to run for a third term, despite it being unconstitutional. Mr. Trump's aides have argued that he would be foolish not to accept money that is essentially for the taking, and that the assets can be used to target Mr. Trump's rivals, beginning with Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican whom MAGA Inc. is attacking. Mr. Massie broke with Mr. Trump on the president's decision to bomb Iran and on his domestic bill. With a $200 million war chest, MAGA Inc. figures to be a big part of Republican primaries, making Mr. Trump's endorsements in those races all the more important. The money is sure to be spent on advertising to back Mr. Trump's endorsed candidates. The sum raised by Mr. Trump's group has scrambled the Republican fund-raising landscape and worried some conservatives. Mr. Trump's group, not those of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate, will most likely be the biggest spender in the 2026 midterm elections, weakening the power of allies like Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune, the majority leader. Mr. Johnson's and Mr. Thune's groups, the Congressional and Senate Leadership Funds, reported holding just $32.7 million and $29.7 million as of June 30. Super PACs had to file reports with the F.E.C. by midnight Thursday, detailing fund-raising and spending activity from January to June. Perhaps the only group that could rival the influence of Mr. Trump's super PAC is Fairshake, a super PAC supported by the crypto industry that entered July with about $140 million on hand, filings show. MAGA Inc. also has an allied political nonprofit group that is not required to disclose its donors or total donations but can spend some of its money on political advocacy. The New York Times reported in May that MAGA Inc. and the nonprofit had raised about $400 million since the November election. Support from Mr. Musk was never guaranteed. He initially pledged to Mr. Trump that he would spend about $100 million on the president's political operation, but his eventual contributions were far smaller — just $5 million. Mr. Musk's relationship with Mr. Trump has recently blown up, and Mr. Musk now considers himself unaligned politically. The Tesla chief also made contributions to the Senate and Congressional Leadership Funds, the filings reveal. Mr. Musk donated $5 million to each group a few weeks after his public blowup with Mr. Trump, seemingly a signal that he planned to back Republicans in the midterms. But a few days later, after Mr. Trump's budget bill passed, he pledged to leave the Republican Party and start a rival entity. He has made little headway in that work. The filings also reveal that Mr. Musk spent about $45 million through his super PAC, America PAC, on a Wisconsin judicial race. Two-thirds of the money that Mr. Musk put into the super PAC in the first half of the year went to incentives for people who had signed or promoted a petition hawked by the super PAC, according to its filing. Mr. Musk's chosen candidate lost badly. Other significant donations in the first half of 2025 revealed this week included $10 million from Mr. Yass to a super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio; $1 million from the Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to support Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and a longtime friend; and millions from Paul Singer, John Paulson and a group backed by Miriam Adelson to another anti-Massie group, donations that Mr. Musk deemed 'interesting.'
Bloomberg
01-08-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Elon Musk Gave $45 Million to His Super PAC, Making Him Among Top Donors
Billionaire Elon Musk donated $45.3 million to his super political action committee in the first six months of 2025 as he went from being an ally of Donald Trump to clashing with the president over a massive tax-and-spending bill. The new donations again put Musk among the top political donors in the US. They suggest that while the world's richest person said at the Qatar Economic Forum in May that he would spend less on politics, he isn't yet ready to walk away from that arena.
