A climate campaign holds a symbolic wanted poster for Harold “Frackenstein” Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources and one of several individuals characterized by a campaign as a top climate criminal, in New York City on July 22, 2024. (Photo: John Senter/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“Oil barons are bankrolling the Trump campaign because Donald Trump promises to impose their policy ‘wish list’ that will make them even richer,” said the Harris campaign.
“Not familiar with Harold Hamm? You should be.”
That’s according to Washington Post climate policy editor Stuart Leavenworth, who shared the newspaper’s Tuesday reporting on the fossil fuel executive’s relationship with former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the November election.
“This oil tycoon is bringing in millions for Trump,” the editor noted, “and is relaying to Trump what the fossil fuel industry wants.”
The Post‘s Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow revealed in May that during an event in Florida, Trump vowed to gut the Biden administration’s climate regulations if elected in November as long as the oil and gas industry put $1 billion toward his campaign—a revelation that sparked alarm and even congressional investigations.
In Tuesday reporting described by other journalists as ” great” and “important,” the pair exposed how “Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, called other oil executives and encouraged them to attend fundraisers and open their wallets” after the April dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence.
Hamm reportedly described the November contest as “the most important election in our lifetime” and “railed against President Joe Biden’s energy policies.” Following a disastrous debate performance against Trump, the Democratic incumbent passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has since secured her party’s nomination.
Donna Brazille, a political strategist and former Democratic National Committee chair, used the new reporting to compare the candidates. As she put it, “This oil tycoon brings in millions for Trump, and may set his agenda.”
Hamm’s top priorities, according to the Post, are “opening up more federal lands to drilling, easing the Endangered Species Act, and curbing numerous regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Brazille pointed out that “meanwhile, as attorney general in California, Harris prosecuted oil companies for leaks from pipelines and storage tanks, and even sued the Obama administration.”
Harris has quickly garnered support from various organizations concerned about the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, including some that had declined to endorse Biden. Her running mate is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—a choice widely welcomed by green groups, despite his record on the Line 3 oil pipeline—while Trump picked Big Oil-backed Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
Both Trump and Vance have made clear that if they win, they plan to “drill, baby, drill,” a promise that wealthy figures in the fossil fuel industry seem to be buying. The Post reported that thanks in part to introductions by Hamm, “Trump has now ‘called almost everyone in the sector,”” and “the money has been flowing in,” with the industry contributing over $20.3 million.
How you know government is for sale:
Oil billionaire Hamm turned to DeSantis, Haley before Trump. Why?
“Privately, he complained to friends that Trump had not responded to his request for a pardon for an associate near the end of his term” https://t.co/JC8Z3v3BHu
Harris campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said in a statement that “oil barons are bankrolling the Trump campaign because Donald Trump promises to impose their policy ‘wish list’ that will make them even richer at the expense of the middle class and a healthy future for our children.”
“Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda will give handouts to billionaires, crush jobs, and send costs skyrocketing,” Costello added. “America is more energy independent than ever under the Biden-Harris administration, and Vice President Harris is helping create hundreds of thousands of good paying energy and manufacturing jobs—a boom for working families that Trump would dismantle.”
Hamm—who initially backed two Trump primary challengers: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley—did not respond to the Post‘s requests for comment while the campaign said that Trump “is proud to be supported by people who share his vision of American energy dominance to protect our national security and bring down the cost of living for all Americans.”
More Perfect Unionnoted in response to the Tuesday reporting that Hamm is among dozens of billionaires backing Trump—who is also expected to push tax cuts for rich individuals and corporations if he returns to the White House.
As Sludgedetailed last month, ultrawealthy contributors to the Trump campaign and related groups include casino mogul Miriam Adelson, bankers Andy Beal and Warren Stephens, GOP donors Scott Bessent and Stephen Schwarzman, real estate investor Richard Kurtz, Jimmy John’s founder James J. Liautaud, and crypto industry twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
They are joined by associates of billionaire Elon Musk—who created a pro-Trump super political action committee—and others in the tech industry, including Palmer Luckey, Tom Siebel, and Kenny Trout, as well as “New York City retail and oil refinery owner John Catsimatidis, an old friend of Trump’s who has been a public defender of the former president’s character and public record.”
Original article by ALAN MACLEOD republished from MPN under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
Without a sympathetic media, Israel’s powerful military would be next to useless in its attempts to ethnically cleanse Gaza. It relies on crucial Western support for its project, and no one is as important in manufacturing consent for Israel as Rupert Murdoch. The Australian-born press baron has close and extensive personal ties to the Israeli political elite and myriad business connections to the country. He has used his media empire to defend Israel and sing its praises, even amidst an attack on Gaza commonlycondemned as genocidal. As such, his holdings effectively serve as an unofficial arm of the Israeli propaganda machine.
The Murdoch machine comprises well over 100 newspapers – some of them among the world’s most well-known and influential, as well as dozens of TV channels and a formidable publishing empire. This power allows him to set the political agenda across much of the world. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that Murdoch was an “unofficial member” of his cabinet and that he was one of the four most powerful men in the United Kingdom.
Political Connections
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has described him as the world’s “most dangerous” individual. His influence on American public life – through ventures like The Wall Street Journal and Fox News – is well documented. Less understood, however, are his close ties to Israel, and in particular, to its political leadership.
In 2010, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published a leaked list compiled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of whom he considered his best sources of campaign contributions. Murdoch’s name appears on the list alongside the designation of number two, meaning Netanyahu considered him a close ally and one of the most likely sources of funds. An estimated 98% of Netanyahu’s contributions came from abroad.
Did Piers Morgan's boss at Talk TV, Rupert Murdoch, fund Benjamin Netanyahu in the past?
At 93, Murdoch has relinquished much of the day-to-day running of his businesses to his son, Lachlan. Earlier this year, Lachlan traveled to Israel to meet Netanyahu and former prime minister Benny Gantz. While the details of the meetings remain murky, it is clear that support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza and beyond was a principal topic.
This was not the first time the younger Murdoch had met Netanyahu, In 2016, he flew to Israel for secret meetings with the prime minister, where, according to local newspaper Haaretz, he attempted to convince Murdoch to purchase Yedioth Ahronoth, and to start a Fox News-style TV channel for Israel.
Netanyahu, however, is far from the only prime minister with a close relationship with Murdoch. Ariel Sharon, for instance, has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with the Australian mogul. Murdoch stayed with him on his farm and was treated to a helicopter tour of Israel, where the supposed vulnerability of Israel from its hostile neighbors was stressed.
Economic Ties
In addition to his political ties, Murdoch has several economic commitments to Israel. In 2010, he and banking billionaire Lord Jacob Rothschild each purchased equity stakes in Genie Energy and joined the company’s board of directors.
While he was on the board, Genie was awarded a contract to drill for oil and gas over approximately 400 square kilometers of Golan Heights, Syrian territory that Israel has illegally occupied since 1967. In effect, Genie was attempting to profit from an occupation deemed illegitimate under international law.
Murdoch also owned Israeli software company NDS, which was at the center of a hacking scandal that brought down British television company ITV Digital. NDS’s activities helped huge numbers of Britons access paid TV for free, causing the corporation to fold under reduced revenues.
Another ethically questionable connection is Murdoch’s reliance on lobbying firm LLM Communications. The billionaire hired the group, co-founded by Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, to help them overturn British government laws that ensured trade unions could ballot for workplace recognition. Lord Mendelsohn was the chairman of the Israel lobbying group Labour Friends of Israel, which was crucial in smearing and defeating the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong peace activist and proponent of Palestinian rights.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Zionist Hardliner
“My ventures in media are not as important to me as spreading my personal political beliefs,” Murdoch said, and supporting Israel and its expansionist policies is one of the core values the Australian has tirelessly worked towards.
At a 2009 meeting of the American Jewish Committee, he explained that he saw Israel as the linchpin underwriting Western civilization:
In the West, we are used to thinking that Israel cannot survive without the help of Europe and the United States. I say to you: maybe we should start wondering whether we in Europe and the United States can survive if we allow the terrorists to succeed in Israel… In the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace… who reject freedom… and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb and the human shield”.
In 2005, he wrote the foreword to the book, “Israel In The World: Changing Lives Through Innovation,” a fawning tome lionizing Israel as an unqualified success that has built a robust democracy and a vibrant economy despite setbacks and threats from its neighbors.
He has also put his money where his mouth is: in 2007, his News Corp business donated to the Jerusalem Foundation, a group that builds illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Murdoch has led the fight against the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, claiming that it represents an “ongoing war against the Jews.” “The war has entered a new phase,” he said.
“This is the soft war that seeks to isolate Israel by delegitimizing it. The battleground is everywhere – the media, multinational organizations, NGOs. In this war, the aim is to make Israel a pariah.”
He made these comments at an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) event, where the organization presented him with its International Leadership Award. That the ADL, which purports to be a group standing against racism, would honor Murdoch with such an award, despite his networks pumping out relentless bigotry, underlines how little emphasis it places on genuine anti-racism and how much it works to simply promote Israeli interests.
The ADL is hardly the only Jewish organization that has heaped praise on the media mogul, however. The Simon Wiesenthal Center decorated him with their humanitarian laureate award; other groups, such as the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the American Jewish Committee, have also sung his praises. The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York declared him their “humanitarian of the year” at a lavish ceremony, where Henry Kissinger presented him with the award.
Rupert’s Empire
Murdoch took over his father’s Adelaide newspaper in 1952 and quickly built a giant global enterprise, particularly across the English-speaking world. He used this power to spread his conservative agenda.
His British holdings, including The Sun, The Times and Sunday Times, constitute one-quarter of newspaper circulation in the country. His News Corp company also operates Sky television, TalkTV, TalkRadio and TalkSPORT.
Murdoch is widely believed to have swung both the 1992 elections for the Conservatives and the 1997 election towards Labour after Tony Blair struck a deal with him. “It’s difficult to think of a prime minister in the last 40 years who has won against the Murdoch instinct,” said former Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger.
In the United States, Murdoch owns influential outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and much of the Fox network. This is in addition to owning the influential Harper Collins publishing house.
He is known as an unusually hands-on owner, insisting that the tone and political line of all his outlets conform to his thinking. “For better or for worse, The News Corporation is a reflection of my thinking, my character, and my values,” he admitted.
This included wholehearted support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “We can’t back down now, where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam… I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly, and I think he is going to go on with it,” he said. He also made sure that every one of his 175 global newspaper titles expressed similar vociferous support for the invasion.
Inside the industry, Fox News is known for its particularly strict, top-down editorial procedure. One former contributor claimed that working under Murdoch was “almost as if we were being monitored by a Stalinist system … it is very much an environment of fear”. A second confided that “if you don’t go along with the mind-set of the hierarchy, if you challenge them on their attitudes about things, you are history”.
But it is in his local Australia that his power reaches almost banana republic-like proportions. Murdoch owns 7 of the country’s 12 national or capital daily newspapers. In half of the country’s state or territory capitals, there is no local alternative to the Murdoch publication. Former prime minister, Kevin Rudd labeled his empire a “cancer” on Australian democracy.
Piers Morgan Exposed
Until he recently went independent with his talk show, Piers Morgan was one of Murdoch’s most recognizable anchors. Hosting a popular talk show that reached millions, Morgan has played a crucial role in informing the public about Israel and Palestine. Although he has claimed he is entirely neutral on the issue and does not support either side, Morgan has a number of close connections to Israel worth noting. Firstly, he has supported the Norwood Charity on a number of occasions, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the group.
Norwood is headed by the aforementioned Israel lobbyist, Lord Mendelsohn, alongside his wife, Lady Nicola Mendelsohn. Lady Mendelsohn is also head of global business for social media giant Meta (the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram). She has consistently lobbied for Israeli causes and even met former president Shimon Peres. During her time at Meta, the company has begun to employ dozens of former agents of the Israeli spying group, Unit 8200 – all in sensitive positions within the company. Facebook in particular has grown closer to Israel, even appointing former General Director of the Israeli Ministry of Justice Emi Palmor to its oversight board, the group that decides what direction the company goes and what content to allow and disallow on the platform.
Norwood’s previous president was Sir Trevor Chinn. Chinn is currently head of United Jewish Israel Appeal, a British-Israeli group whose goal is to increase young British Jews’ sense of connection to Israel. He is also on the executive committee of Britain’s largest Israel lobby group, BICOM, and has funded Labour Friends of Israel.
On October 22, at the height of Israel’s attack on Gaza, Morgan met Lady Mendelsohn in New York for dinner. Also present at the meal was Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins, who has raised money for the Jewish National Fund, the largest settler-building body in Palestine. It is unclear what they discussed, but given their careers and interests, it is hard to see how news from the Middle East did not arise.
Thus, while Morgan may have invited individuals from all points of the spectrum of debate on Gaza, he does appear to move in circles filled with top Israel lobbyists.
Boris Johnson sucking up to Rupert Murdoch
Blatant Propaganda
Unsurprisingly, given what we have seen, Murdoch’s top publications have displayed an overwhelming bias in their coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, constantly defending Israeli actions and demonizing both Palestinians and those who have opposed the violence.
On October 19, an Israeli airstrike targeted the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, where hundreds of refugees had taken shelter. In describing the attack, the Wall Street Journal ran with the headline “Blast goes off at Orthodox Church Campus in Gaza,” turning what was one of the most notorious incidents in Israel’s months-long assault on Gaza into a regrettable accident. At no point during the article did the Journal suggest that the “blast” might have been an attack or even hint at Israeli involvement.
The Journal has also led the attack on Americans protesting the onslaught. “Who’s Behind the Anti-Israel Protests: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others are grooming activists in the U.S. and across the West,” ran the headline of one story, clearly intended to vilify people opposing a genocide as agents of a foreign power. Another story, entitled “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital,” echoed Bush-era levels of Islamophobia in its attempts to equate the heavily Arab-American city with anti-American hatred. Campus demonstrations, meanwhile, were written off as “terrorist-glorifying protestors” who constitute “the left-wing counterparts to the Charlottesville mob that chanted ‘Jews will not replace us.’”
The newspaper has also published articles demanding the U.S. go to war with Iran. “The U.S. and Israel Need to Take Iran On Directly. Make the ayatollahs pay for sowing chaos through their Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi proxies,” wrote former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett.
And for Palestine? The Wall Street Journal envisages its future as a giant arms factory making the weapons for Israel’s assault on Iran. In an op-ed entitled “A Plan for Palestinian Prosperity,” columnist Andy Kessler wrote that producing the weapons for the next Israeli attack would bring middle-class jobs to Gaza. “They can even work on Saturdays” and “without handouts from the politicized United Nations,” he claimed, although he cautioned that perhaps the explosives should be added elsewhere by more trustworthy employees.
Murdoch’s other publications have followed suit, relentlessly supporting Israel and demonizing its critics. Fox News, for example, spread the now-debunked assertion that Palestinian fighters had beheaded 40 Israeli babies on October 7. In reality, no babies were beheaded, although Israeli bombs or bullets have since decapitated countless Palestinian children.
The New York Post, meanwhile, published a remarkable article titled “Just how many of Gaza’s civilians are entirely ‘innocent’?” in which it repeatedly insinuated that essentially every adult in Gaza was a legitimate target, even using the word “civilian” in scare quotes.
On Israel/Palestine, journalists in corporate media are under enormous pressure to toe an ownership-imposed line. The New York Times, for example, has told its reporters not to employ words such as “genocide,” “slaughter,” and “ethnic cleansing” when discussing Israel’s actions. It has even forbidden the use of terms like “refugee camp,” “occupied territory,” or even “Palestine,” making it virtually impossible to report accurately on the situation.
Murdoch publications are surely no different. Indeed, this sort of stifling censorship has been in place for decades, if former employees are to be believed. In 2001, Sam Kiley, a former correspondent for The Times of London, revealed that he was instructed never to refer to Israel as “assassinating” or “executing” their opponents. And when he was tasked with interviewing an Israeli Army unit responsible for killing a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, he was asked to file the article without somehow mentioning the dead child at all.
Boris Johnson confirms his thumbs up from Rupert Murdoch
Friends in High Places
The nine-month-long Israeli attack on Gaza has inspired outrage across the world. While its standing has dropped even further in the Global South, Israel still maintains a considerable base of support in the West. This is down in no small part thanks to oligarchs such as Rupert Murdoch, who have marshaled their considerable resources to fight a committed media war in support of the Israeli state, attempting to hide its atrocities and shore up support for its expansionist project.
For Israel, which could not continue in its current form without outside support (particularly from the United States), the battle for public opinion is every bit as important as the fight on the ground. Fortunately for Netanyahu and his ilk, they can rely on Rupert Murdoch, who has for decades championed Israel’s cause and is now pushing his media empire into overdrive to defend the indefensible. If the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, then Rupert Murdoch is one of Israel’s most powerful weapons.
A new report from the ADL claims that anti-Semitic incidents across the US have skyrocketed by more than 400%. But as Alan Macleod reveals, the numbers do not add up unless one equates opposition to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza with hatred of Jews.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, August 11, 2024
A CALL by Prime Minister Keir Starmer for “de-escalation and regional stability” in the Middle East has been criticised by Palestine rights campaigners.
Sir Keir made the plea alongside French and German leaders Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz who urged Iran and its allies not to “jeopardise the opportunity to agree a ceasefire and the release of hostages” in Gaza.
But the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the call “rings hollow when these same leaders maintain their complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
PSC said: “40,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s genocidal assault. Every day we wake up to new scenes of Israel’s latest massacre of displaced Palestinian men, women and children.
“Starmer, Macron and Scholz are all complicit in these atrocities so long as they continue to sell arms to Israel and provide diplomatic cover for its war crimes.
“The quickest way for our leaders to bring about the ceasefire that they claim to want is to immediately ban all arms trade with Israel.”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman speaks at The New York Times DealBook Conference at Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New York Times )
Here they are. They have names. They have billions. And they’re the leading American oligarchs backing the ticket that wants to kick the working class and poor people in the face.
No matter who may be supporting them in public opinion polls, Donald Trump and JD Vance are not the saviors of the middle class, the working, class, or the poor. They are not the champions of Blacks, whites, Latinos, men, women or any other demographic group. Their policy proposals won’t even benefit better off but not rich Americans. They are the candidates of casino, real estate, fossil fuel, and tech billionaires. Many are affiliated with Trump 47 or one of the other pro-Trump Super PACs.
I am a union member and have been since I started working as a teenager in the 1960s and I support the Harris-Walz ticket. I think it is a moral transgression in this election to vote for any down ballot Republican candidate that appears on the same line as Trump and Vance. The Democrats must win the House and Senate and local elections to stop the billionaire financed anti-democracy MAGA movement.
Below, in alphabetical order, is a list and description of some of the Trump-Vance team’s key super-wealthy supporters. It is a billionaire’s club.
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman is the chief executive and portfolio manager of Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman demanded that Trump resign after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but now endorses Trump. Ackman is a leading crusader against DEI policies and what he perceives of as a wave of antisemitism on college campuses. He played a leading role in forcing Harvard President Claudine Gray to resign, in getting New York City Mayor Eric Adams to use police to breakup protests at Columbia University against Israel’s action in Gaza and contributed to SuperPACs that defeated progressive candidates in Democratic Party primaries because they criticized Israel. Forbes estimates Ackman’s net worth at over $9 billion.
Casino magnates Miriam Adelson and her deceased husband, Sheldon Adelson, were Trump’s biggest donors in 2020. They contributed $90 million to the pro-Trump SuperPAC Preserve America. Adelson is the wealthiest Israeli citizen and one of the fifty wealthiest people in the world. She pledged $100 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign in exchange for his promise that if he is elected President the United States would recognize Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, torpedoing any possible of an independent Palestinian state.
Marc Lowell Andreessen is a Silicon Valley tech businessman, former software engineer, member of the Facebook Board of Directors, and worth $1.8 billion. In 2016 he endorsed Hillary Clinton for President because of Trump’s anti-immigrant stance, but he is now donating mega-bucks to SuperPACs supporting Trump, hoping to secure policies that favor his investments.
Scott Bessent is founder of the global investment firm Key Square Group with an investment portfolio of $8 billion. Previously Bessent was the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management, a much more liberal company. At some point, Bessent changed his stripes, and he is now a co-chair of Trump 47, a Republican Party fundraising group in Palm Beach, Florida. Bessent is considered a possible Secretary of the Treasury if Trump is elected.
Robert Thomas Bigelow owns Budget Suites of America and is founder of Bigelow Aerospace. He is a notorious conspiracy theorists providing financial support for investigating UFOs and paranormal phenomena including consciousness after death. Bigelow has originally a DeSantis supporter but switched to Trump when DeSantis dropped out of the race. Bigelow gave Trump a million dollars to help with his legal fees and promised to give $20 million to pro-Trump Super PACs. Bigelow’s net worth is $1.5 billion.
Robert H. Book is chairman of Book Capital Enterprises and Jet Support Services, and a Vice Chairman of Axxes Capital. His net worth is only half a billion dollars so he may not belong on this list. Book, a major philanthropist in support of Israel, was critical of Trump in 2017 for not forcibly condemning neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. However, in 2020 he gave over a million dollars to the Trump Victory Committee.
Timothy Dunn is the CEO of the fossil fuel company CrownQuest Operating. Dunn contributed to the Trump 2020 campaign and in 2023 he gave $5 million towards the 2024 campaign. He’s an active donor in rightwing Texas politics, giving approxinately $10 million to the conservative Defend Texas Liberty PAC. He co-founded a Christian school where he is on the board of trustees and teaches Sunday school. Dunn opposes abortion, same-sex marriage. and adoptions by same sex couples. He is worth an estimated 2.2 billion.
José Fanjul is a Cuban American a sugar magnate with investments in Domino Sugar and real estate who gave over $800,000 to the Trump 47 Committee and hosted a Trump fundraiser. Fanjul’s company received an estimated $65 million in federal agricultural subsidies that he uses political influence to protect. The family’s business interests are valued at over $8 billion.
Kenneth Griffin is a hedge fund manager who gave $10 million to the House Republican Super PAC and $5 million to the Senate Republican Super PAC. Griffin initially backed Nikki Haley for the 2024 Republican nomination and called Trump a “three-time loser,” but is now prepared to endorse Trump. Griffin is worth about $35 billion.
Harold Hamm, executive chair of Continental Resources, is an oil and gas magnate heavily invested in fracking who is worth $18.5 billion. Hamm is part of the Koch brothers rightwing donor network. He contributed $320,000 to the 2020 Trump campaign and organized a major Trump fundraiser with the fossil fuel industry.
Diane Marie Hendricks and her deceased husband were major supporters of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Her net worth is over $20 billion. From 2014 to 2016, she gave millions of dollars to a Republican Super PAC created by the Koch Brothers and in 2020 Hendricks contributed $1.1 million to Trump’s presidential campaign. She spoke at the 2024 Republican Party National Convention and is also a financial supporter of Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Hendricks’ investment in Trump paid off bigtime. She saved $36 million in income taxes from a provision in the 2017 Trump tax cut.
Benjamin Horowitz is a co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz along with Marc Lowell Andreessen and is personally worth $3.5 billion. He pledged to give money to the 2024 Trump campaign.
Robert “Woody” Johnson is co-owner of the New York Jets football team and an heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company. He is worth an estimated $10 billion. Johnson was a co-financial chair of the Republican Party during Trump’s 2016 campaign and was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom when Trump was elected. During the 2024 campaign, Johnson has already given over a million dollars to Trump Super PACs.
Doug Leone is a partner at and former head of Sequoia Capital. Forbes magazine estimates he is worth $8.4 billion. In 2021, Leone said Trump lost his support because of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but he is now back on the Trump bandwagon. He gave $2 million to the Right for America Trump Super PAC and $1 million to the America PAC.
Joe Lonsdale is a technology entrepreneur and investor and co-founder of Palantir worth about half a billion dollars. He donates to Trump through the Super PAC America Pac.
Howard Lutnick is CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and has a net worth of an estimated $1.5 billion. Lutnick has hosted New York metro area fundraisers for Trump in his home since 2019.
Omeed Malik, who formerly supported Ron DeSantis, changed track and pledged to raise over $3 million and donate at least $100,000 to the Trump campaign. Malik is president of 1789 Capital and CEO of Farvahar Partners. He has an estimated net worth of $6.15 billion.
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus supported Trump for President in 2016 and 2020 and announced he would support Trump again even if he were convicted of crimes. He gave the Trump campaign $25 million in 2020. Marcus, who is worth almost $9 billion, originally supported DeSantis this round and then Haley, but he is now boosting Trump again. He said his donations to the 2024 Trump campaign would be “in line” with past contributions.
Vincent and Linda McMahon are professional wrestling promoters. The McMahons gave $5 million to the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Linda was appointed administrator of the federal Small Business Administration during the Trump administration and spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention. The McMahon’s have a combined net worth of $3.2 billion.
Timothy Mellon is a descendant of the founder of the Mellon Bank and railroad interests. The bank, under different names, today manages about $50 trillion in assets and the current generation of the family is worth about $15 billion. Mellon is a major Trump supporter. In April 2020, he gave $10 million to Trump’s America First Action Super PAC, and he has pledged $75 million to elect Trump in 2024. He also contributed $25 million to the independent candidacy of Robert Kennedy. Mellon is the definition of rightwing weirdo. He posted online comparing climate scientists to ISIS, is a COVID anti-vaxxer, donated to build a Southern wall, and issued statements that led to him being accused of racism.
Robert and Rebeka Mercer (his daughter and fellow conservative activist) Pappa Mercer was an artificial intelligence proponent and co-chair of the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund. Mercer has a string of companies based in the Caribbean that he uses to avoid paying American income taxes. Among his rightwing activities, he contributed to the Brexit campaign for Great Britain to leave the European Union, works with Koch brother’s groups, financially supported Breitbart News, donated to the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, labels civil rights acts as racist, and helped fund JD Vance’s Ohio Senate campaign. Daughter Rebekah is in charge of the Mercer Family Foundation. She home schooled her children, is on the Heritage Foundation Board of Trustee, was on the 2016 Trump transition team, and works closely with Steve Bannon who she introduced to Trump. Pappa Mercer is probably worth a little less than a billion dollars.
Elon Musk is going all in to elect Trump, providing money through his private pro-Trump Super PAC and free publicity on his social media site including an interview scheduled for posting on August 12. Musk reportedly pledged to contribute $45 million a month to his America PAC, which has already been accused of using data from a subterfuge voting registration drive to aid the Trump campaign. After Musk purchased Twitter, which he rebranded X, there was a surge of antisemitic and racist postings on the platform. Musk himself has also posted or retweeted hateful conspiracy theories, targeted Anthony Fauci, and made fun of people using gender pronouns. It is estimated that Musk is worth over $200 billion.
Chamath Palihapitiya, an early senior executive at Facebook, is a champion of digital currency and a competitive poker player. He co-hosted a San Francisco fund raiser for Trump with David Sacks that raised $12 million and promotes Trump on his podcast. Palihapitiya’s net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion.
Geoffrey Palmer is a Los Angeles-based real estate developer and competitive polo player worth $3.1 billion. His company contributed $5 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign, and he has hosted fundraisers for each of Trump’s campaigns. This round he gave $2 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC and $814,600 to the Trump 47 Committee. He was also a major financer of efforts to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom.
John Paulson, net worth $3.5 billion, made his money from the 2008 housing market collapse. He was an early supporter of Trump in 2016, has already raised $50 million for the Trump 2024 campaign, and is another potential Treasury Secretary.
Hedge fund broker Nelson Peltz stated that he regretted voting for Trump after the Capitol attack, but he is now hosting Trump fund raisers at his Palm Beach, Florida mansion, although he says he is not happy about it. Peltz is worth $1.6 billion.
Isaac Perlmutter is an Israeli American billionaire who has had stakes in several companies including Revco drug stores, Remington gun manufacturers, and Marvel Entertainment. He is a friend and unofficial advisor to Trump who helped oversee the Department of Veterans Affairs when Trump was President. Isaac and his wife Laura Perlmutter gave Trump almost $2 million in 2016, and Laura was part of Trump’s inauguration planning committee. In 2024, the Perlmutters have already contributed $10 million to Trump’s Right for America Super PAC. Isaac and Laura Perlmutter live near Mar-a-Lago in Florida and are worth over $4 billion.
Vivek Ramaswamy originally ran against Trump in Republican primaries but then endorsed him and was awarded with a spot at the Republican National Convention. Ramaswamy opposes affirmative action, abortion rights, and birthright citizenship. During his campaign he called the “climate change agenda a hoax” and for raising the voting age to 25. He has endorsed conspiracy theories that the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was a “inside job” and questioning the official story about the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. He made his money in pharmaceuticals and is worth about a billion dollars.
Todd Ricketts is a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, a TD Ameritrade board member, and a former Republican Party finance chair. Since 2016 he has been a Trump fundraiser and was chair of the Trump Victory Committee in 2020. The Ricketts family is worth over $4 billion.
Phil Ruffin, a casino magnate, is a longtime associate and business partner of Trump who was with Trump at the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow. Ruffin, worth $2.6 billion, contributed $2 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. Super PAC and more than $800,000 to Trump 47.
Tech investor, podcast host, and venture capitalist David Sacks spoke opening night of the Republican National Convention. on Monday, co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco. Sacks, a former chief operating officer at PayPal, is now a big promoter of crypto currency along with JD Vance. Sacks supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, recently toyed with support for Robert Kennedy, but is now a prominent Trump fund raiser.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, a longtime friend of Trump, was chairman of his Strategic Policy Forum when Trump was President. In that role he marshalled billionaires to support Trump tax cuts and economic policies. Schwarzman denounced the January 6 attack on the Capitol Building as an “insurrection” and an “affront to the democratic values we hold dear” and in 2022 he announced he would not support Trump for reelection however Schwarzman is now a Trump supporter and fundraiser again. He is worth $39 billion.
Paul Singer is a hedge fund manager with a net worth of over $6.1 billion. His specialty is buying the debt of poor countries and then forcing them to pay. Singer and the workforce at his company, Elliott Management are a top source of contributions to the National Republican Committee. Singer has contributed to the political efforts of the Koch brothers and gave one million dollars to the Trump 2017 inaugural committee. He originally supported Nicki Haley’s 2024 campaign but has now endorsed Trump.
Jeff Sprecher and his wife, former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler are worth over $1 billion. Each contributed over $800,000 to a Trump Super PAC. Sprecher is the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
So far Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has not endorsed Trump again. He contributed a million dollars to the trump 2016 campaign but did not give money in 2020. Thiel, who is gay and part of a same-sex marriage, remains unhappy with Trump and the Republican Party’s focus on hot-button cultural issues. However, he was a major supporter of JD Vance’s Senate campaign and is expected to eventually support the Trump-Vance ticket because of his major investment in crypto currencies. Thiel, the person who introduced Trump to Vance, is worth $4.2 billion.
Richard Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are founders of Uline and Richard is also an heir to Schlitz. They are anti-union, anti-tax, anti-regulation, and anti-gay and transgender rights. Their $10 million contribution to the Trump 2024 Make America Great Again Super PAC is currently the second largest Trump gift. The Uihleins are worth over $6 billion.
Kelcy Warren, the chairman and former CEO of a pipeline company with a net worth of over $6 billion gave over $800,000 to the Trump 47 Committee and $5 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each gave over $1 million to the Trump 47 Committee and $250,000 to the America PAC. The twins run the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and are each worth $2.7 billion. When endorsing trump, Tyler Winklevoss called him “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business.”
Steve Wynn was vice-chairman of Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. He is casino and real estate magnate worth $3.4 billion who is accused of sexual misconduct and acting as a foreign agent for China. Wynn gave over $800,000 to the Trump 47 Committee.
Jeffrey Yass is the co-founder trading and technology company Susquehanna International Group, a major investor in TikTok which is under attack because its parent company is owned by China, and Trump’s sham media company. He has a net worth of $27.6 billion. He is a self-proclaimed libertarian, on the executive advisory council of the Cato Institute, and an advocate for charter schools and vouchers. Yass is one of the largest Republican Party deep pockets and contributed to several candidates challenging the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
Relatives of Palestinians killed by the Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp mourn as the bodies are brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 10, 2024. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“It is hard to comprehend how the Biden administration can justify rewarding Israel with new weapons, despite Israel’s persistent defiance of every single plea the Biden administration has made urging a modicum of restraint.”
Just hours after the Biden administration Friday announced approval of $3.5 billion in military funds for Israel and shipments for new weaponry, an Israeli bombing of a school-turned-shelter in Gaza has killed 100 people or more, including scores of civilian men, women, and children in what was described as a “bloody massacre” that struck during morning prayers, leaving body parts scattered “in pieces” and healthcare workers overwhelmed with the dead and wounded.
The Palestinian Authority’s Fatah government in the Occupied West Bank released a statement Saturday describing the attack on the al-Tabin school in Gaza City as a “heinous bloody massacre” that represents the “peak of terrorism and criminality” by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Committing these massacres confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt its efforts to exterminate our people through the policy of cumulative killing and mass massacres that make living consciences tremble,” said the PA.
“If the ICC doesn’t take action now, then when?”
Footage taken by volunteers working alongside Palestinian medical units in Gaza City showed wounded small children and adults being taken to local hospitals as well as scenes of carnage from the scene of the bombing [Warning: Images are graphic]. Gaza journalist Motasem A. Dalloul also posted his reporting from the scene, including footage of the carnage [Also graphic].
Al-Jazeera spoke with witnesses at the scene of the massacre, one of whom said many of the dead—which included women, children, and old people who had been praying and others sleeping when the missiles struck—were collected afterward “in pieces”:
Tamer Kirolos, a regional director for Save the Children, called Israel’s attack on al-Tabin the “deadliest attack on a school since last October.”
“It is devastating to see the toll this has taken, including so many children and people at the school for dawn prayers,” Kirolos said. “Civilians, children, must be protected. An immediate definitive ceasefire is the only foreseeable way that will happen.”
Just hours before the bombing, the U.S. State Department announcement that a $3.5 billion tranche of funds—part of a larger $14.1 billion in overseas military aid approved by Congress earlier this year—would be released to the Israeli government for weapons procurement.
As CNN reported, while some of those weapons purchases made possible by the fund may take years, the “supplemental funding also allocated billions of dollars’ worth of equipment that the Pentagon can draw from its own stockpiles to send directly to Israel on a much faster timeline.”
Unverified reporting indicated that at least one of the missiles dropped on the al-Tabin school overnight may have been a U.S.-made MK-84 bomb weighing 2,000 pounds.
Gaza: In the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century, Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time. With US and European… https://t.co/bHmrFbySYi
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 10, 2024
On Friday night, after the State Department announcement but before news of the latest bombing in Gaza broke, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the human rights and advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), was among those confounded by the U.S. government’s continued determination to arm the Israelis in the face of the human suffering in Gaza and the repeated massacre of civilians, day after day and month after month.
“It is mind-boggling that despite the overwhelming evidence of the IDF’s unprecedented crimes in Gaza that has shocked the conscience of the entire world, the Biden administration is greenlighting the transfer of additional lethal weapons to Israel,” said Whitson in a Friday night statement following news that the State Dept. had greenlit the release of taxpayer funds for a new round of weapons destined for Israel.
“It is hard to comprehend how the Biden administration can justify rewarding Israel with new weapons, despite Israel’s persistent defiance of every single plea the Biden administration has made urging a modicum of restraint,” she said, “and despite the very apparent fact that such sales violate black letter U.S. laws prohibiting weapons to gross abusers like Israel.”
Making a similar argument in a Saturday morning post on X, Sami Abou Shehadeh, leader of Israel’s leftist Balad Party, said that while President Joe Biden “could have stopped the genocide” by using his leverage of military aid to force the Israelis in a different direction, instead “he just released $3.5 billion for more weapons to kill civilians.”
Shehadeh warned that without any internal opposition “to the genocide” by Israel’s Zionist political parties, Netanyahu’s policies would continue, even as the region inches toward further destabilization over the crisis in Gaza that has also spread to Lebanon and beyond. Calling for the International Criminal Court to intervene, he asked, “If the ICC doesn’t take action now, then when?”
“The school area is strewn with dead bodies and body parts. It is very difficult for paramedics to identify a whole dead body. There’s an arm here, a leg there. Bodies are ripped to pieces”
Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and co-founder of Progressive International, asked the same on Saturday.
“Israel has now killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded well over 92,000 others,” said Varoufakis. “Thousands more lie, uncounted, under the debris. Some 10,000 Palestinians have been abducted by Israel’s occupying forces. Question: Where is the ICC indictment?”
“It is truly horrific,” Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s policy director told Common Dreams via email Saturday. “Last night’s massacre was another example of how Blinken and Biden have blood on their hands.”
Referencing a separate decision by the State Department to suspend an investigation into documented abuse violations by the “notorious” Netzah Yehuda Unit within the IDF, Jarrar said the “decisions of sending weapons to Israel and not sanctioning Israeli human rights abusers are not just corrupt policy decisions, they are criminal acts.”
Update: This article has been updated from its original to include additional comment from DAWN.
