“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
President Donald Trump has risked alienating one of the Republican Party’s richest, most influential—and most liberal—megadonors, in order to keep the party in the hands of its grassroots support.
Insiders say the president had a tense phone call recently with a man who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the GOP over the last 10 years, because the donor wants to control the party and water down its America First message.
If you ever wondered why the pre-Trump Republican Party talked like Main Street but represented Wall Street, look to Sands casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson is “perhaps the only person in the party who can cut a nine-figure check,” according to Politico.com. He joked, “A friend of mine says, ‘You’re the tallest guy in the world.’ I said, ‘How do you figure that?’ He says, ‘When you stand on your wallet.’”
But that money comes with strings attached.
“Look, I’m basically a social liberal,” Adelson says.
“I’m in favor of socialized medicine – which is such a bad word here” in America, he admits. “I’m in favor of a socialized-like health care,” where the government takes care of you “from cradle to grave.”
Adelson supports amnesty for as many as 30 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. He says, “We have to find a way for them to earn citizenship.”
And Adelson wants Trump to ease up the pressure on China.
Adelson gets part of his estimated $35 billion net worth from casinos in the Chinese-controlled region of Macau, “the Las Vegas of Asia.”
The Chinese Communist Party has threatened to retaliate against President Trump’s economy-squeezing trade war by legalize gambling in Hainan—and diverting business from Adelson’s casinos.
Adelson—who has been accused of bribing Chinese figures with up to $60 million—wants Trump to back off.
When the two talked by phone, Trump got right to the point. He wanted to know why Adelson had been funding Republicans but holding out on his re-election bid.
Polls show that Trump is supported by 90% of Republicans—but NeverTrump Republicans cater to a much smaller audience.
“A group of five people could contribute $10 million each and finance a substantial primary campaign for a (presidential) candidate,” former South Carolina Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges has said.
All five are hostile to Donald Trump.
Among the people doling out cash to liberal Republicans but sitting on their wallets when it comes to Trump are Adelson, fellow social liberal Paul Singer, Wall Street guru Charles Schwab, and real estate developer Mel Sembler.
Trump has clashed with the GOP donor class before, because he wants to keep his independence.
“I know all of them,” Trump said during the 2016 GOP primaries. Once they donate to somebody, “they have pretty much total control over the candidate.”
“Nobody controls me but the American public,” Trump said.
Sheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015
Trump believes he can win without selling out on conservative issues.
“Neither candidate will lose because of lack of resources at this point,” one GOP strategist told Politico. Another said, “The most powerful media driver in a presidential (campaign) is the candidate. The candidate makes news and drives the agenda.”
Donald Trump is a different kind of Republican, because he figured out long ago that he doesn’t need the donors: He needs support from the little guy.
Instead of courting Wall Street or Silicon Valley, Trump tours places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the Florida panhandle.
That’s why he’s opening up schools and workplaces, making China play by the rules, and winding down decades-long wars.
He’s closing the border to human traffickers, taking the fight to killer gangs like MS-13, and shutting down the riots that make law-abiding people live in fear.
He created the most prosperous economy in U.S. history and, despite a Chinese virus, he’s doing everything he can to rebuild it again.
He’s waging war on the silent epidemic of opioid overdoses.
He’s standing up for veterans, gun owners, and police.
He’s teaching young people it’s not a crime to be proud of the American flag and American history.
And he’s putting the Republican Party back in your hands.
By confronting the liberal megadonor, the president is setting the GOP on the path to becoming an America-First party, just like he promised.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”