TOI CORRESPONDENT FROM WASHINGTON: Two influential billionaires -- Microsoft founder
Bill Gates and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who have long stayed on the political sidelines to avoid partisan politics -- have thrown their support and financial muscle behind
Kamala Harris in the final days of the US Presidential campaign.
In a statement, Gates explained his decision to get behind Harris and counter Trump, who has
Elon Musk's coffers backing him, saying, “I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world.” He is said to have donated $ 50 million to Future Forward USA Action, a nonprofit organization that is supporting Harris’s presidential run.
Jamie Dimon's support for Harris too has a surprise element to it considering he had recently suggested that Trump was right on some economic issues like tax cuts, although he is a registered Democrat. But the statement was misconstrued by the MAGA supremo, who boasted that he has been endorsed by Dimon, causing the latter to clarify through a spokesperson, "I'm not endorsing anyone at this time. I spend more of my time on policy. What's the policy we need that can really help both the world, foreign policy, and domestically?"
According to the NYT which first reported the stories, Dimon felt trapped and hurt to be tied to the Trump agenda, even as he explained that his support for some Trump policy reflected his respect for Americans who voted for the MAGA boss. Subsequently, he is said to have conveyed privately to friends that he supports Harris.
Predictably, MAGA faithful linked Gates support for Harris to the so-called Epstein list, which purportedly consists of influential leaders who consorted with the late pedophile. In a recent interview with Trump acolyte Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk suggested that some billionaires are "terrified" by Trump’s promise to release the Epstein client list, although Trump himself was pally with Epstein.
Gates is believed to have been encouraged to plow in money into the Harris campaign by his children Rory and Phoebe Gates who are both overt Democrat supporters. Bill Gates former wife Melinda French Gates too has contributed to the Harris campaign which has raised a staggering $ 1 billion since she became the Democratic nominee, far outpacing what Trump has raised.
Many billionaires, including Gates in this instance, donate what is called "dark money" under 501(c)(4) statute that does not oblige organization to disclose the names of its donors, mainly to avoid retribution in the event the candidate they have not back wins the presidency. For instance, political donations or even inclinations of Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett is not known.
But following Elon Musk going full MAGA, some liberal outlets have leaked news of Gates and Dimon supporting Harris, which both seem to have implicitly acknowledged without publicly going into specifics. According to Forbes, Harris-supporting billionaires include late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' wife Laurene Powell Jobs, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Netflix's Reed Hastings, Linked-in co-founder Reed Hoffman, venture capitalist Michael Moritz among nearly 80 others.
Trump backing moneybags, besides Elon Musk, include Netscape founder Marc Andreeson, Miriam Adelson, Timothy Mellon, and Bill Ackman, among the 50+ billionaires.