It’s extortion. Megadonors telling vulnerable Democrats to call for Biden to quit or no more cash. And some Democrats are taking the thirty pieces of silver. They could go the small donor route, but no. They don’t have the spine or the vision.
I hope Biden uses this info to his full advantage. He can be an incumbent AND an underdog fighting against the rich/powerful. He never did get rich all those years working in Congress.
And to top it all off, most of the extortionists trying to carry out this coup against Biden are too f*cking cowardly to go on the public record.
The article mentions Tom Strickler who successfully turned several Democrats against Biden by threatening to withhold money. AND he’s encouraging his friends to do the same.
Then there’s Joe Ravitch doing same. At least these guys are willing to be upfront about it.
But when we get to others who are keeping publicly silent, counting on Democrats and other more ethical donors to remain silent about what’s going on.
Oh, I think there needs to be more sunlight cast on these sorts. And they should be shunned!
And btw, this article does mention some donors sticking with Biden. Good on them and their commitment to the democratic process.
They’re calling every major politician they know, encouraging them to call for Mr. Biden’s removal. They’re dangling money to members of Congress who say the right things, and withholding money from those who do not. And even the most reclusive donors are talking to reporters, sometimes on the record, about the turmoil within the party establishment.
These are chaotic times. So many ideas are bouncing around the donor class that some card-carrying members say privately that they are having trouble keeping track of all the plots. Some of the wealthiest people in the world have been locked in a perpetual, almost academic examination of how much leverage they truly have to change Mr. Biden’s mind.
Would it be best to funnel money toward a super PAC, which has raised $2 million so far, that plans to back vulnerable Democratic members of Congress who are calling for Mr. Biden’s removal? Or maybe the savvier move would be to raise money loudly for Vice President Kamala Harris, his heir apparent, as an affirmative sign that the president need not worry about passing the reins? What about setting aside some money in an escrow account that would be spent only on a Democratic presidential campaign led by someone other than Mr. Biden?
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Joe Ravitch, a top Hollywood banker and a longtime Democratic fund-raiser, said that even before the debate, he had conditioned his giving on pushing for a change at the top of the ticket. But he sounded dour about whether his advocacy would accomplish much.
Some mega-contributors are staying as quiet as possible. Henry Laufer, one of the party’s biggest contributors, told The New York Times a week after the debate that “I have no comments.” A spokeswoman for another Democratic billionaire, Marilyn Simons, also one of the party’s top donors, shared that Ms. Simons had “no comments to offer.”
Haim Saban, the Hollywood magnate who has spent tens of millions of dollars for the Democratic Party since Citizens United, was asked for his view of the situation, and spoke for many of his peers.