U.S. President Joe Biden walks to deliver a speech at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 1, 2024, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s request for immunity a federal prosecution for subverting the 2020 election.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
President joe biden is facing a revolt from some wealthy donors in his own party, including an heir to the Disney Family fortunes that say they will no longer fund the Democratic Party until Biden drops out of the presidential race after his disastrous performance in the debate.
Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy O. Disney, told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she finances for years until Biden drops out. The president said he had no intention of withdrawing from the race despite calls to do so.
“I intend to stop all donations to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but there is far too much at stake,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden doesn’t resign, the Democrats will lose. I’m absolutely sure of that. The consequences for the loss will be really dire.”
The Democratic Party as a whole has been in a state of panic since Biden struggled to perform in the debate against former President Donald Trump last week. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on Biden to drop out of the race, suggesting that the performance in the debate showed voters that the president was unable to take on Trump and close his gap in cannot be overcome by the polls.
A New York Times/Sienna College poll conducted after the debate showed Biden trailing Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters.
Biden campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Abigail Disney has been a long-time Democratic supporter. She donated $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate political action committee in April, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. According to OpenSecrets, the PAC has donated $35,000 to Democrats running for congressional seats.
According to OpenSecrets, in 2014 Disney donated $150,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the nonprofit health organization. This PAC has spent over $400,000 supporting Democrats this election cycle, including $26,000 for Biden.
Disney pointed to Vice President Kamala Harris as a solid alternative to Biden and argued she could defeat Trump.
“We have an excellent vice president. If Democrats would tolerate even a tenth of their perceived shortcomings than they tolerated Biden’s (and let’s face it, where race and gender play a role in this disparity) and if Democrats could find a way to stop “By fighting and rallying around them, we can win this election by a huge margin,” Disney said.
And she’s not the only one pausing the gifts until Biden resigns. Gideon Stein, the president of the Moriah Fund, said he has decided to suspend $3.5 million in planned donations intended for nonprofits and political organizations tied to the presidential election.
“Joe Biden has been a very effective president, but unless he resigns, my family and I are pausing planned donations of more than $3 million to nonprofits and political organizations associated with the presidential election, except some coordination work,” said Stein. “Virtually every major donor I have spoken to believes we need a new candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”
Karla Jurvetson, a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, indicated in a private fundraising appeal as recently as Tuesday that she agreed with suspending donations until Biden resigns and could end up taking such a step, according to a person familiar with her comments . The person was granted anonymity to speak freely about a private conversation.
A spokesman for Jurvetson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
According to OpenSecrets, Jurvetson is among the top 50 donors nationwide this cycle, donating over $5 million to Democrats. She has donated over $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this cycle, according to FEC records.
According to the data, Jurvetson donated over $30 million to Democrats in 2020.
Source link
2024-07-04 22:32:16
www.cnbc.com
