From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Angry Trump said alienating top backers, including Miriam Adelson
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has become angry and frustrated as he struggles to pivot his campaign to take on Vice President Kamala Harris, The New Times reports in an article titled: “Inside the worst three weeks of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.”
The article says the former president has in recent weeks repeatedly picked private and public fights with allies and supporters as his anger has allowed him to be manipulated into attacking key backers.
The article singles out an ongoing dispute with Israeli-American casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
According to the Times, citing three people with knowledge of the situation, Trump had his aide Natalie Harp send off a series of angry text messages to Adelson in Trump’s name.
The texts complained about the people running Adelson’s super PAC, Preserve America, into which she is pouring millions of dollars to support Trump, alleging that those running the PAC were “RINOs” — Republicans in name only — and charging that Adelson’s late husband Sheldon would not have tolerated that.
The Times says Preserve America was spending some $18 million a week on ads for Trump in three battleground states.
According to the report, Adelson later discovered that Trump had been pushed to attack her by another major Trump donor, Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who had hoped in vain that Adelson would contribute to a rival super PAC that he backs.
Spokespeople for Adelson and Perlmutter did not comment.
The report says the texts were particularly jarring because Adelson and Trump had a friendly meeting a week earlier at the Republican National Convention.
The pro-Israel stalwart Adelson and her late husband Sheldon Adelson gave the super PAC $90 million during the 2020 presidential election, in which they were among Trump’s biggest donors. They also backed Trump during the 2016 election and were leading advocates of moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Sources close to Trump expressed fears that the angry messages could cause Adelson to reduce her support for the Republican candidate, but notes that she has not yet done so.
