Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he attends a rally in advance of the New Hampshire primary election in Laconia, New Hampshire, U.S. January 22, 2024.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Former U.S. President Donald Trump warned he will blacklist donors to the electoral campaign of Nikki Haley, his rival for the Republican nomination.
In a post overnight on the Truth Social social media platform, Trump said that anyone who contributes to Haley’s platform “from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them.” The post did not specify whether he was also referring to donations given to a pro-Haley action committee.
Short for Make America Great Again, MAGA is the slogan that has reunited Trump’s political base since his first presidential campaign and his time in office during 2017 to 2021.
He recognized that the practice of campaign donors redirecting their resources toward a party candidate that emerges more successful is commonplace. “When I ran for Office and won, I noticed that the losing Candidate’s ‘Donors’ would immediately come to me, and want to ‘help out,'” he said. “This is standard in Politics, but no longer with me.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on whether this represents official policy.
Former South Carolina Gov. Haley retaliated with a post on the X social media platform urging supporters to contribute to her campaign.
“Well in that case … donate here. Let’s Go!” she said.
Fundraising both supports a U.S. candidate’s campaign initiatives and shows the breadth of their support base. The U.S. Federal Election Campaign Act sets out strict rules and limits on contributions to a candidate’s platform.
Trump clinched a win in the New Hampshire Republican primary this week, stoking questions over whether the race to win the Republican investiture is now over. Haley maintains she does not plan to withdraw. CNBC has learned that billionaire Reid Hoffman is pausing funding her campaign, following the New Hampshire results.
Another high-profile candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, suspended his candidacy on Sunday and endorsed Trump. Dan Eberhart, CEO of oil and drilling services company Canary and a former DeSantis backer, told CNBC Tuesday that he will be heading to Trump’s private club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Feb. 16 to help raise funds against President Joe Biden for the remaining duration of the electoral period. Biden has himself announced intentions to run for a second term.
An outspoken and controversial figurehead during his first presidency, Trump faces 91 felony counts across numerous civil and criminal trials. His potential re-election was top of the conversation agenda of the business and political elite gathered last week at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — though not all attendees were convinced.
“In Davos, Donald Trump is already the president,” Open Society Foundations Chairman Alex Soros said toward the end of the event. “That’s a good thing, because the Davos consensus is always wrong.”
