Numerous Wall Street executives are stopping their resistance to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign, CNBC reported.
With Trump’s ascent toward becoming the potential Republican nominee, Wall Street executives have strategically opted not to express verbal resistance to him, over 12 individuals familiar with the situation told CNBC. Some executives are even open-minded to backing Trump over President Joe Biden. (RELATED: Nikki Haley Meets With BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Other Wall Street Elites)
“A lot of people on Wall Street have been living in this pipe dream of Trump not getting the nomination. People were in the first stage of [grief], denial,” a private equity firm executive told CNBC anonymously. “Now they’re trying to get their heads around the fact that Trump could be the nominee.”
The screen behind Trump at his rally in Manchester, NH says “Nikki Haley is loved by Democrats, Wall Street & Globalists” pic.twitter.com/kxNvSBZWvD
— Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) January 21, 2024
Trump has an approximate 19-point lead over former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in New Hampshire at 57% to 38%, according to a Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe poll. He won the Iowa caucus with 51% support.
Trump is also currently beating Biden in a potential 2024 rematch at 46.6% to 44.6%, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
“It’s painful for me to admit this, but Wall Street is basically nonchalant to this election,” Wall Street executive and former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci told The Hill. “I think they view Donald Trump by and large as benign to somewhat beneficial to the economy and business, despite the fact that he spent $7.8 trillion of additional deficit spending.”
Wall Street executives may want to stay out of politics “unless there is some catastrophic crisis” so as not to exacerbate division among their various stakeholders, Yale School of Management Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld told CNBC.
“They are not out there to be political ward heelers. They are not out there doing door-to-door campaign solicitations. They are there to run their companies,” Sonnenfeld said.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump on Sunday. Following DeSantis’ loss in Iowa, Trump allies reached out to the governor’s Wall Street backers to bring them aboard, individuals with knowledge of the situation told CNBC.
Several of DeSantis’ backers are strongly thinking about assisting with fundraising for Trump over Biden, or have already reached the conclusion to do so, the individuals told CNBC.
“I think most [Wall Street executives] have resigned themselves to a Trump primary win and don’t want to throw good money after bad trying to stop him,” Signum Global Advisors Chairman Charles Myers told CNBC. “The next question is, ‘will Wall Street work to stop him in the general by supporting Biden?’”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has become less critical of Trump as he has achieved better poll numbers, according to CNBC. Dimon acknowledged Trump was correct about several important issues on Wednesday, where he was speaking to CNBC from the World Economic Forum.
“If you look, just take a step back, be honest. [Trump is] kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration,” Dimon said. “He grew the economy quite well, tax reform worked. He was right about some of China.”
Scaramucci, Sonnenfeld, Myers and Dimon did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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