Ackman Joins Musk in Endorsing Trump After Assassination Attempt

Immediately after the Saturday assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the billionaire Bill Ackman followed another pro-Trump magnate, Elon Musk, in endorsing the former president’s current run.

Less than an hour after the shooting, Musk took to his X platform to post a video of Trump pumping his fist in defiance after the assassination attempt, along with a brief message endorsing Trump and wishing him a rapid recovery. On Friday, Musk had donated a “sizable” amount to a Trump-aligned PAC, but had not formally endorsed the former President.

In a lengthy X post, Ackman stated that he had declined to endorse Trump as it might cause Biden supporters to ignore what he had to say, and that he made the decision to endorse Trump “carefully, rationally, and by relying on as much empirical data as possible.” 

These endorsements by two prominent billionaires come at a time when numerous Democratic donors have grown hesitant towards donating to Biden after a poor June 27 debate performance. Currently, donors are withholding $90 million from Biden’s Future Forward PAC, a number which includes multiple individual commitments upwards of $10 million. 

As The American Conservative reported in late June, Trump and the RNC went from a $100 million cash disadvantage in March to a slight advantage in the aftermath of the former President’s May 30 conviction.