Companies Are Scrambling to Fund Trump’s Inauguration. He’s Keeping Track
Donald Trump’s inaugural committee is expected to raise the most cash in the history of such events — perhaps upward of $150 million, and certainly more than the record $107 million he raised for his first presidential inauguration.
A good chunk of that cash is coming from companies that previously expressed dismay about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that Trump instigated to try to avoid transferring power to President Joe Biden. As The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night, the Trump inaugural fund has received donations or pledges from at least 11 companies or lobbying groups that pledged to cut off or pause their political giving after Jan. 6.
Though it is common for large companies to donate to Democratic and Republican inaugural committees — as somewhat implicit signals that they’re hoping for business-friendly behavior in the new presidential era — there is something extra explicit about the transactional desires during this season’s corporate attempts to shove cash into Trump-related coffers.
Trump himself certainly sees it that way.
In the past few weeks, Trump has at times asked close allies about how much major corporations have donated to the inaugural committee, and has sometimes inquired about specific companies by name, a person with direct knowledge of the matter tells Rolling Stone.
Earlier this month, when the president-elect asked about one big-name corporation and was told it hadn’t donated, Trump replied, “Well, they better do it soon then,” this source adds.
This all comes at a time not just when corporate America is scrambling to secure influence in the revival of Trump’s Washington; it comes after Trump and senior members of his government-in-waiting and inner sanctum have openly threatened to use the vast powers of the federal government to retaliate against media properties, prominent companies, nonprofit groups, and others who Trump and co. deem as crossing him too much.
During this Biden-Trump presidential transition, a recent, sudden lawsuit settlement between ABC and Trump — to the tune of roughly $15 million — was widely viewed within ABC News as a “capitulation” by ABC and Disney to the incoming president, as well as the delivery of a large sum of please-don’t-hurt-me cash from a corporate parent that has a lot of business before the government.
The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, organized as a nonprofit, won’t have to publicly disclose its donors for some time, but news reports indicate its raking in big donations from some of America’s best-known corporations.
Some of the top donors include: Amazon ($1 million); AT&T; Bank of America; Charter Communications ($1 million); Coinbase ($1 million); Ford ($1 million); General Motors; Goldman Sachs; Intuit ($1 million); Stanley Black & Decker ($1 million); Toyota ($1 million); and Uber ($1 million, plus another $1 million from its CEO).
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is giving $1 million. The powerful drug lobby Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers, or PhRMA, is kicking in $1 million, as is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.
Axios recently published a list of the special access and perks that major donors are entitled to in the lead-up to his inauguration.
Donors who give $1 million or more are offered six tickets to a MAGA victory rally; six tickets to a Cabinet reception with Trump’s top nominees; two tickets to “an intimate dinner” with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and his wife; six tickets for an interfaith Sunday service with Trump and his wife; a “candlelight” dinner with Trump and Melania; as well as six tickets to Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, the parade, and a starlight ball.
As The New York Times reported, there is no limit on the size of donations to the Trump inaugural committee.
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