Donald Trump’s collapsing fortune
Last week, I wrote about how President Joe Biden earned the first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)-Council 238, the largest union representing workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since then, the outlook for the Biden campaign has gotten even rosier.
In another first, philanthropist Melinda French Gates revealed in an op-ed for CNN.com, entitled “Why This Election Desperately Matters,” that she’s “supporting Biden this election and asking others to do the same.” Noting that she’s never endorsed a presidential candidate before or even discussed her voting history, French Gates made clear that “this year is different.”
French Gates points out how Biden has been a champion for women and families while Trump “boasts” about curbing women’s rights. Unlike AFGE-Council 238, French Gates is only one person. However, as Axios notes, she is one of the wealthiest women philanthropists in the world, and her unprecedented, enthusiastic endorsement along with a warning against voting for Trump is a “signal boost” for Biden.
Not only are people breaking precedent to declare their support for Biden, but there’s also an indication that certain people who you might expect to take a Republican presidential candidate very seriously are not. In a New York Times op-ed entitled “I Know What America’s Leading C.E.O.s Really Think of Donald Trump,” Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership at the Yale School of Management, cautioned against believing headlines that suggest the nation’s business leaders are embracing Trump.
“That is far from the truth,” Sonnenfeld wrote, pointing out that Trump “continues to suffer from the lowest level of corporate support in the history of the Republican Party.” Although 60%-70% of the roughly 1,000 chief executives Sonnenfeld works with each year are registered Republicans, they largely either like or can tolerate Biden while fearing Trump.
No Fortune 100 CEO has contributed to Trump this year, which indicates “how truly isolated” Trump is from “the halls of big business,” Sonnenfeld wrote. In an interview Monday on CNBC, he added that “there are no Fortune 500 CEOs who are supporting former President Trump,” calling it “a historic break.”
As we inch closer to the November election, we are witnessing a surge of support for Biden in ways that don’t get widespread media coverage. Between unprecedented endorsements and widespread business leader support, the political landscape is continuing to suggest good news for the Biden campaign. While we can’t take anything for granted, there’s no reason not to expect this positive trend to continue in the upcoming months.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month