Donald Trump breaks all records for private donation collection for his inauguration

“Everyone wants to be my friend!!!”exclaimed President-elect Donald Trump on his Truth social account on December 19. Let it be judged: after distancing themselves from the former President of the United States during his first term, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and OpenAI paraded through his residence from Mar-a-Lago in Florida. At the same time, and with the same objective in mind – to ingratiate themselves with the future tenant of the White House – these same American leaders have been more than generous in their donations to the various investiture committees. A tradition which gained momentum with the arrival of the billionaire on the political scene in 2016. The New York Times revealed this Wednesday the provisional results of the collection of donations for the inauguration of the real estate magnate: 200 million dollars , more than double the sums collected by his predecessors on the same occasion.

Already in January 2017, the inauguration committee of the 45th president had broken all records by collecting 107 million dollars. “It’s a well-established tradition in Washington that businesses welcome with enthusiasm”declared to the NYT David Tamasi, lobbyist who is participating in the fundraising. In 1997, Bill Clinton limited individual contributions to $100, while George W. Bush set limits of $100,000 (2001) and $250,000 (2005). In 2021, Joe Biden preferred to ban contributions from lobbyists and fossil fuel companies and their executives. In 2009, Barack Obama banned contributions from corporations, political action committees, unions and lobbyists and capped individual contributions at $50,000. But after lifting certain restrictions for his second inauguration in 2013, the 44th president of the United States raised $8 million less than in 2009.

Conversely, the second inauguration of Donald Trump has already exceeded the previous edition of 2017 by almost 100 million dollars. Certainly, the president-elect did not impose any restrictions on the amounts or nature of donors, a first. And the enthusiasm of American business leaders is mainly due to their hope of approaching the beachheads of the future administration.

Accessing ceremonies, a challenge

Unsurprisingly, tech giants are among the biggest donors this year, according to the democratic think tank Public Citizen, which relies on statements in the press. We of course find Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, whose posture towards Donald Trump recently changed during the presidential campaign this fall. Ditto for Mark Zuckerberg, boss of Meta, who had been threatened with imprisonment by the future president on several occasions. But the cryptocurrency community, which was also very active during the campaign, did not forget to come forward. Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of cryptocurrency company Ripple, told the NYT of his willingness to donate $5 million in XRP, his cryptocurrency developed and controlled exclusively by his company. The projections also show the broker Robinhood Financial in second place in the ranking. This company has also bet on the crypto-currency market in recent months and has the good taste to use the service of the same lobbyist as Ripple, Brian Ballard, “one of Trump’s main fundraisers”raise the New York Time.

But even with beautiful gestures of generosity, few are guaranteed to attend the inauguration events, an opportunity to approach the president's entourage. According to the Wall Street Journalrelayed by L’Opinion this Thursday, January 16, “the official inauguration festivities have been sold out since the beginning of January.” “Some donors who signed six-figure checks asked consultants to help them access the festivities, but saw their requests rejected”testify people close to the case.