Recently, billionaire activist Nelson Peltz stated that he would be supporting former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election, ditching the Democrat party over concerns about the state of the nation and President Biden’s mental capabilities.
The 81-year-old founder of the $10bn investment firm Trian Partners cited his concerns about Biden’s cognitive fitness, noting that the president’s “mental condition is really scary.” Peltz added, “I don’t know what he knows and I don’t know what he doesn’t know. I don’t know who’s speaking for him and that’s troubling.”
Furthermore, the billionaire spoke about rampant illegal immigration under the Biden administration, claiming that the country is “degrading” amid the unsecured southern border with Mexico. “We can’t go on letting everyone into this country . . . We have an immigration problem — it’s not a Republican or Democrat problem,” said Peltz. However, he stated that the U.S. should not entirely stop all legal immigration, “but I want some boundaries put on it so we know at least who we’re bringing in.”
In light of these dire issues the country faces, Peltz noted that he will begrudgingly support Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. “It will probably be Trump and I’m not happy about that,” he explained. While the businessman may be casting his vote for Trump on the ballot, he has not decided whether he will financially support the GOP frontrunner. Moreover, Peltz stated that he hasn’t spoken to the former president in “quite a while” depsite being neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.
According to Federal Election Commission filings data, Peltz has significantly contributed to Republican political causes over the past couple of years. The billionaire donated over $300,000 to GOP candidates in 2023 and over $600,000 in 2022 between Republican politicians and conservative initiatives.
However, Peltz’s past political involvement proves that he isn’t a card-carrying member of the Republican party, where he voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 and Al Gore in 2000. He also gave funding to Democrats in 2022. “I’m not one of these crazies who’s Republican or nothing,” Peltz maintains.
Peltz also supported Trump in 2020 but quickly regretted his support following the Capitol protests on January 6, 2021. He claimed that his role in the incident and his alleged attempt to overturn the election result had “irrevocably damaged his legacy.”
“I said I did regret voting for him because for me the Capitol is one of the sacred grounds, and the last time anybody attacked the White House it was the Brits in 1812,” Peltz claimed. “And I thought that was pretty bad. I was convinced at that time that Trump might have incited it.”
Other prominent business leaders in America have also thrown their support behind Donald Trump, stressing how important this election cycle will be. The America Tribune reported on comments from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed America is “doomed” if the country does not receive a “red wave” of voters come November. “There is either a red wave this November or America is doomed. Imagine four more years of this getting worse,” Musk wrote on X, responding to a post on illegal immigration.
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