Ken Griffin, a hedge fund manager, and GOP donor in discussions at the Economic Club of Chicago told the group that he will not be backing President Trump in 2024 if he should decide to launch a third campaign for the White House. This is popularly known in his industry as a ‘terrible investment decision’. In the discussion, Griffin described Trump as “pointlessly divisive,” according to Bloomberg. This could be one of those rare instances wherein a long known political operative completely loses the script.
“I think it’s time for America to move on,” He told Bloomberg TV’s Erik Schatzker.
Griffin has held a long and illustrious history of supporting conservative politicians and causes, boosting Republicans’ war chests by more than $60 million in 2020 alone. But notably, Griffin never gave directly to President Trump’s campaign, seeming to prefer working around the periphery of the America First movement. The hedge fund manager, according to Bloomberg predictably eschewed everything from Trump’s time in the White House that is except for his economic policies.
GOP Billionaire Donor Spouts Democrat Talking Points On Trump And Race
As the conversation moderated by Shatzker went on, Griffin, one of the two billionaires who dominate Chicago politics astonishingly pivoted to some very Democrat-friendly talking points, ascribing a racist or bigoted character to President Trump, particularly against Florida Hispanics who responded extremely well to him in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Griffin showed some serious deficits in his cultural understanding as he misconstrued Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, South, and Central Americans with Mexican, South, and Central American illegal immigrants, whom President Trump very specifically and accurately called out as problematic. He went on to describe these “Hispanics” as merely “build[ing] your houses”, “[serving] your food at restaurants” and playing soccer.
It would seem as though the Chicago magnate needs to examine his own limited view of Florida’s Hispanic cultures before he criticizes a very nation-specific, and policy-specific issue President Trump and a majority of Republicans have with Mexican, South, and Central American illegal immigrants. As “appalled” by President Trump’s supposed “willingness to play identity politics” as he is, he seems to have no issue doing so himself and doing it rather imprecisely and broadly at that. Here is Griffin’s full quote in context. It’s pretty damning.
“The four years under President Trump were so pointlessly divisive. It was not constructive for our country and I, I never actually financially supported the president. He called my office, not he but one of… one of his fundraisers did. One of his very senior fundraisers who I, I knew. And I opened with I grew up in South Florida and i found it incredibly offensive attacks on the Hispanic community because in south Florida when you grow up there those are the people that build your houses, they serve your food at restaurants, and they were my teammates on the soccer field.
And I was so appalled by his willingness to play identity politics that I was never willing to support him. Now his economic policies, by and large, were pretty damn good for America, but his willingness to attack people on the basis of where they came from or their color their skin was completely inappropriate and we need to put that chapter in American history behind us. “