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Captain Tripps's avatar

Good data; thanks for collecting and parsing Steve. It's important for Americans to know and "follow the money".

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Thomas Jones's avatar

Hoffman / Hastings, Blackstone / Blackrock. Not only do I also stumble on these, I was stumbling on them at the very moment you pointed them out here. I ought to do better, Stephen Schwartzman has funded the massive new and not unattractive humanities building in Oxford, whose progress I have been following.

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Towne Acres Football Trust's avatar

Blackstone came first, founded by steve schwartzman and others, and is mainly a private equity megafund.

Blackrock was founded by larry fink, originally as an offshoot of blackstone, and is an asset manager (Etfs, index funds).

Anyone can buy into etfs and index funds, but private equity investing is restricted to accredited investors.

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Ralph L's avatar

I didn't know we ranked ethnicities in the US. I'm so naive (which doesn't pass Sub. spellcheck).

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Craig in Maine's avatar

I don’t have the patience to add these columns, but they clearly total to many billions of dollars.

This colossal heap of money is what sustains the power and influence of our political parties…the same parties that sifted through our 150 million or so citizens 35 years or older and decided that Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the best to become president.

I think I’ll play golf today instead of worrying about this.

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Ralph L's avatar

Tim Mellon's sister divorced John Warner a few years before he married Elizabeth Taylor and got to the Senate after the actually conservative nominee died in a plane crash. Perhaps her experience put her off political donations.

The negative amounts are interesting. Are those widely available?

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Derek Leaberry's avatar

Just a couple off-the-wall comments.

First, why are these exceedingly rich people blowing money on elections when they are invulnerable to the machinations of either party? These people are so rich they don't really need access. And these people won't be expropriated like a Medieval baron who backed the wrong side in a royal dispute.

Second, if you want to decide whether a woman is of the left or the right, just look to see whether they kept their maiden name. If they kept the surname their daddy gave them, they're on the left. If they took the surname of their husband, they're on the right. This isn't 100 % accurate but it is a general rule. And if you are a man who lets his wife keep her surname, you're probably on the left. There are oddities in my formulation like Mitch McConnell(alleged conservative) and his wife Coco Chow but they are few.

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JMcG's avatar

They may be invulnerable, but Israel is not. It costs a lot of money to keep a couple of USN carrier groups in the Persian Gulf to shield Israel from missile attack. There’s only one country in the world that can do that, and it’s bought and paid for.

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Philippe Payant's avatar

At a certain point money is less about satisfying your own needs and more a means of exercising power over the world.

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Boulevardier's avatar

I know that jurisprudence has determined that campaign donations = free speech, but looking at these figures and our politics, I can’t help think that we need to amend the Constitution.

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IHTG's avatar

"She’s also a big supporter of Likud in Israel." Not anymore! Miri likes Bennett.

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RevelinConcentration's avatar

Starting to understand why leftists hate Tesla so much! We can’t have an even playing field in politics!

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FPD72's avatar

In the Taki article you refer to Timothy Dunn as obscure. Maybe nationally but in Texas he is well known. Hardly a month goes by without the Texas Chronicle attacking him or his organization for contributing to and lobbying for conservative causes. He is most interested in education. I worked with him in the late 1980s to create the Midland Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE). He later started and funded the Midland Classical Academy. I’m guessing that he was a major proponent for the Texas Legislature passing a school voucher system.

Unlike many of the contributors he is a devoted family man. He doesn’t spend his money on dissipation but on charitable giving and promoting Constitutional government.

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Frau Katze's avatar

Interesting. The Dems have been off the wall criticizing Israel after Oct 7. The Rs are much more supportive. Not surprised to see something of a shift.

But not all Jews care that much about Israel, so they remain more Dem than not.

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Gary S.'s avatar

What's with the negative numbers? Do parties give back donations?

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Gary S.'s avatar

After the election of 2024, Democratic Party & Kamala Harris campaign spending became a public issue. Unsurprisingly, it resembled Democratic spending of government money.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3222249/how-kamala-harris-plowed-through-1-billion/

https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2024/12/15/even-dems-cant-ignore-it-stench-of-loser-lingers-as-trumps-appeal-grows-says-dnc-member-n2183245

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