Wealthy Cruz Donor Pours Millions Into Clinton CampaignRenaissance Technologies, a hedge fund founded by billionaire James Simons, donated over $13 million to Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed presidential campaign. For a guy who’s supposed to be pretty smart with his money, the ROI on that one has got to sting. Nevertheless, now that Mr. Cruz is out of the race, Mr. Simons has begun pouring millions of dollars into Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, with Renaissance Technologies donating over $2 million to Ms. Clinton so far this election cycle. Euclidean Capital—also owned by Mr. Simons—has given the Clinton campaign over $7 million in contributions, and such figures are likely to increase as Ms. Clinton slowly transitions her attention from Democratic Primary opponent Bernie Sanders to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
Mr. Simons isn’t the only wealthy donor making the move. A number of deep-pocketed elite have given up trying to buy off Republican politicians in order to support Ms. Clinton—the only establishment-friendly candidate of either party remaining in the race. In response, the Clinton campaign has assembled a group dubbed “Republicans for Hillary” to reach wealthy GOP donors. Ms Clinton not only shares over 60 of the same donors with the former Republican candidate Jeb Bush but is also making new efforts to court additional Bush family donors, according to a recent Politico report.
During the Democratic primary, Ms. Clinton branded herself as the pragmatic, realistic progressive choice for Democrats. Now with a comfortable lead in pledged delegates over Mr. Sanders, Ms. Clinton is moving back toward a moderate position in order to garner support from moderate Republicans and Independent voters.
Such a swift transition illuminates what Mr. Sanders’ supporters knew all along: Hillary Clinton is willing to do anything to get elected. This dark reality is a primary reason Mr. Sanders is so reluctant to concede his presidential campaign. If Mr. Sanders doesn’t take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July, his entire platform and millions of loyal supporters will be completely abandoned by the Democratic Party and the DNC.
Lead by Ms. Clinton’s 2008 campaign co-chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee has made it abundantly clear that the Democratic Establishment wants as little to do with Mr. Sanders’ brand of progressivism as possible. In a letter last week, the Sanders campaign warned the DNC of a contested convention after only three committee members of the 45 submitted from the Sanders campaign were selected by Debbie Wasserman Schultz to serve on any of the DNC’s standing committees. Ms. Wasserman Schultz ensured the majority of committee members were loyal and dedicated to Ms. Clinton.
“If we are to have a unified party in the fall—no matter who wins the nomination—we cannot have a Democratic National Convention in which the views of millions of people who participated in the Democratic nominating process are unrepresented in the committee membership appointed by you, the Chair,” Mr. Sanders wrote to Ms. Wasserman Schultz. “It is my hope we can quickly resolve this in a fair way. If the process is set up to produce an unfair, one-sided result, we are prepared to mobilize our delegates to force as many votes as necessary to amend the platform and rules on the floor of the convention.”
Given the history of Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s efforts to rig the Democratic primaries in favor of Ms. Clinton, the only way for Mr. Sanders’ supporters to have their voices heard at the Democratic National Convention will be to continue stepping up against the Democratic establishment. Ms. Wasserman Schultz and the majority of the Democratic Party have made it apparent that their support for Hillary Clinton and her vast array of corporate and wealthy donors takes precedence over the concerns of constituents and the thousands of disenfranchised voters Bernie Sanders has reincorporated into American democracy.
http://observer.com/2016/05/wealthy-cruz-donor-pours-millions-into-clinton-campaign/
