Trump’s Biggest Donor Just Deserted Him

President Trump’s polling numbers may soon be the least of his concerns. Vanity Fair recently reported that one of Trump’s former top donors, the Mercer family, is deserting him.

“It’s like they’ve disappeared,” a former West Wing official said.

“Crickets. They’re gone,” another well-known Republican strategist added. The lack of funding has not been lost on the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the former West Wing official.

“Jared doesn’t like what’s going on. He basically believes the RNC should be doing a lot better.”

Though the father of three might have been fretting before, Trump’s recent haul of $25 million after his rally in Orlando might assuage his anxiety.

Nonetheless, the fact that mega-donors are not as enthusiastic this time around is worrying for Trump’s camp. For the Mercers, part of their removed support is down to their belief that Trump is not accomplishing his agenda.

“They think that the administration could do so much more. They’ve been very vocal about that to the president,” a source close to the Mercers told the publication.

Another source, an executive from hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, a firm where Bob Mercer was previously CEO, echoed similar claims.

“Bob views all his political spending as a bad investment.”

The Mercers first came into the Trump circle through their connection to Steve Bannon, former Breitbart editor. The family’s financial support was generous, with Bob Mercer donating an estimated $15.5 million to multiple organizations that helped elect Trump. He and his wife also donated $1 million for the inaugural committee.

However, their support also delivered a harsh spotlight onto the family.

“This whole thing did not end up well for them,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump adviser.

“They’ve been destroyed,” said a former West Wing official.

Bob Mercer views his big spending on Trump as a bad investment:https://t.co/cHWinWPOCX

— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) June 18, 2019

The Mercers’ public support of Trump reportedly caused Bob Mercer to be ousted from Renaissance Technologies, the most profitable hedge fund in the world. The founder of the fund, James Simons, is one of the country’s biggest Democratic donors.

It also resulted in an unflattering exposé in The New Yorker on the shy and nerdy Mercer patriarch, Bob. Most problematic for the family, however, was the FBI opening an investigation into Cambridge Analytica, which Bob Mercer helped to found. The company was accused of stealing private data from more than 50 million Facebook profiles to help Trump’s social media strategy.

“The Cambridge investigation really spooked them,” said a source. In fact, it spooked the Mercers enough that they decided to shut the company down in May.

Though the Mercers have still donated to Trump since then – in 2018 the Mercers donated a cool $400,000 to the pro-Trump Great America PAC – it is far from the levels of before, and reportedly likely to stay that way.