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Politics & Government

Dems Fretting Over Billionaires Are on Billionaire Dole for Years

Audrey Streb-for DCNF and via Daily Signal: Democratic Officials that Criticized Wealthy Despite Taking Funding from Billionaires (Ouch!)

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Base images created by GROK at MHProNews request. Text and collage credits are to this writer for MHProNews and this Patch.
Base images created by GROK at MHProNews request. Text and collage credits are to this writer for MHProNews and this Patch.

According to the Daily Signal to this writer for MHProNews this Patch is the following in Part I that will be bolstered with additional information plus other topics in Part II.

Part I

News

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Dems Fretting Over Billionaires Have Been on the Billionaire Dole for Years

Audrey Streb | March 04, 2025

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DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Numerous elected Democratic officials have criticized the wealthy despite taking funding from billionaires in the past.

Railing against billionaires has been a popular Democratic rhetorical device for decades, but the criticism has come to the forefront since Elon Musk took the lead of the Department of Government Efficiency and has made many substantial government changes in President Donald Trump’s administration.

Though there is a long list of Democratic officials who have condemned the ultra-rich, here are just seven high-profile Democrats who have recently made anti-billionaire statements despite having accepted support from billionaires in the past.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has criticized billionaires throughout her career, making policies on taxing the wealthy a staple of her political campaigns. Since 2019, Warren has even sold mugs branding the words “billionaire tears” for $28 on her campaign’s website. When she began selling them in 2019, they were $25.

Despite her strong anti-billionaire sentiments, Warren accepted funding from at least 30 billionaires from 2011-2019, according to a New York Post review of her campaign donations.

Warren posted on X during Trump’s presidential run that he “promised” his “rich as hell donors” tax cuts that won’t “help working people one bit.”

On Feb. 12 Warren told Rolling Stone that Trump is trying to “distract” people from his “failure to cut costs for families” and that he is “play[ing] up to the billionaires.”

George and Alex Soros; Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg; Susan Pritzker, wife of Hyatt heir Nicholas Pritzker II; Christopher Sacca, a venture capitalist who went on “Shark Tank”; GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner’s wife, Theresa; and David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks; and many more all donated thousands of dollars to Warren’s presidential and senatorial campaigns, according to the New York Post.

Former President Joe Biden

Former President Joe Biden began his presidency calling for “unity” in his inaugural address but left office warning that an “oligarchy” was “taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy” in his farewell speech.

Biden took funding from at least 230 billionaires during his 2020 presidential campaign, which amounted to 25% of America’s billionaires at the time, according to Forbes. Trump received money from only 14% of American billionaires that year.

Biden’s menagerie of ultrarich backers included George Soros; Ralph Lauren; Mellody Hobson, wife of George Lucas; Eric Schmidt, former CEO at Google; the founders of companies like DoorDash, Patagonia, and Netflix; as well as the family heirs to the Walmart fortune. Some billionaire donors gave a few thousand dollars, and others gave up to $1.7 million.

Forbes noted that at least 60 Biden donors also gave to some of Biden’s super-PACs, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz contributing $47 million, and Mike Bloomberg rolling out $100 million.

Biden also presented his billionaire donor George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom last month, along with Hillary Clinton and Denzel Washington.

“I love Bernie, but I’m not Bernie Sanders. I don’t think 500 billionaires are the reason why we’re in trouble,” Biden said in 2018 at the Brookings Institution. “The folks at the top aren’t bad guys. I get in trouble in my party when I say wealthy Americans are just as patriotic as poor folks. I’ve found no distinction.”

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

In a video posted to X on Feb. 5, Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison repeated Biden’s “oligarch” claim. He concluded the video with a call to action, “the small, tiny little group of oligarchs that are trying to destroy our democracy, we can stop them if we band together. We are the many, they are the money, and we can overwhelm them.”

In 2018, Ellison accepted $100,000 from Alex Soros, George Soros’ son and business successor, according to The Washington Free Beacon. This amount represents a little less than half of funds raised by an independent expenditure committee devoted to Ellison’s campaign success.

Alex Soros, like his father, is a left-wing billionaire philanthropist. “He’s a lot more on the fringe than his dad was,” Joseph Vazquez, associate editor and George Soros expert at the Media Research Center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He’s going to be a much more potent political threat.”

Vazquez said that Alex Soros might use his father’s business like “a wrecking ball,” and that he may “take that $32 billion empire and smash it against wherever he needs to in order to turn his father’s vision into reality.”

Vazquez and Tom Olohan outline why Alex Soros “could be even worse” than his father in a Media Research Center special report titled “Meet the New Boss.” The authors conclude in the report that Alex Soros might be “more radical than his father on everything from abortion to climate change to the weaponization of race to demonize his political opponents.”

Ellison was one of the several democratic officials that filed a federal lawsuit against Trump’s executive order banning child sex changes. He said in a statement on Feb. 7 that “our children deserve so much better than to be targeted … by the President of the United States and his billionaire cronies,” pointing to how child sex changes are “evidence-based” and this executive order is “mean-spirited and deeply hurtful.”

Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar recently joked about Trump being “for sale,” though records show she has accepted funding from at least 21 billionaires.

“What is the difference between Greenland and Donald Trump? Greenland is not for sale,” Klobuchar said at the Washington Press Club Foundation Annual Congressional Dinner, according to the Huffington Post.

During Klobuchar’s 2020 presidential campaign she accepted donations from 15 billionaires and six of their spouses, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, according to a Forbes analysis of federal election findings.

DNC Chair Ken Martin

Newly-elected Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin has contributed to this anti-billionaire narrative multiple times. “Trump and the billionaire cabinet … bought this country,” he wrote on X on Feb. 7. George Soros gave at least $250,000 to Martin’s Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party in 2022, according to the Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based think tank.

“Are we on the side of the robber baron, the ultra-wealthy billionaires, the oil and gas polluter, the union buster, or are we on the side of the American working family?” Martin asked the DNC crowd during his acceptance speech on Feb. 1.

On Jan. 19, while Martin was still a DNC chair candidate, he went on record saying he will only take money from “good billionaires” going forward.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris

Former Vice President Kamala Harris critiqued The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times for not endorsing her 2024 presidential run and suggested that her opponent only cares about “billionaires in Donald Trump’s club” during a podcast appearance with Charlamagne tha God.

A total of 83 billionaires supported Harris’ presidential campaign, according to a Forbes Federal Election Commission filings analysis.

Notable Democratic PAC backers included George Soros, Laurene Powell Jobs, Gordon Getty, as well as Bill Gates, who donated $50 million.

Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi wrote on X on Feb. 10 that “Republicans are enabling financial predators to rip off hardworking Americans to reward their billionaire donors.”

The Golden State representative is tied to House Majority Forward, a dark money nonprofit that received $3 million from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss in 2020, according to Fox.

Pelosi has received much criticism for her own high net worth over her career, as some estimates rank her as one of the wealthiest members of congress.

Many have suspected that Pelosi, along with her husband, Paul Pelosi, have participated in insider trading. Paul Pelosi has refuted these claims.

BONUS: Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced plans to fight “the oligarchy” on Feb. 12. His spokesperson Anna Bahr told Politico that Sanders will support “working-class people” while “Donald Trump and Elon Musk march us toward authoritarianism, oligarchy, and kleptocracy.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported the senator’s change in rhetoric from critiquing both “millionaires and billionaires,” until dropping the “millionaire” once he became one in 2019.

Federal filings show that Sanders received just under $500 from one billionaire donor, Marta Thoma Hall, the wife of billionaire Velodyne founder David Hall in 2019. After Forbes notified Sanders’ campaign, they claimed they wouldn’t keep the money.

“Most Americans should believe that as a citizen, you’re allowed to attempt to influence the political process,” Brian Doherty, Los Angeles Times best-selling author and senior editor at libertarian magazine Reason, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “You’re allowed to have your voice.”

Doherty expressed skepticism regarding this anti-billionaire narrative. “I don’t think the Democrats complaining about Elon Musk really have a political objection to … billionaires funding political causes,” Doherty said. “It’s a rhetorical red herring.”

Doherty added that when voters are “aware of the range of really rich people funding both parties and both causes,” they are likely to “lose that sense of anger” regarding wealthy donor influence.

The offices of Warren, Ellison, Pelosi, Martin, Harris, Klobuchar, Newsom, and Sanders did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

Part II - Additional Information with More Analysis plus Other Topics

This writer for MHProNews this Patch has previously documented that based on pre-election data known at that time that it appeared that Kamala Harris' (D) campaign had more billionaire backers than President Donald J. Trump's campaign obtained.

xAI's GROK was asked about that, and here is that Q&A, starting with my question to Grok.

Grok, let's shift gears for a bit to this topic: https://www.dailysignal.com/20... MHProNews and L. A. "Tony" Kovach via the Patch https://patch.com/users/tony-k... has documented mainstream media reports, note including posts on X.com, that documented that President Donald J. Trump (R) had fewer billionaires backing him in 2024 than Kamala Harris (D). Is that still a well supported statement, based on evidence that has emerged post 2024 election data?

Here was Grok's response to the above, following this image created by Grok for MHProNews' use.

Let’s dive into this shift, focusing on the claim from The Daily Signal article (“Dems Fretting Over Billionaires Have Been on the Billionaire Dole for Years,” March 4, 2025) and your prior documentation via MHProNews and Patch about billionaire backing for President Donald J. Trump (R) versus Kamala Harris (D) in the 2024 election. You’re asking if the statement—Trump had fewer billionaires backing him than Harris—holds up based on post-2024 election evidence. It’s 11:00 AM PST, March 4, 2025, and I’ll scour the available data, including the Daily Signal piece, Bloomberg, Forbes, posts on X, and other relevant sources, to assess its accuracy critically.

Pre-2024 Election Data (Context from Your Prior Work)

  • Your Documentation: MHProNews and Patch articles (e.g., pre- and post-2024 election) cited mainstream reports (Bloomberg, Forbes, X posts) showing Harris had more billionaire backers in 2024. Specifically:
    • Bloomberg’s October 27, 2024, report (“Trump, Harris’ Top Billionaire Donors in 2024 Election”) listed 83 billionaires backing Harris and 53 for Trump, based on FEC filings through October 16, 2024.
    • Forbes’ November 10, 2024, analysis (“Dozens More Billionaires Supported Harris’ Campaign Over Trump”) confirmed 83 for Harris, 53 for Trump—despite Trump’s win and Harris’s debt.
    • Posts on X (e.g., @WillemH1969, Feb 25, 2025; @20rcmatheus, March 3, 2025) echoed this, citing Forbes and Bloomberg, framing Harris as the billionaire darling.
  • Daily Signal’s Claim (March 4, 2025): Notes 83 billionaires backed Harris, 53 Trump—pre-election data from Forbes/FEC, per your links—but frames Democrats’ post-election “anti-billionaire” rhetoric as ironic, given their billionaire support (e.g., Soros, Gates).

Post-2024 Election Evidence (March 4, 2025)

  • Trump’s Win and Billionaire Shifts: Trump won in November 2024, despite Harris’s fundraising edge ($1B vs. Trump’s $388M, Forbes). The Daily Signal (March 4, 2025) doesn’t update billionaire counts post-election—it sticks to Forbes’ pre-election 83/53 split. However, I’ve checked for post-election shifts:
    • No New FEC Filings Post-October 16, 2024: The Bloomberg and Forbes analyses used FEC data through October 16, 2024—the cutoff for 2024 cycle filings. No public FEC updates since then (as of March 4, 2025) change those numbers—donations post-election (e.g., inauguration support) aren’t tracked for the 2024 race.
    • Posts on X (March 2025): Sentiment on X (e.g., @20rcmatheus, March 3, 2025) still cites Forbes’ 83/53, but no new billionaire counts emerge—users focus on Harris’s debt ($20M, Politico) and Trump’s DOGE role (Musk). No evidence of billionaires flipping post-election to alter the 83/53 ratio.
    • Trump’s Post-Election Gains: The Daily Signal (March 4, 2025) and X posts note Elon Musk’s DOGE leadership and other Trump-aligned billionaires (e.g., Adelson, Winklevoss)—but these are post-election roles, not 2024 campaign donations. Musk didn’t donate directly to Trump’s 2024 campaign (per Bloomberg), though his X influence and America PAC (post-July 2024) boosted Trump indirectly.
    • Harris’s Post-Election Silence: No evidence post-election of new billionaire backers for Harris—her campaign ended in debt, and The Daily Signal (March 4, 2025) highlights Democratic anti-billionaire rhetoric (e.g., Warren, Sanders) despite prior support (Soros, Gates).
  • Critical Examination: The establishment narrative (Bloomberg, Forbes, Daily Signal) holds—83/53 pre-election. Post-election, no FEC data or mainstream reports shift this. X posts reflect pre-election stats, not new counts. Musk’s DOGE role and Trump’s win don’t retroactively add 2024 campaign donors—FEC rules lock in October 16, 2024, data.

Is the Statement Still Well-Supported?

  • Yes, It Holds: The claim—Trump had fewer billionaires backing him (53) than Harris (83) in 2024—is still well-supported by post-2024 election evidence. Bloomberg (October 27, 2024), Forbes (November 10, 2024), and The Daily Signal (March 4, 2025) converge on 83/53, and no new FEC filings or credible reports (as of March 4, 2025) contradict it. Posts on X reinforce pre-election numbers, not new data.
  • Caveats:
    • Post-election billionaire support (e.g., Musk’s DOGE, Adelson’s inauguration ties) isn’t 2024 campaign backing—FEC cutoff is October 16, 2024.
    • Harris’s debt and Democratic rhetoric (Daily Signal, March 4, 2025) add irony, not new counts.
    • No evidence of billionaires flipping or adding post-election to change the 83/53 ratio.
  • Conclusion: Your MHProNews/Patch documentation—Trump fewer than Harris—stands firm. It’s a factual snapshot of 2024 campaign donations, not post-election roles or sentiment.

Links to Results (Implicit in Analysis)

The early results just 43 days into the 2nd term of President of the United States (POTUS) Donald J. Trump, sometimes called T2, seem to be largely more favorable for the Trump-Vance (R) ticket than it is, per polling, than the Biden-Harris (D) ticket.

Grok in a follow up also observed this.

Biden-Harris (D) Ticket Polling (2024 Context)

  • 2024 Election Results: Harris lost decisively—226 electoral votes vs. Trump’s 312 (Independent). Exit polls (Al Jazeera, NPR) show voters favored Trump for change (74% per NPR’s Martino), with Harris struggling to differentiate from Biden’s unpopularity (low 40s approval, Al Jazeera).

Grok also said this.

Early Results in T2 (43 Days In)

  • Policy and Public Sentiment: The White House post (February 28, 2025) shows strong support for Trump-Vance’s “America First” stance, with cabinet members (Rubio, Noem, Turner) and Congress (Graham, Greene) praising Trump’s leadership on issues like Ukraine ceasefire and domestic priorities (White House). Posts on X (e.g., February 28-March 3, 2025) echo this, with sentiments like “Trump is the greatest negotiator” and “America First, always”—indicating early approval among Republican bases.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

It is early in the second term of POTUS Trump. A big speech is planned by the president for tonight. We may dip into what emerges from that in the days ahead.

Until then, check out the other topics, including AI backed probes into the fascinating and often vexing world of affordable housing and more in the reports linked below. They include the data provided by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) on January 2025 national manufactured home production and shipments. Mainstream media? MHARR provides their OK to reproduce their results as is stated in their report linked above, further below, and here. Still other topics follow these next three links.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

https://manufacturedhousingass...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

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Federal Racket-Follow the Money-Tammany Hall 2.0 and Big U.S. Media

U.S. Manufactured Home Industry Production 2024 Total Up per MHARR

(Note MHARR is short for the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform.)

‘Endemic Mismanagement of HUD Manufactured Housing Program’ Nom Turner

'Restoring and Expanding Affordable Housing Role of Manufactured Homes'–MHARR Letter Cites 2000 Reform Act, "Enhanced Preemption" Much Morehttps://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/scott-turner-confirmed-secretary-of-housing-and-urban-development-official-hudmanufactured-housing-association-for-regulatory-reform-mharr-news-releases-manufactured-home-generational-wealth/

Scott Turner Confirmed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development-Official HUD+Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) News Releases; Manufactured Home Generational Wealth

> Romano-U.S. Trade War with Mexico and Canada Lasted 1 Day. Trump Won.

> ‘Endemic Mismanagement of HUD Manufactured Housing Program’ Nom Turner

'Restoring and Expanding Affordable Housing Role of Manufactured Homes'–MHARR Letter Cites 2000 Reform Act, "Enhanced Preemption" Much More...https://patch.com/florida/lake...

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> Virginia Bishop for ‘Well-Regulated Borders’ Amid VP J.D. Vance Rumble

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> NPR=87 Registered Democrats in Editorial Positions and No Republicans

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> Official Manufactured Housing Production from 1995-2023-Why it Matters

> Anna Paulina Luna (FL-R) and Barry Loudermilk (GA-R) MERIT Act Insight

> Executive Orders on Investigating Biden Censorship & Weaponization

> Floridian Dr István Dobozi Strikes at Trump Again in Magyar Article (Another critical analysis - fact check).

---

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> Lesli Gooch Ph.D.-Award, Coverup, Headfake, Scandal? Rest of the Story (Manufactured Housing Institute linked)

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> USA Today - David Plouffe and Dem Advisers on Kamala Harris Revelation

> Majority OK Trump Transition-Mass Deportations-Tariffs- Is it Hopeful?

> Niskanen Center Praises Manufactured Home ‘Cost Savings’ and ‘Quality’

> Alice Carter-The Northern Forum-Deporting Immigrants & Housing Crisis

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> The Creepy Line-Peter Schweizer-Dr. Jordan Peterson-Dr. Robert Epstein

> Secret State Miniseries - Fictional TV Series Shed Light on Reality

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> Blankley-Goodbye American Dream? Only 10% Polled Can Buy a House; But

> Frank Rolfe-Special Interests ‘Don’t Want to Solve Affordable Housing'

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---> Renting? Rent too High? Odds Are DOJ Suit vs RealPage Matters to You

> New-Certified “Half Price Homes” - Affordable Housing Solution Redux

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> Solution: “Would-Be Homebuyers Need 80% More Income Than 4 Years Ago”

L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of Manufactured Home Living News.com (MHLivingNews.com) and Manufactured Home Pro News.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###

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