Did Trump alienate Adelson? Strained call raises fears among GOP officials

The conversation turned sour when Trump brought up the campaign and accused Adelson of not doing enough to help. 

By David Isaac, World Israel News

President Donald Trump may have alienated his biggest donor in a phone call last week, website Politico reports on Saturday.

Trump spoke with Sheldon Adelson, a Republican financial heavyweight and, in Politico‘s words, “perhaps the only person in the party who can cut a nine-figure check to aid [Trump’s] reelection,” and the conversation turned sour when Trump brought up the campaign and accused Adelson of not doing enough to help.

“One of the people said it was apparent the president had no idea how much Adelson, who’s donated tens of millions of dollars to pro-Trump efforts over the years, had helped him. Adelson chose not to come back at Trump,” Politico reports.

Adelson made his fortune in the gambling business. He is chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

As news of the call spread, GOP officials grew worried that the president had angered one of his most important supporters. “They rushed to smooth things over with him, but the damage may have been done,” Politico reports.

Trump needs financial help from big hitters more than ever. According to the report, the White House is “overwhelmed by a flood of liberal super PAC spending that his party has failed to match.”

The report quotes one GOP donor, Dan Eberhart, who said, “We are getting clobbered.”

“The left-leaning super PACs are bringing a lot more air support to team Biden than the ones on the right are bringing to team Trump, unfortunately,” he said.

Some billionaires have donated to a super PAC to help protest the Republican’s Senate majority. Less so for Trump’s campaign. The report lists several possible reasons, including the fact that Trump is trailing in the polls, that Trump himself is less enthusiastic about reaching out to billionaires to ask for help, and that businessmen are worried about negative effects to their businesses if they’re seen as supporting Trump.

A Republican strategist, Ken Spain, told Politico that victory will not be decided by a lack of resources, as both candidates have enough. “The Democratic donor class has coalesced and built a rival apparatus to that of the Trump campaign and its allies,” he said.

The Trump-Adelson call was reported first by The New York Times.

Donald TrumpGOPSheldon Adelson