Billionaire investor Bill Ackman offered a scathing take on what one political party should hope for in the 2024 presidential election.
What Happened: Ackman, who supports former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump, posted on X.com: “The best thing that can happen for long-term supporters of the Democratic Party is for this election to be a massive loss for the party. That’s the only way the party will reform itself.”
Ackman, who recently reneged on a plan to bring his U.S. closed-end fund public, often disparages Democrats on social media. The latest slight comes as Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris raised over $41 million in 24 hours after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was added to the ticket.
So far, Harris raised $310 million in total (66% of donations can from first-time contributors).
She is also ahead of Trump by four points in the latest Morning Consult poll and gained endorsements from hundreds of big-name investors, including billionaire Mark Cuban.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, have also gained support from major investors and company founders, including Elon Musk.
Ackman’s gripe with the Democratic Party stems from allegations that it shut out competition during the primary. Recall how he pledged $1 million to a long-shot candidate, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, to run against President Joe Biden.
Philips dropped out of the race after he lost every state primary, including Minnesota, to Biden.
The Democratic Party “misled the public about the health of the president,” Ackman said Tuesday. “When something is totally and fundamentally broken, the best thing to do is to start over. We won’t see a reboot of the party unless it takes a massive loss in this election. Please vote accordingly.”
In a separate post, Ackman acknowledged a thought about founders not being allowed to share their political views:
“Sad but true. Imagine if we could live in a world where people could share their political views without fear of career damaging consequences.”
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Ackman Got His Wish
For months, Ackman pushed for the Democratic Party to replace Biden with a candidate who can compete against Trump.
Last September, Ackman called on Biden to make way for “a flurry of alternative candidates,” suggesting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon as options.
A potential rematch of the 2020 presidential election between Biden and Trump was “not the best option for America,” Ackman said at the time. “It would be great for us to be brought together by a more centrist candidate that members of both parties can vote for.”
In January, Ackman again argued that the Democratic Party should pick a new candidate.
“If the Democrat party wants to have a chance of putting up a candidate who can compete with Trump, it needs to quickly get behind a strong, credible contender for President, and Biden needs to step aside,” Ackman said.
Ackman’s wish came true when Biden withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed Harris for president on July 21. Just two days later, Harris secured the backing of a majority of the Democratic delegates.
And now the hedge fund manager says Democrats should hope to lose the 2024 election against Trump, the Republican candidate he “formally” endorsed on July 13.
“I assure you that I have made this decision carefully, rationally, and by relying on as much empirical data as possible,” Ackman tweeted.
Ackman said his endorsement shouldn’t be a surprise based on his “supportive posts of Trump” and his “criticisms of Biden.”
But Ackman wasn’t always supportive of the current GOP nominee. On Jan. 6, 2021, Ackman tweeted at Trump, urging him “to resign and apologize to all Americans.”
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