One the biggest and most important money men in the Republican party is endorsing Donald Trump and likely putting cash up later. In this morning’s edition of The Washington Post, Sheldon Adelson officially endorsed his party’s presumptive presidential nominee in glowing op-ed he penned for the paper.
The CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, is one of the nation’s most prominent conservative donors, had previously voiced support for Trump, but in his opinion piece he “strongly encouraged” those voters who might not be warming to the front runner that is time to embrace the New York billionaire.
‘I am endorsing Trump’s bid for president and strongly encourage my fellow Republicans – especially our Republican elected officials, party loyalists and operatives, and those who provide important financial backing – to do the same,’ he wrote.
‘As Republicans, we know that getting a person in the White House with an “R” behind his name is the only way things will get better. That opportunity still exists. We must not cut off our noses to spite our faces.’
“The alternative to Trump being sworn in as the nation’s 45th president is frightening,” Adelson wrote, adding, “Republicans have fought tooth and nail against President Obama” and his agenda.
It should be noted that Adelson and Trump have not always been pals and as a matter of fact when it looked like he might back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in his bid for the GOP nomination the then front runner was quick to let his fellow billionaire know he did not like it.
Trump accused Adelson of picking Rubio because he could make ‘his perfect little puppet’. But Adelson never backed Rubio, setting on the sidelines while waiting to see how things played out. He told The New York Times, last week that Trump ‘won fair and square’.
‘Yes, I’m a Republican, he’s a Republican,’ Adelson said then.
‘He’s our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17 – he was one of the 17. He won fair and square.’
So, Trump has landed as we say in the gaming business “a whale,” and while Trump might not be his favorite candidate Adelson seems pleased with his choice. But in the end in might have been Adelson’s dislike of Hillary Clinton that pushed him into the Trump camp.
