the president Joe Biden facing a revolt by some of his own party’s wealthy donorsincluding the successor Disney Saying that they will no longer fund the family’s wealth Democratic Party Until Biden dropped out of the presidential race after a disastrous debate performance.
Abigail Disney, the grandson of Roy O. Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, said Thursday that Biden plans not to donate to the party, which he has funded for years, until he leaves the party. The president said that despite his calls, he has no intention of withdrawing from the race.
“I intend to freeze any contributions to the party until we replace Biden at the top.” This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not resign, the Democrats will lose. I am absolutely sure of it. The consequences of the loss will be truly terrible.”
The Democratic Party as a whole has been in a state of panic since Biden struggled to perform debate against former President Donald Trump last week. Representative Lloyd DoggettThe D-Texas called on Biden to drop out, saying his debate performance proved to voters that the president can’t take on Trump and go the distance in the election.
New York Times/Sienna College request A post-debate poll showed Biden trailing Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters.
Biden campaign representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Abigail Disney is a longtime Democrat. He gave $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate political action committee in April, according to the Federal Election Commission. According to OpenSecrets, the PAC gave $35,000 to Democrats running for congressional seats.
In 2014, Disney gave $150,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the health care nonprofit, according to OpenSecrets. The PAC spent more than $400,000 supporting Democrats this election cycle, including $26,000 for Biden.
Disney has touted Vice President Kamala Harris as a solid alternative to Biden, arguing that she could defeat Trump.
“We have an excellent vice president. If Democrats tolerated any of his perceived shortcomings as much as Biden did, if only one-tenth (and let’s not delude ourselves about where race and gender figure in this injustice), and if Democrats could find a way to stop the debate and rally around it, we’d have a big win in this election. we can win by a margin,” said Disney.
He’s not the only one to hold off on gifts until Biden resigns. Gideon Stein, president of the Moriah Foundation, said he had decided to freeze $3.5 million in donations to nonprofits and political organizations relevant to the presidential race.
“Joe Biden has been a very effective president, but if he doesn’t sideline my family and I don’t stop the more than $3 million in planned donations to nonprofits and political organizations relevant to the presidential race, except for some down-ballot work,” Stein said. “Almost every major donor I’ve talked to believes we need a new candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”
Karla Jurvetson, a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, said at a private donor call on Tuesday that she agreed with ideas to freeze donations until Biden resigns and could end such a move. The person was given anonymity to speak freely about the private conversation.
A spokesman for Jurvetson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Jurvetson is among the top 50 donors nationally this time around, having donated more than $5 million to Democrats. OpenSecrets. He gave more than $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this cycle, according to FEC records.
Jurvetson reportedly gave more than $30 million to Democrats in 2020.