In The GOP Presidential Primary, There Is Only Dumb Money

A rant.

Dumb money is a term that institutional investors use for small-dollar retail investors who don’t know all the smart things they know because they have a Bloomberg Terminal. It is also the name of a new movie out about the Gamestop saga.

DUMB MONEY in theaters, stupid money in the news:

Some of the biggest Republican donors in the country will converge next month at the historic Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach for a two-day meeting to rally behind Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The closed gathering, named the “Red Vest Retreat” after the fleece Youngkin wore during his 2021 campaign, will begin Oct. 17 and be focused, officially, on the Republican effort to win full control of the General Assembly in Virginia’s upcoming elections. But unofficially, several donors tell me, it will be an opportunity for them to try to push, if not shove, Youngkin into the Republican presidential race.

LMAO.

Look, I get it: the GOP donor class doesn’t like Donald Trump, and they are constantly searching for someone they find more palatable to get behind who has a chance of beating him. But this is insanity. As Nate points out, there is no lack of serious Republicans in this primary. If donors really want to prevent Trump, they should be conspiring to force some of these people out of the race to consolidate the anti-Trump vote.

It’s not a sexy answer. It’s not even intuitive, considering just a few nights ago, we watched a complete shitshow of a debate in Simi Valley. It would be somewhat strange if you watched that debate and didn’t at least think briefly about how nice it would be if another horse strode up to the gate. But come on. Getting another person to enter this primary should be an in-kind donation to Donald Trump!

Give it to a soup kitchen! Buy a new jet! Fund an expensive Broadway musical about your own childhood! What is the point of being fabulously wealthy if the only thing you can think to do with that wealth is set it on fire?