Republicans are panicking over ‘controversial’ Trump phone call with top GOP donor Sheldon Adelson

According to a Politico report, Donald Trump may have alienated one of the Republican Party’s top donors last week after he complained to Las Vegas businessman Sheldon Adelson that he did not think billionaires did enough to support his faltering re-election campaign .

That phone call – described as “controversial” – has caused Republican Party officials to panic that Adelson could withhold millions of contributions to the party in an election year in which GOP candidates are already struggling to hang up their seats.

According to the report, Trump “last week telephoned Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson – perhaps the only person in the party who could cut a nine-figure check to help his reelection – to turn the phone off unexpectedly.”

Politico continues to note that Adelson wanted to talk about the latest round of coronavirus help being negotiated in Congress, but the president turned the conversation around to his prospects for re-election and the need for more support.

According to one insider who was on the call, “it turned out that the president had no idea how much Adelson, who has donated tens of millions of dollars to pro-Trump efforts over the years, had helped him. Adelson chose not to return to Trump. “

Word of the turn that took the call has raised high-ranking Republican officials who were previously able to count on major contributions from the billionaire, with Politico reporting, “They advised to talk things over with him. but the damage may have been done. “

“The president needs the money. With less than three months to go before the election, he is overwhelmed by a flood of liberal super PAC spending that his party failed to agree on. Since this spring, outside groups supporting Joe Biden have their pro-Trump exposed opponents nearly 3-on-1, an influx that helped erase the president’s long-awaited financial advantage, “the report notes. “Now Republican leaders are asking billionaires for help. Trump advisers are hurting to form new groups outside, and the White House is growing alarmed to see what Adelson, who has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars in Republican super-PACs for decades, will do. “

According to Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor, the possible loss of large donations from Adelson’s likes could not come at a lesser time.

“We are getting dressed,” he explained. “The left-leaning super PACs bring a lot more air support to Team Biden than those on the right, unfortunately.”

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