George Soros: George Soros’ Simple Plan to Stop Donald Trump
Can George Soros Stop Donald Trump?
George Soros, the 86-year-old American-Hungarian billionaire, is pouring money into the U.S. presidential race to prevent Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz from entering the White House.
Bloomberg reports that Soros has spent or committed more than $13.0 million to support Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates; the sum is already more than his total disclosed spending in the last two presidential elections combined.
The liberal New York financier spent an unprecedented $27.0 million trying to unseat President George Bush during the 2004 election. (Source: “Soros, Alarmed by Trump, Pours Money into 2016 Race,” Bloomberg, March 15, 2016.)
Soros has expressed concerns over the past few months regarding Trump and Cruz. In a statement last week about a new group he’s funding to increase voting by Latinos and immigrants in the election, he again mentioned the two candidates by name.
“The intense anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been fueled by the Republican primary is deeply offensive,” George Soros said in the statement. “There should be consequences for the outrageous statements and proposals that we’ve regularly heard from candidates Trump and Cruz.”
In January, Soros remarked that Trump and Cruz are engaging in “fear mongering,” though he predicted that neither of them would prevail in the November election.
Michael Vachon, a spokesman and political adviser to Soros, told Bloomberg that there was no single cause for the increase in spending, stating, “His support of Clinton is one reason. The tone of the other candidates is the other.”
As of Wednesday, Clinton holds a 707-delegate lead over Bernie Sanders among all delegates: 1,565 to 858. And among pledged delegates, it’s 1,129 to 835, a difference of 294. To get to the magic number of 2,383 to clinch the nomination, Clinton needs to win 41% of the remaining delegates, while Sanders needs to win 76%. (Source: “First Read: Clinton, Trump Start Leaving Rivals in the Dust,” NBC News, March 16, 2016.)
Trump, meanwhile, holds a 248-delegate lead over Cruz and needs to win 55% of remaining delegates to reach the 1,237 magic number. Cruz needs to win 79% of remaining delegates, while John Kasich needs to win 104% of the remaining delegates. (Source: Ibid.)
It is expected that Soros’ financial support of the former U.S. Secretary of State will encourage other major Democratic donors to follow his lead. Meanwhile, Trump, the billionaire real estate developer, is expected to blast Clinton for her reliance on Soros and other rich hedge-fund managers.
Last weekend, some Trump supporters and conservative media organizations blamed Soros for demonstrations in Chicago that caused Trump to cancel a planned rally. (Source: “Soros, Alarmed by Trump, Pours Money into 2016 Race,” Bloomberg, March 15, 2016.)
Soros, whose net worth is estimated at $24 billion, has long been a magnet for conspiracy theories. Since the late 1980s, he’s handed off day-to-day management of his hedge fund business to focus on his charitable pursuits, many of which seek to promote democracy around the world.
George Soros’ biggest contribution in this year’s presidential race is a total of $7.0 million to Priorities USA, the main super-PAC supporting the ex-First Lady. Another $1.0 million went to American Bridge, an opposition-research group. And last week, Soros announced he was putting $5.0 million into a new super-PAC known as Immigrant Voters Win. The group is part of a coordinated $15.0 million voter turnout effort that is targeting Latinos and immigrants in Colorado, Nevada, and Florida. (Source: Ibid.)
One of the 30 richest people in the world, George Soros is a speculator known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his short sale of $10.0-billion worth of pounds, making him a profit of $1.0 billion during the 1992 “Black Wednesday” U.K. currency crisis.
