Billionaire Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman is adamant about retaliation against himself and others who go against Donald Trump if the ex-president were to retake the White House.
The LinkedIn co-founder has consistently antagonized Trump and even used his nonprofit to fund E. Jean Carroll’s successful lawsuit against the former commander-in-chief.
Hoffman, usually a donor to establishment Democrats, gave $250,000 to a super PAC backing Nikki Haley in an effort to damage Trump’s primary race.
Despite being one of the richest men in the world, he says he fears reprisals from Trump for funding his political enemies.
“Of course I’m concerned,” Hoffman said, claiming Trump “will pursue his political opponents with the tools of the state.”
Billionaire Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman faces retaliation against himself and others who oppose Donald Trump if the ex-president were to retake the White House
Hoffman — who was part of a group of tech executives and investors dubbed “the PayPal Mafia” in the 1990s before co-founding LinkedIn and selling it to Microsoft for $26.2 billion in 2013 — says he’s not alone among his fellow one-percenters who are confronted with Trump’s problems. wrath.
He said many business leaders are keeping quiet about Trump because they are “afraid to speak out against this, because they fear retaliation.”
Other liberals like Rachel Maddow have publicly fantasized that Trump might try to place them in internment camps.
Hoffman, who apologized two years ago after it became known that he visited disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein‘s private Caribbean island after being convicted of sex crimes, Trump called ‘A spoiled rich kid who bankrupts everything he touches. Including the American economy.’
However, he told CNN that despite his fears, he will manage to muster the courage to continue speaking out against Trump.
“If you feel fear, this is exactly the moment when you should think about taking a step further,” he said.
Hoffman argued in the same interview that Joe Biden is a more “pro-business” president than Trump because he “respects the rule of law.”
“If regulations and taxes are the only thing when you’re pro-business, then you say, ‘Okay, it’s whoever goes lower on regulations and lower on taxes,’” he said.
Despite being one of the richest men in the world, Hoffman says he fears reprisals from Trump for funding his political enemies
Hoffman argued in the same interview that Joe Biden is a more “pro-business” president than Trump because he “respects the rule of law”
‘But it is the rule of law that has made America very special. It has created an environment for doing business that has been spectacular and a glowing beacon for the entire world.”
“It is the trust that other countries have in us in our system and the way we treat each other that allows our industries to export and the dollar to become the world’s reserve currency,” he added.
“And that’s why Biden is fundamentally, anyway, more pro-business than Trump.”
Court documents revealed that Carroll’s lawsuit was funded in part by Hoffman. The hill reported.
Even after supporting Carroll’s victorious lawsuit, Hoffman continued his crusade against Trump, endorsing Haley in the primaries amid attacks on her for taking money from Democrats.
“Nikki Haley wouldn’t be as good for America as Joe Biden, but America would survive her government,” he wrote.
“If America wants to avoid another Trump presidency, it will be because Trump loses an election next year. “If he has to lose, it will be against Nikki Haley in the primary or against Joe Biden in the general,” he added at the time.
Trump easily defeated Haley in the primaries and is now even trailing Biden in the polls to win the general in November.
Hoffman has also called Trump’s social media platform Truth Social “another colossal failure.”
“Trump is such a sore loser stuck in the past that he would rather spread lies, incite insurrection and damage American democracy than admit he lost a fair election,” Hoffman said in 2022.
He added: “Trump has the unique achievement of personally profiting from running money-losing casinos. (He’s great as a con man.)’