A top Republican donor said on Monday that he won’t back Trump in 2024 if the former president decides to mount another bid for the White House.
In a discussion at the Economic Club of Chicago, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin tore into Trump as “pointlessly divisive,” according to comments reported by Bloomberg. He said that it was time for the country to move past the former president.
“I think it’s time for America to move on,” Griffin told Bloomberg TV’s Erik Schatzker.
Griffin has a long history of funding conservative candidates and causes. He spent more than $60 million to boost Republicans in the 2020 elections, though he did not give directly to Trump.
Since leaving the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly teased a possible comeback campaign in 2024. He’s ramped up his public activity in recent weeks, and is set to hold a campaign-style rally in Iowa on Saturday, an appearance that’s likely to drive speculation of another presidential run.
Griffin, according to Bloomberg, said that Trump’s time in the White House was not particularly constructive. But he also offered praise for the former president’s economic policies, which he called “pretty damn good.”
Trump remains the most influential figure in the modern GOP. Still, some Republicans see him as a political liability, given his brash and often controversial brand of politics.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that advisers to the former president have privately urged him to hold off on announcing a 2024 White House run out of concern that he would be blamed if Republicans fail to recapture control of the House and Senate in next year’s midterm elections.