Chuck Darwin<p>The ex-President arrived with his son Eric, <br>stopping to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with each of the approximately two dozen guests, <br>a “AAA list” of the G.O.P.’s top funders,<br>as <a href="https://c.im/tags/John" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>John</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Catsimatidis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Catsimatidis</span></a>, the billionaire supermarket owner, put it. </p><p>Such events, another attendee told me, often feel like a birthday dinner for the host, <br>except that “there’s a lot of money being given to someone who isn’t the host<br>—making Donald Trump the birthday boy, so to speak.”</p><p>Trump was seated at the head table, between <a href="https://c.im/tags/Fanjul" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fanjul</span></a><br>—a major Republican donor going back to the early nineties<br>—and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stephen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stephen</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Schwarzman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Schwarzman</span></a>, <br>the C.E.O. of Blackstone, the world’s largest private-equity fund, <br>who had endorsed Trump the previous Friday. </p><p>Securing the support of Schwarzman was a coup for the Trump campaign. </p><p>In 2022, he had said that he would not back the former President again, <br>because it was time for “a new generation of leaders,” <br>and, during the primaries, he had given $2 million in support of Chris Christie, <br>the former New Jersey governor, <br>who had repeatedly called Trump “unfit to be President.” </p><p>In a statement explaining the reversal, Schwarzman said that Biden’s “economic, immigration and foreign policies” were “taking the country in the wrong direction.”</p><p>At the dinner, Trump reprised his public rant about the “biased” legal proceedings brought against him, <br>but an attendee who spoke with me was struck by how “calm and confident” Trump seemed for someone facing prison time. </p><p>“He has this very strong internal capability to push those things aside and still feel good about things,” the attendee said. </p><p>At the end of the evening, Trump went around the room and solicited opinions on whom he should pick for his running mate. </p><p>Haley, Scott, and Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota and a wealthy businessman, were mentioned; <br>-- a couple of the attendees expressed a preference for J. D. Vance, <br>the young populist senator from Ohio, whom Trump would ultimately choose. </p><p>The donors appeared to relish the chance to help select a Vice-Presidential candidate. </p><p>“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the attendee marvelled. <br>🔸Trump raised about $50 million at the event.</p>