Ford, General Motors, and Toyota North America are donating $1 million each to incoming president Donald Trump’s January inauguration. Ford and GM are throwing in a fleet of vehicles for the January 20 event, too, for good measure.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said that he was optimistic that Trump would be open to lending a hand to legacy automakers struggling to ramp up and sell their EVs, Reuters reports. “(Given) Ford’s employment profile and importance in the US economy and manufacturing, you can imagine the administration will be very interested in Ford’s point of view,” Farley said.
GM’s CEO Marry Barra said that she believed the company and Trump were “goal-aligned.” She said: “We want a strong economy. We want a strong manufacturing base in this country. We agree automotive jobs are important. I think there’s a lot that we could work on.”
Trump’s transition team has been busy making plans to cut EV incentives and funding, which actually benefit companies like Ford. In addition, Trump is proposing steep tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, which could push the US EV market even further behind.
According to Reuters, Trump raised a record sum of $106.7 million for his 2017 inauguration, compared to President Joe Biden’s 61.8 million for his 2021 festivities.
Top CEOs and their companies are pledging millions of dollars to Trump’s inaugural committee, including Amazon and Meta, which have both donated $1 million each. Robinhood Markets is pledging $2 million, and $1 million each from Uber and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will be added to the pot. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also said he would make a personal donation of $1 million.
“EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump recently wrote on a post on his social platform Truth Social – and many CEOs are lining up in hopes of getting on his good side before he takes office. And companies centered on fossil fuels could see outsized benefits in Trump’s revamping of US economic policy. Plus donating money in this fashion doesn’t carry the same connotation as, say, donating to a super PAC, which is a potential risk that could stir up controversy. And there are no caps on how much a company can donate to an inaugural committee, making this kind of donation an ideal way to curry favor.
In return for generous donations, Trump is offering special perks to donors who give at least $1 million, including tickets to inauguration activities and dinners with the incoming president and his team for much-coveted face-to-face time, according to the New York Times.
For the latest in glad tidings from the future president, he also took to Truth Social on Christmas Day in a manic, hour-long posting spree where he said, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics,” while telling Biden’s recently pardoned “37 most violent criminals” to “GO TO HELL.” ‘Tis the season.
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