Did a small number of big donors sabotage the now-flailing presidential campaign of Ron DeSantis? That's a possible subplot behind the recent clipping of the Florida governor's budding China hawk wings.
While at first blush, the DeSantis law does indeed seem very tough on China, as always, the devil is in the details.
Enter stage right the apex Wall Street predator, billionaire Ken Griffin - one of the first big donors to hop on the DeSantis train.
From inside the DeSantis perimeter, Mr. Griffin appears to have orchestrated the lobbying charge to water down key portions of Mr. DeSantis' legislation.
Here's the simple lesson for presidential aspirants like Mr. DeSantis: You can't out-Trump Trump on China if you allow the likes of Ken Griffin to bankroll your presidential ambitions.
Here's the more complex question: Did Mr. Griffin initially throw his wallet behind Ron DeSantis just to get inside his perimeter, hook him on his big donations, and then force him to weaken his policies on China as he has? Or was the real chess move not just to castrate Mr. DeSantis, but to gut him? Mr. Griffin surely knew his high-profile endorsement and lavish funding of Mr. DeSantis would immediately turn off any of Mr. Trump's MAGA base that Mr. DeSantis might otherwise have been able to chip off.
Of course, the gutting of Mr. DeSantis still leaves Mr. Griffin, along with other China cheerleaders like Messrs.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/dec/19/billionaire-who-clipped-ron-desantis-china-hawk-wi/
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