Formerly Anti-Trump Joe Ricketts Does A 180 And Donates $1M
By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 20, 2016 8:58PM
Joe Ricketts has pulled a whopping political about face. Founder of TD Ameritrade and benevolent patriarch of the Ricketts family, owner of the Chicago Cubs and the New York- and Chicago-based news site DNAinfo, the billionaire businessman who once donated large sums against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump now plans to give at least $1 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Ricketts and his wife, Marlene Ricketts, had previously contributed nearly $6 million to Our Principles PAC—a committee that not only ran anti-Trump ads during the primary, but ran deeply, severely critical ads. One below, from April, spotlights Trump’s likelihood of losing in a landslide and calls out a Gallup poll’s findings of Trump’s high unfavorables among women. “Donald Trump on women: ‘Bimbo,’ ‘Dog,’ Fat Pig’,” splashes across the screen at one point.
As the Washington Post pointed out, Trump even Tweeted a vague threat against the Ricketts in retaliation:
I hear the Rickets family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2016
The Ricketts family had financially supported Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during his bid for the Republican presidential nominee.
Even the hardcore Never Trumpers are even more hardcore Never Clintoners, it seems.