Billionaire Bill Ackman warned Democrats that if they insist on running Joe Biden as their candidate he will be crushed by GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump in November.
The investor and hedge fund manager reacted to the former president’s dominating win in Monday’s Iowa caucuses where he took the state by a historic margin that shows his support is stronger than ever despite his legal issues and years of propaganda.
In a Tuesday post to X, formerly known as Twitter, Ackman said that if Biden is the Democrat nominee he’ll get his clock cleaned by the resurgent former president.
“If you haven’t figured it out already, it is now abundantly clear that @realDonaldTrump is going to crush @POTUS,” he wrote. “If the Democrat party wants to have a chance of putting up a candidate who can compete with Trump, it needs to quickly get behind a strong, credible contender for President, and Biden needs to step aside.”
If you haven’t figured it out already, it is now abundantly clear that @realDonaldTrump is going to crush @POTUS.
If the Democrat party wants to have a chance of putting up a candidate who can compete with Trump, it needs to quickly get behind a strong, credible contender for… https://t.co/Doh0B7EsJH
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 16, 2024
Ackman has gotten behind Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) who is challenging the toxic octogenarian in the primaries and he shares an X Spaces conversation with the Minnesota lawmaker that he hosted with the candidate along with fellow billionaire Elon Musk.
Saying that Phillips “is that candidate,” Ackman added. “He is super smart, highly experienced and successful in business and politics, and he is a moderate, appealing to both Republicans and Democrats.”
“The Democratic Party and Joe Biden are heading toward a train wreck,” he wrote. “We need to pull the train off the tracks now!”
The Pershing Square Capital Management CEO recently said that he plans to give Phillips $1 million in his longshot bid to replace Biden.
“As Dean rises in the polls and Biden deteriorates, the Democratic party is going to have to choose a candidate that can beat the Republican nominee. If by then, as I expect, Dean is polling substantially better than Biden against Trump, I predict that the party will choose Dean Phillips over Biden. The party will have no choice,” he wrote in a lengthy post to X over the weekend.
Biden and Ackman reportedly have a bit of history. Left-leaning website Mediaite dug up a heated exchange between the two men that is alleged to have taken place at a SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference dinner in 2017.
An incredible historical document: A Brad Jaffy tweet of an article about Joe Biden beefing with Bill Ackman at an event hosted by Anthony Scaramucci featuring Lara Logan and Jeb Bush https://t.co/U25vB9zPGk
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) January 16, 2024
At the private VIP dinner, failed GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush is said to have asked Biden “why didn’t you run?” Referring to the 2016 election which was won by Trump.
Barack Obama’s former vice president explained that he declined to jump into the fray because his son Beau had died of brain cancer, telling the room “I’m sorry…I’ve said enough.”
Then Ackman allegedly blurted out, “Why? That’s never stopped you before,” as the atmosphere in the room suddenly turned tense.
Biden then reportedly turned to a guest who was seated near him and asked, “Who is this assh*le?”
He turned to Ackman and said, “Look, I don’t know who you are, wiseass, but never disrespect the memory of my dead son,” according to people who are said to have witnessed the incident.
When Ackman tried to apologize, accounts say an angry Biden snapped, “Just shut the hell up.”
Ackman responded to these accusations as totally false:
This is absolutely and totally false. I never disrespected Biden’s dead son, nor was I ever disrespectful to Biden. I also have never disrespected anyone’s son, let alone one that tragically died of cancer. Why would I possibly do this? Obviously it makes no sense. We tried to get the story corrected, but the Biden camp let it run because his team perhaps thought it looked good for him to play tough with a hedge fund manager. It was a very strange moment for everyone at the table. He either had a senior moment or he misheard me. At one point, he asked me if I wanted to go outside and fight. I thought he was joking. I had no idea what set him off, nor did anyone else at the table. I was nothing other than respectful and polite to Biden at that dinner. I did at one point ask him why he wasn’t running for president. He said that Beau wouldn’t have wanted him to run. I was surprised by his answer, but I of course accepted it as true. That was the only dialogue we had about his son and I have not interacted with him since. Don’t believe everything you read in the media.
Ackman has been in the headlines recently for his criticism of ex-Harvard president Claudine Gay who was forced to resign under pressure over serial plagiarism and the anti-Semitic environment that she presided over at the elite Ivy League school.
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