Dollar for Jeb, Dollar for Hillary

There’s a batch of conspiracy theorists out there who believe the world is run by a secret cabal of a few hundred rich and powerful people, that the military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned Americans about has gone global and can’t be stopped.

But you don’t have to be wearing a tinfoil hat to believe that hidden forces exert enormous sway over geopolitics. And those forces seem to think that it doesn’t matter much if former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in charge. They just want to reserve a seat at the table of power when one of them takes the seat of power.

Today’s political realities make theories of a backstage oligarchy a little more plausible. Massive corporations and billionaires pour millions into U.S. political campaigns, all with the intent to win friends and influence (powerful) people. And there’s no question that it works, or else that money flow would be shut off faster than a California lawn sprinkler.

More than 60 super-rich Americans have contributed millions to both Bush’s and Clinton’s campaigns.

More than 60 super-rich Americans have contributed millions to both Bush’s and Clinton’s campaigns, according The Daily Beast.

Racetrack owners, bankers, chicken moguls, textile tycoons and art connoisseurs have all donated to both parties’ front-runners, not for political reasons, but just for business’ sake. Republican candidate Donald Trump, in fact, has done the very same. He’s given money to  Clinton, to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Since 1989, Trump’s contributed $600,000 to Democrats and $950,000 to Republicans.

Trump explained contributing to both sides this way last week: “It’s a very simple answer to that. I was a businessman all my life. I’ve made a tremendous fortune. I had to deal with politicians and I would contribute to them and I would deal with them and certainly I’m not going to say bad things about people because I needed their support to get projects done. I needed their support for lots of things or I may have needed their support, put it another way.”

Trump is among a small elite that looks to make money from favorable decisions by whichever party is in power. Democrat or Republican, it doesn’t matter. And so is John Tyson, chairman of the chicken colossus Tyson Foods. He’s contributed $25,000 to Clinton this year, and $27,700 to Bush, according to data parsed by Vocativ.

David Stevens, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has done the same, giving $2,700 to Jeb and $2,500 to Hillary. For him, it’s all about access to a possible President Bush or President Clinton.

“While [they] don’t make commitments, obviously, I want to make sure my views are presented to them, because they are considered more center-left or center-right,” Stevens told the Daily Beast.

The list goes on and on. And if you can take the time to run through the web of contributions here and goodies doled out there by government, it’s clear the contributors are getting a good bang for their buck.

But that’s only half the story. Fewer than 400 families have contributed nearly half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign, the New York Times reported this week. The richest of the rich want to stay rich. That’s why they spend fortunes backing candidates on both sides who pledge to keep their access to power wide open, and therefore, keep them rich.

Clinton’s super PAC, Priorities USA, hauled in much of its $15 million from just nine donors.

The Times sums up politics in 2016 this way: “The fund-raising arms race has made most of the presidential hopefuls deeply dependent on a small pool of the richest Americans.”

For instance, Clinton’s super PAC, Priorities USA, hauled in much of its $15 million from just nine donors. More than $13 million of the $20 million Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s super PAC raised came from just four donors. Same with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida: Four donors gave $12.5 million of the $16 million his PAC raised. And Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s many PACs have collected $37 million, nearly all from just three families.

Chart Westcott, a private equity investor in Texas who has given $200,000 to Walker’s Unintimidated PAC, told the Times: “In the donor world, it is primarily a love of economic freedom. That’s the biggest drive for most donors — more prosperity for the country as a whole, as well as for themselves.”

Trump said on ABC that it’s a no-brainer to hit up both sides: You never know who will win and eventually, you’ll need some favors at some point from both sides.

“I mean, you’re not going to say horrible things and then go in a year later and say, ‘Listen, can I have your support for this project or this development or this business?’ So I say nice things about almost everybody and I contributed to people because I was a smart businessman. I’ve built a tremendous company. And I did that based on relationships,” Trump said.

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