Companies line up to fund Trump's inauguration
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Trump at his first inauguration. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
President-elect Trump's inauguration is drawing donations from an array of blue-chip companies, and it's likely to exceed all past ceremonies in terms of fundraising.
Why it matters: This is a chance to earn goodwill from Trump, including for companies that distanced themselves from him in the past.
Driving the news: Toyota announced a $1 million donation on Tuesday, matching the amounts pledged by Ford and General Motors. Both U.S. carmakers also will provide vehicles for the ceremony.
- Silicon Valley is also pitching in: Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI each promised $1 million, while Uber is donating $2 million. Some of those donations are coming from their CEOs rather than from the companies themselves.
- Wall Street donors include Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
- Crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase are getting in on the action too.
- Also cutting seven-figure checks, per the WSJ: AT&T, Charter Communications, Stanley Black & Decker, Intuit, Charter Communications, Pratt Industries and The PhRMA trade group.
Flashback: Several of the companies suspended political donations after Jan. 6 or released statements saying they would reconsider their approaches, WSJ reports.
- Four years later, some companies that denounced the insurrection are giving more to Trump's inauguration than they ever have for previous ceremonies.
- "People just really want to move forward and move on. The election results were very clear," a rep for one of the companies told WSJ, which adds that some statements condemning Jan. 6 have disappeared from company webpages.
What to watch: Trump's inauguration also is on pace to raise considerably more money than President Biden's in 2021.
- That's a possible sign that companies see Trump as a more transactional figure, and they hope donating to his inauguration will improve their standing heading into the new term.
Go deeper: Dems' plan inauguration boycott
