Away from the political debate about President Trump’s future, a huge figure behind his rise has died.
Sheldon Adelson made his money in the casino industry. He made his mark on American history as one of the most influential funders of the modern US conservative movement-the Republican
Adelson operated behind the scenes, but any Republican politician with ambition for higher office knew his name – and knew his largess could be the key to success.
After sitting out the Republican primaries, Adelson in May 2016 called on the party’s biggest donors to support Donald Trump’s candidacy. It heralded the Republican establishment’s at-first grudging acceptance of Trump’s political rise.
Adelson would later direct $25m toward Trump’s successful presidential campaign, going on to fund his 2017 inauguration, legal defence and 2020 re-election bid.
As Adelson became a close ally of Trump’s, and he realised several of his top priorities – the relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. Adelson’s influence on Trump has been seen as a major factor in the president’s assertive foreign policy on Israel, including his decision to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a deeply controversial move as parts of the city are also claimed by Palestinians.
In 2018, Trump gave Miriam Adelson the highest US civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom
Trump may have become the face of today’s Republican Party, but for nearly a decade Adelson was the party’s financial backbone.
