Bill Ackman pledges $1 million donation to boost Biden challenger Dean Phillips



Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, has pledged to give $1 million to help back Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips' White House bid.

"On Tuesday, I am wiring $1 million to wedeserve.org, a political action committee that supports Dean's run. This is by far the largest investment I have ever made in someone running for office, and I am making this investment at a high-risk, but critically important moment for his campaign," Ackman in a very lengthy social media post.

Phillips, a lawmaker from Minnesota, launched a self-admitted long-shot Democratic presidential primary bid last year.

"I met Dean two months ago. I have kept in pretty close touch with him over the last two months, and spent 90 minutes with him yesterday when he presented to nearly all of our employees, which inspired me to top up my initial $3,300 donation to his campaign," Ackman noted.

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Ackman suggested that there is a possibility incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden will have to drop his re-election bid.

"Biden is polling poorly against @realDonaldTrump, and his numbers are only going to get worse as he ages, and he is not looking good as it is. There is also a reasonable chance that Biden is forced to withdraw for health reasons," Ackman opined.

Ackman previously noted that he had already donated to Phillips and several GOP presidential primary candidates. "I have made direct and PAC donations to three Republican candidates in this election, @GovChristie, @NikkiHaley and @VivekGRamaswamy. I recently wrote a check for @deanbphillips," Ackman tweeted. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out last week.

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Billionaire grad Bill Ackman excoriates Harvard, effectively leaves Democratic Party over DEI nonsense



A billionaire who has previously donated lavishly to his alma mater, Harvard University, has since slammed the school and even distanced himself from the Democratic Party over what he called "the fundamentally flawed and racist ideology" of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Bill Ackman, 57, is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company based out of New York City. He also holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Harvard and has reportedly donated to the school generously, giving perhaps more than $40 million to the Harvard Kennedy School alone since he graduated.

However, he has recently become concerned about various leftist ideologies adopted by Harvard, especially its embrace of DEI, which Ackman called a destructive "oppressor/oppressed framework." When then-President Claudine Gay — who helped establish Harvard's Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging — told Congress last month that calls for Jewish genocide were not necessarily a violation of school policy, Ackman, who identifies as Jewish, joined a chorus of voices in calling for her resignation.

"I have always believed that diversity is an important feature of a successful organization, but by diversity I mean diversity in its broadest form: diversity of viewpoints, politics, ethnicity, race, age, religion, experience, socioeconomic background, sexual identity, gender, one’s upbringing, and more," Ackman wrote in a lengthy X post on January 3.

"What I learned, however, was that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form, but rather DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology."

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Gay stepped down last week amid multiple accusations of plagiarism. She will remain at Harvard as a professor and collect a staggering annual salary of $900,000.

In the X post following her resignation, Ackman admitted that his previous support for DEI was "naive" and called for a return to merit-based policies at Harvard and the permanent closure of Harvard's ODEIB.

"Harvard must once again become a meritocratic institution which does not discriminate for or against faculty or students based on their skin color, and where diversity is understood in its broadest form so that students can learn in an environment which welcomes diverse viewpoints from faculty and students from truly diverse backgrounds and experiences," Ackman wrote.

His disgust with DEI is not just limited to Harvard. It has even affected his political views — including the direction of his considerable political largesse. "I am no longer a Democrat," he announced in a tweet directed to anti-DEI crusader Christopher Rufo on Sunday. "I am a centrist. I care only about the truth. ...

"I have made direct and PAC donations to three Republican candidates in this election, @GovChristie, @NikkiHaley and @VivekGRamaswamy. I recently wrote a check for [Democrat] @deanbphillips," the post continued.

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Elsewhere, Ackman praised Rufo's book, "America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything," calling it "excellent and carefully researched" and "a definite must read." He also stated that he had registered as a Democrat to vote in a previous primary but that his vote remains up for grabs.

"I will vote for and support whoever is best for our country regardless of their party affiliation," he said.

Critics on the left, however, have accused Ackman of harboring resentment against Harvard for not catering to his whims despite his healthy donations. The Nation called Ackman "America's most entitled donor." Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves described Ackman as an "odious" "bully" who "thinks his money equals wisdom."

"Time to stand up to people like him," Gonsalves said.

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Bill Maher says 'elitists' have 'pissed off' truckers, 'Real Time' guest defends Freedom Convoy as 'uprising of everyday citizens' who want their voices heard



Liberal talk show host Bill Maher and his guest defended truckers participating in the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Canada. The latest episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" welcomed former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson along with entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy, who argued in favor of the ongoing trucker protests.

"People are understanding this is about something more than just the vaccine mandate," Maher said of the protests.

"It's becoming a big thing. It's happening all over the world now," Maher noted, as possible Freedom Convoys have already been banned in France, Belgium, and Austria.

Maher mentioned the Department of Homeland Security report of a potential trucker protest on Sunday near the SoFi Stadium — the site of Super Bowl LVI – and a rumored demonstration in Washington, D.C. in March.

Ramaswamy – an entrepreneur in the healthcare and technology sectors – backed Maher's point and added, "If you think it's about vaccine mandates or white supremacy, you're missing the point."

"And this isn’t a Left or Right issue," said Ramaswamy – the author of the book "Woke Inc: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam." "This is about an uprising of everyday citizens in democracies around the world. It’s not just Canada, it’s not the United States, it’s western Europe, too, rising against the biggest threat to actual democracy, which I think is the rise of this managerial class in democracies around the world that are crushing the will of everyday people through bureaucracies.”

"And it’s the same people, by the way, Bill, who staff corporate boards of directors, who end up as associate deans of universities, who then end up being appointed as diplomats abroad," he noted. "These are the unelected class of leaders that ultimately, I think, are using their bureaucratic power to supplant the will of everyday, not only Americans, but Canadians and western Europeans, too."

"And that’s why we’re seeing a fusion of both the left and the right here saying that actually, we want our voices heard," Ramaswamy opined. "We want to be able to speak without fear of putting food on the dinner table. And you know what? The beautiful thing about a democracy is that so far, thank God, this has been a peaceful set of protests. I hope it says stays that way. That’s part of the messiness of democracy. That’s part of what makes it beautiful."

Ramaswamy compared the Freedom Convoy movement to the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020.

"I was still a biotech CEO back then, back then, every institutional elite in America, in other countries around the world, but especially in America, would step up and say what we need to do is we need to listen and open our hearts and minds," he recalled, then suggested, "And I think those same institutional leaders would now do well to take a page from that playbook and listen to these truckers.”

Entrepreneur @VivekGRamaswamy on protests occurring in Canada: "This isn't a left or right issue. This is about an uprising of everyday citizens in democracies around the world."pic.twitter.com/drX1CMprc8
— Daily Wire (@Daily Wire) 1644638124

Maher tacked on to Ramaswamy's commentary with his own reason why protests are erupting around the world.

"You didn't use that word 'elitist' in your whole speech, but, like, that's the word I think is on people's tongues and minds," Maher said. "There is this idea, and it's not wrong, that some people are staying home in their Lululemons and other people can afford to, like, wait out and get a free vacation and money from the government, and other people can't. And they're pissed off – the people who can't."

Maher read a quote from the Canadian Prime Minister demeaning the anti-vaccine mandate protesters.

"They don't believe in science, they're often misogynistic, often racist," Trudeau said in September. "They take up space, and with that we have to make a choice – in terms of a leader in a country – do we tolerate these people?"

The liberal talk show host compared Trudeau's comments to Adolf Hitler.

Maher remarked, "'Tolerate these people?' Now you do sound like Hitler."

.@billmaher points out the terrible comments Trudeau has made on unvaccinated Canadianspic.twitter.com/l2BQzLlwGp
— Daily Wire (@Daily Wire) 1644642378