Republican Superdonor Miriam Adelson Is Back

Plus: Mike Johnson beefs up his fundraising operation.

By , and
22

Happy Wednesday! It’s bad enough that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t regain his footing in the polls—now he’s got to deal with the fashion police too.

Up to Speed

  • Conservative opposition is hardening in Congress against additional aid to Ukraine and Israel, even as President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continue to drum up support for legislation tackling both issues at once. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday unveiled a standalone $14.5 billion package of aid for Israel—coupled with a proportional cut to the new IRS funding passed by Democrats in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
  • The House of Representatives will address some interpersonal issues this week, with several measures directed against its own members to chew through in the next few days. The House will vote Thursday on whether to expel freshman New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who infamously fabricated most of his biography while running for Congress and has been charged with dozens of federal financial crimes. It will also consider a Republican-led resolution to censure Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, and a Democrat-led resolution to censure that resolution’s author, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
  • Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said Tuesday he would introduce legislation intended to claw back protections for corporate political speech established in the landmark 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The bill—which would almost certainly be slapped down as unconstitutional—is yet another example of the odd crosscurrents roiling GOP politics today. Citizens United has long been a favorite bogeyman of Washington Democrats, but populist agitation against “special interests” and the “donor class” has lately been growing on the right as well. In a lunch meeting Tuesday, Mitch McConnell reportedly threatened to pull super PAC support from any senators who signed onto Hawley’s bill.

Miriam Adelson Reemerges as GOP Power Player

Miriam Adelson at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Annual Leadership Summit on October 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Miriam Adelson at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Annual Leadership Summit on October 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS—Of all the VIPs to grace the Republican Jewish Coalition with their attendance at the group’s annual leadership conference, Miriam Adelson may have been the most significant.

The Republican megadonor has been relatively disengaged from politics since the January 2021 death of her husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. The two were partners in politics: taking meetings together, peppering candidates and organizations asking for contributions with equal vigor, and writing matching checks. Miriam Adelson still donated during last year’s midterm election cycle, but short of the levels and direct, personal involvement Republicans had grown accustomed to as she mourned her husband and devoted herself to friends and family.

But Adelson, 78, was a major presence throughout last weekend’s RJC gathering. Knowledgeable sources say it signals she is jumping back into GOP politics with both feet—and that the Adelson money spigot is opening wide ahead of heated 2024 battles for Congress and the White House at a time when the Republican Party needs all of the financial help it can get. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Boy here was one to trigger all the leftist conspiracy theorists!

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    Kurt

    Word for today.... Penumbral.

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    Pat @ Tavi Hall

    I watched the beginning of MTG's introduction to her proposed censure of Tlaib, it was like watching an SNL sketch.

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  4. Lovell.Eugene

    Re: “ Conservative opposition is hardening in Congress against…”. It does not seem fair to associate Republican opposition with conservative opposition.

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    1. Lovell.Eugene

      Oh, I just read a little bit down the line of the comment section, and see some else voiced an objection to this earlier. Obviously, I agree.

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    Mudskipper

    You can take humans out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of humans. The fact that height factors into our perceptions of who would make a better President underscores why women have such a hard time getting recognized as leaders regardless of whatever sterling qualities an individual woman might possess. Back in the jungle, the alpha ape was always a male, and the brains of humans living in urban jungles still expect that.

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    1. Avatar photo
      David Chen

      I demand more duels. Bigger man, bigger target. Lets go!

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  6. Kellyg2479

    I've received more texts and emails from Speaker Johnson this week than I have from all my family members combined. How do I get it to stop? Replying STOP does nothing!!

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      PJ

      Mark it as spam.

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  7. Randall Briggs

    Conservative opposition is hardening in Congress against additional aid to Ukraine and Israel, even as President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continue to drum up support for legislation tackling both issues at once.

    It's bad enough when the Huffington Post calls Trump-worshippers conservatives, does The Dispatch have to do it too? Please call them what they are--Trump cultists, MAGA cultists, right-wing populists, neo-fascists, but not conservatives. The only thing that they are trying to conserve is their grip on political power.

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    1. Avatar photo
      JohnM.

      You've got a good point. How about substituting 'Republican' for 'conservative', gang?

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  8. Avatar photo
    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    A two-inch heel keeps your foot from slipping through the stirrup. It may be especially useful for a cowpoke who's unsure of his seating or aboard a bucking bronco.

    I'm amused that DeSantis has chosen boots from a famous Texas-based company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucchese_Boot_Company). But I doubt they'll keep him from getting thrown.

    Lucchese is just fine. But every other summer, from the 1950s through the 1990s, my dad would drive two hours to San Angelo, where Fort Worth-based M.L. Leddy & Sons had its only other outlet. The bootmakers there would examine his feet and update his lasts from his last visit. Then, sometime after Thanksgiving, they'd phone to let him know to come pick up his new pair of boots. I wouldn't expect a Floridian to know about the best bootmakers in Texas, though.

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    1. Dave Thatcher

      If you know how to sit a horse you don’t need a two inch heel to keep your foot from slipping in the stirrup. That said I am a lucchese guy, ropers for me since I was sixteen, but my boss decided he wanted to wear boots more and asked me who made the best I took him to ML Leddy in Ft Worth. That is where my great uncle who died in 1967 bought his boots, he’d call or maybe send them a letter in the snail mail, as they already had his measurements in the book. Great to see this post

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        Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

        I continue to store my dad's very modest collection of war memorabilia in a sturdy boot box imprinted with that company's name. That was HIS choice, that I still of course honor.

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  9. Bigdonmck

    Politics. Where money talks....and so does bullsh-t.

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  10. Jaybrown

    Censuring both Tlaib and Greene would only be fair, and the right thing to do.

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