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Disney heiress halts Democratic donations until Biden drops out, bets big on Kamala Harris: ‘This is realism, not…’

ByShweta Kukreti
Jul 05, 2024 07:58 PM IST

Abigail Disney, a Democratic supporter and the heir to the Walt Disney family fortune, is the most recent donor to join to the list of Joe Biden critics.

In wake of Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance, several donors have warned to pull out their support from the Democratic party if the incumbent President refuses to withdraw from the White House race.

Abigail Disney has threatened to stop contributing to Democratic party unless Joe Biden stepped aside from the contest.(AP)

Abigail Disney, a prominent Democratic party supporter and the heir to the Walt Disney family fortune, is the most recent donor to join to the list of Biden critics. She has threatened to stop contributing to the party unless Biden stepped aside from the contest.

“I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect,” Disney told CNBC.

In her statement, she claimed that Democrats “will lose” if Biden will not step down. “Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

Disney has something interesting to say about Kamala Harris

Disney called Vice President Kamala Harris an alternative contender to defeat former President Donald Trump. “If Democrats would tolerate any of her perceived shortcomings even one tenth as much as they have tolerated Biden’s … we can win this election by a lot,” she declared.

Biden has frequently polled better than any other Democrat ahead of the November elections, but Harris appears to have the best chance of winning against Trump.

This comes as the Biden campaign is putting all efforts to calm down the panic growing among the donors.

Disney's last political donation, according to the Federal Election Commission filings, was $500 made to ActBlue, a platform that supports Democratic causes, in May. In April, she donated $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, the organisation which has contributed over $35,000 to Democratic candidates running for Congress, according to CNBC.

Also Read: ‘Unbelievable’: White House under fire for ‘lying to our faces’ after Joe Biden accidentally admits…

What about other Democratic donors?

Some Democratic donors have already expressed their dissatisfaction with Biden's debate performance. Earlier this week, attorney George Conway, who had previously contributed $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, declared on X that Biden and Trump need to "retire" from politics.

Meanwhile, Hollywood mogul and Democratic megadonor Air Emanuel hinted that if Biden stayed in the race, more donors would start withdrawing their support.

Netflix boss Reed Hastings, a Democratic party megadonor, also urged Biden to withdraw from the presidential contest.

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof, a major party donor, suggested a “DEMbargo”, preventing funding to the party until Biden resigns.

“When a country is not behaving how we want them to, we apply harsh economic sanctions. It’s a give and take – short term hurt for long term healing,” Lindelof wrote in a column in Deadline.  

According to Biden and his campaign, the US President is perfectly healthy to serve next term in office. On Wednesday, Biden in a campaign email to supporters announced that he is running, despite the fact that the past few days have been difficult.

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