When you sit down and talk with a New York billionaire Republican donor — and I have talked with quite a few New York billionaire Republican donors, California Republican donors, their questions start out as follows… First of all, you’ve got to come out for gay marriage, you need to be pro-choice [on abortion], and you need to support amnesty [for migrants]. That’s where the Republican donors are. You wonder why Republicans won’t fight on any of these issues? Because the people writing the checks agree with the Democrats.That's basically what we've been writing here for some months. It is why only Trump, who can do without donor money, has been talking about illegal immigration. The Washington Post also has commentary on this speech.
The only reason these donors fund Republicans is their need to "own" enough of Congress to keep their tax breaks in place. They are economic conservatives who are not social conservatives, many embarrassed to be associated with and dependent on the GOP base. The editorial page of The Wall Street Journal speaks for this group.
