5 Things About Paul Singer, The Megadonor In Steve Bannon’s Crosshairs Over Trump Dossier

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By Nathan Guttman October 31, 2017

Jewish billionaire Paul Singer just got himself a powerful enemy.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s former top strategist and now Breitbart News chief, has vowed to go “off the chains” against Singer after it was revealed Singer funded an anti-Trump opposition research during the 2016 campaign.

According to a report on Axios, “in Bannon’s worldview, Singer belongs to a ‘globalist’ cabal that favors open borders and includes other bogeymen and bogeywomen such as George Soros and Hillary Clinton.”

Here are a few things to know about Paul Singer:

He never liked Donald Trump

Like many other Republican mega-donors, Singer was actively opposed to Donald Trump. In one meeting, he even warned that electing Trump would lead to a “global depression.” And while other donors fell in line as Trump moved closer to winning the nomination, Singer refused to accept Trump.

After heavily funding Trump’s primary rivals, Singer moved on to support the #NeverTrump movement seeking ways to crown a different candidate through the party convention.

He started warming up to Trump after the elections

Singer finally accepted Trump’s leadership after the November election and even donated to his inaugural committee. Singer and Trump have since spoken and met and while relations had never been close, Singer is now considered supportive of the Trump presidency and is a strong backer of his tax reform plan.

He is a top funder of LGBT groups

Following his gay son’s struggle to marry, Singer became a leading voice within the Republican Party for LGBT rights and has been a funder of organizations working on the issue. Much of Singer’s work has focused on getting moderate conservatives like him to adopt a pro-LGBT agenda.

He also partnered with evangelicals

In 2015, Singer joined forces with Steve Green, founder of Holy Hoby crafts chain to launch the Covenant Journey, a program of trips to Israel dubbed “Birthright for evangelicals.” Green, a conservative Christian known for his fight against the Obamacare mandate forcing contraception coverage, is the funder of the Bible Museum soon to open in Washington. The trips allow devout Christian students to visit Israel for free.

He predicted the financial meltdown — sort of

A hedge fund manager who specializes in distressed assets, Singer became a legend in financial circles after warning finance ministers of the seven largest economies in 2007 of the upcoming global meltdown. He pointed presciently then to the vulnerability of major banks.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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