Hamptons Elite Throw Cash at Trump at Ritzy Fundraiser

Donald Trump paralyzed the Hamptons on Friday as hedge fund managers unmoored their vaults of cash, warming to the GOP presidential nominee after cold shouldering him the past few years.

“Whatever trepidations the Hamptons finance set had about Trump are melting like frozé in the sun,” communications strategist James McCarthy said in a text message to the Daily Beast as he sat poolside at his home less than a mile from a fundraiser for Trump.

The event, co-hosted by Howard Lutnick of the investment banking behemoth Cantor Fitzgerald, aimed to raise $10 million for the GOP presidential nominee, according to Bloomberg . The former president, with his Secret Service detail in tow, forced road closures and snarled traffic in the seaside resort enclave. Lutnick was co-hosting the fundraiser with Farvahar Partners CEO Omeed Malik and John Paulson , a Trump mega donor and billionaire hedge fund operator.

Why the rekindled love for Trump? “All my Wall Street clients are either bundling donations now or talking up their networks for roles in the administration,” said McCarthy, whose clients include Fortune 500 and big-cap companies and leaders, including Ken Langone.

The fundraiser for Trump was much needed, but he has a long way to go to catch up to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ historic fundraising haul , which blew Trump out of the water.

Ultra-wealthy Republicans who had cooled on Trump after his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection and subsequent felony conviction and other court cases, are coming around again in the wake of an attempt on his life . McCarthy said Trump’s “defiant reaction to the assassination attempt is the turning point I’m hearing most often” among the moneyed donor set.

“If they were ambivalent six weeks ago, now they’re jockeying for entree at the Bridgehampton fundraiser tonight,” he told the Daily Beast.

Supporters could be seen on video cheering the former president's motorcade along Route 27 near Francis S. Gabreski Airport, waving American flags, Trump flags and at least one Israeli flag.

McCarthy, who own CounterPoint Strategies and summers in the Hamptons, said he has noticed “lots of pro-Trump signage” south of the highway—no longer just in the year-round working class communities. “Now it’s all over the place among the high hedges and boutiques south of the highway,” he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.