Trump Gets Major Endorsement for 2024: ‘Stakes Are Just Too High’

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said he’s backing the former president.
Trump Gets Major Endorsement for 2024: ‘Stakes Are Just Too High’
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower the day after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach home, in New York City on Aug. 9, 2022. David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters
Jack Phillips
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Bernie Marcus, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, said he is endorsing former President Donald Trump for president in 2024, arguing that he’s concerned about what’s “happening to America.”

In an op-ed posted by RealClearPolitics, Mr. Marcus said he wants younger people to take the lead in politics, he can’t walk away because “the stakes are just too high.”

“For Democrats, the choice is simple. If you feel that you are better off now than you were three years ago, you should vote for Joe Biden or whoever is the Democrat candidate,” he wrote. “For Republicans, the choice is also simple. Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election.”

The 94-year-old Home Depot co-founder made reference to what he described as insecurity around the U.S.–Mexico border, which has allowed millions of people to cross in recent years. Another issue he cited is education and that “our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children.

“Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children,” Mr. Marcus wrote. “These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy.

Elaborating on his support for President Trump’s bid, he added that it’s “not for any financial gain or advantage,” adding that his involvement in Home Depot’s success only could have “done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have.”

It comes as another billionaire GOP donor, Robert Bigelow, announced that he would be switching his support to President Trump after backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

“At this point in time, we need the guy in the White House who scares the hell out of every other leader in the world who intends to do harm to this country,” Mr. Bigelow told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday, referring to President Trump and his foreign policy initiatives.

Previously, Mr. Bigelow, who owns Budget Suites of America and an aerospace firm, said he wouldn’t support the former president’s bid after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach before backing Mr. DeSantis.

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus speaks prior to a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 19, 2005. (Barry Williams/Getty Images)
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus speaks prior to a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 19, 2005. Barry Williams/Getty Images

While in the White House, President Trump “was a really good commander … which is what this country needs,” he told the Las Vegas paper.

The third Republican presidential debate was held Wednesday without President Trump. Despite not attending as of Friday, the former president still dominates the GOP field.

Polls

An aggregate of polls from RealClearPolitics shows that he has 58.5 percent support, compared with Mr. DeSantis’ 14.4 percent and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s 9 percent. Meanwhile, a New York Times and Siena College poll released earlier this month shows that in a head-to-head hypothetical matchup, if the election were held today, President Trump would beat President Joe Biden in multiple battleground states.
That poll revealed that the former president is head of the current president in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. President Biden was ahead by a slim margin in only Wisconsin. President Biden was declared the winner in those six states in 2020.
However, the White House responded to the grim poll numbers by saying they should be taken “with a grain of salt.”

“We should really be very mindful here and one of the reasons why is just a year ago, back in 2022 there was the red wave that never materialized,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a White House briefing this week.

“Our focus obviously is going to be doing what the president was elected to do, which is focusing on delivering for the American people,” she added, saying that there will be “a lot of polls” showing different results.

The NY Times survey found that a significant number of voters are concerned with President Biden’s age. If he’s reelected, President Biden, 80, would be leaving the White House at age 86 at the end of his second term.

About 71 percent of voters said they agree to some extent that he is “just too old” to be president, and about 39 percent said the same about President Trump, according to the poll.

The poll results come also despite the former president having been indicted in four separate cases in Washington, Georgia, New York, and Florida. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, saying that they’re tantamount to election interference.

Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Breaking News Reporter
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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