Trump says he and Club for Growth are ‘back in love’
The former president spoke at a Club for Growth event on Friday night.
Former President Donald Trump told Club for Growth donors Friday that he and the organization’s president, David McIntosh, are now “back in love” after a protracted break up.
Trump’s decision to speak at the Club for Growth retreat represents the latest step in their rapprochement, after a bitter feud that led the organization to wage an effort last year to stop him from winning the Republican presidential primary. But last month, Trump and McIntosh had dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Trump flew with McIntosh to a campaign event in South Carolina.
During a roughly 20-minute speech at the Club for Growth retreat, held at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump told an audience of donors that he and McIntosh, who have long maintained and hot-and-cold relationship, split over “a couple” of races during the midterm elections, but had more recently reconciled.
“We had an argument about a couple of people that you know well, and that broke us up for about a year,” he said, according to a person in the room granted anonymity to share details of the private event. “And then we had one that we mutually agreed on, which was surprising to people — a good candidate, however, who is going to win. And then we did a couple of others. And now we’re back in love, we’re deeply in love.”
During the 2022 election, Trump and the Club for Growth parted ways in the Ohio Senate primary, where the former president supported J.D. Vance, who ultimately won, and the group backed rival Josh Mandel. Then, after Trump kicked off his presidential campaign, the Club for Growth launched an anti-Trump affiliate that was focused on tearing Trump down in early primary states. The organization, Win it Back PAC, ended up spending nearly $7 million. But it suspended its advertising offensive last fall after it became clear it wasn’t having success.
During his speech on Friday evening, Trump noted that Republican mega-donor and Club for Growth benefactor Jeff Yass, in addition to McIntosh, had called him and asked him to speak at the retreat. Should Trump win over Yass — whom Trump described as “fantastic” — it would potentially be a major financial boost to his campaign.
Yass has in the past been a critic of Trump’s. In September 2022, the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Yass in which he lamented that trying to dissuade Trump from running was difficult because the former president didn’t need donor support and that “the only thing you can appeal to is, ‘You’re gonna lose and be humiliated.’”
The billionaire donor said in the interview that he planned to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the primary, though according to campaign finance records Yass didn’t end up making any contributions to him. He instead ended up making six- and seven-figure donations in support of former Trump primary rivals biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Yass, an options trader who according to Forbes is worth over $27 billion, did not respond to a request for comment.
During the speech, Trump joked that McIntosh and Yass “gave me a lot of notice — like two hours” when they asked him to appear.
“And I just came in, and I have a group of about 40 people over at Mar-a-Lago, just to show you how important you are. I said, ‘I’m going to leave you guys for a little while. I’m going over to The Breakers to make a speech.’”