https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mercer_(businessman)
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Political activities
In 2015, the Washington Post called Mercer one of the ten most influential billionaires in politics. Mercer was a major financial supporter of the 2016 presidential campaign of Ted Cruz, contributing $11 million to a super PAC associated with the candidate. Reporter Zachary Mider, writing for Bloomberg in January 2016, called Mercer "the biggest single donor" in the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics Mercer is currently ranked the #1 donor to federal candidates in the 2016 election cycle, ahead of Renaissance founder James Harris Simons who is ranked #5 and generally donates to Democrats. By June, Mercer had donated $13.5 million to Ted Cruz’s super PAC, $2 million to John R. Bolton’s super PAC, and $668,000 directly to the Republican National Committee.[14] Since 2006, Mercer has donated about $34.9 million to federal campaigns. Since 1990, Renaissance Technologies has contributed $59,081,152 to federal campaigns and since 2001, has spent $3,730,000 on lobbying.
Mercer has given $750,000 to the Club for Growth, $2 million to American Crossroads, and $2.5 million to Freedom Partners Action Fund. In 2010, Mercer financially supported Art Robinson's efforts to unseat Peter DeFazio in Oregon's 4th congressional district. In the 2013-2014 election cycle, Mercer donated the fourth largest amount of money among individual donors, and the second most among Republican donors. Mercer joined the Koch brothers conservative political donor network after the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC, but Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer, decided to establish their own political foundation. The Mercer Family Foundation, run by Mercer's daughter, Rebekah, has donated to a variety of conservative causes.
Mercer is a major supporter of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for president. Mercer and his daughter played a role in the elevation of Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway into senior roles in the Trump campaign. The Mercers had worked with Bannon previously on Reclaim New York, Breitbart.com and the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) funding and investments, and Rebekah had worked with Conway on the Cruz Super-PAC Keep the Promise in the 2016 Republican primaries. Mercer also financed a Super PAC, Make America Number One, which supported Trump's campaign.
Rebekah is one of the members of Donald Trump's Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee.
In addition to the money he has spent on political campaigns, estimated at $32 million as of 2016, Mercer has invested millions of dollars in the Heritage Foundation, the media outlet Breitbart.com ($10 million for initial 50% stake in 2011), Cambridge Analytica, the Cato Institute, the Media Research Center, Reclaim New York and GAI. In 2013, Mercer was shown data by former Jimmy Carter pollster Patrick Caddell, who has been critical of top Democrats, and commissioned more research from Caddell that showed "voters were becoming alienated from both political parties and mainstream candidates". Mercer was the main financial backer of the Jackson Hole Summit, a conference that took place in Wyoming in August 2015 to advocate for the gold standard. He has also supported Doctors for Disaster Preparedness and Fred Kelly Grant, an Idaho activist who encourages legal challenges to environmental laws. Mercer has supported a campaign for the death penalty in Nebraska and funded ads in New York critical of the so-called "ground-zero mosque". According to associates interviewed by Bloomberg, Mercer is concerned with the monetary and banking systems of the United States, which he believes are in danger from government meddling.
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