Trump Is Trying to Woo Oil & Gas Tycoons to Financially Support His 2024 Presidential Campaign

Former President Donald Trump has an all-new approach to raising funds for his campaign trail. Long a skeptic of the climate catastrophe, Trump vigorously supported more drilling on federal lands and in public waterways while in office. The former president is now courting oil and gas oligarchs to support his candidacy, reports Business Insider.

Numerous high-ranking energy executives in the country had been considering supporting Trump due to his stance on increased drilling and their dislike for President Joe Biden's environmental regulations. However, a number of these executives had also been considering appeals from other Republican contenders, The Washington Post reported.

In a phone call early this year, Trump was initially advised by Continental Resources chairman and billionaire entrepreneur Harold Hamm to withdraw from the presidential race, The Financial Times found, because there was too much "chaos" around him. Hamm chose, at the time, to donate to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

However, Hamm paid Trump a visit at his Mar-a-Lago club last month, bringing a $200,000 check for a super PAC that backed the former president. They also attended a private meeting and a fundraiser together. 

Trump and his team have worked hard to instill a sense of confidence in his third presidential run. "Trump 2024 is actively courting the right people and trying to get them on board, but specifically the oil industry," Canary LLC chief executive Dan Eberhart told The Post. "They know who they need to get on the Trump train, and they're doing what they need to do to get those folks."

Trump is trying to remind the tycoons of his conservative credentials as he campaigns on the legacy of his administration, which included pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement and drastically weakening environmental regulations set in place by President Barack Obama (Biden rejoined the treaty upon assuming office). Biden has taken many other pro-environmental stances that, according to Trump, have undermined American energy policy. These stances include the cancellation of the Keystone XL oil project and the cancellation of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northern Alaska.

Trump offers a strong alternative for these oil and gas tycoons, for he is famous for his unscientific stances on the climate crisis. Trump has long campaigned for more drilling in the continental United States, questioned the efficiency of electric vehicles, and criticized the use of wind farms.

Approximately 400 wealthy Texas supporters, many of whom were connected to the oil and gas sector, flocked to telecommunications tycoon Kenny Troutt's compound in early November for a Trump event. According to The Post, some participants spent more than $23,200 to have their photo taken with the former president.

"There aren't enough hours in the day to discuss how horrific the former president's record is when it comes to climate change, clean air, clean water, and public lands," League of Conservation Voters senior vice president for government affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld told The Post. "So the fact that Big Oil is coming back to him is perhaps not surprising."