Dem megadonor who said ‘nobody cares’ about Uyghur genocide hosting $50K-a-plate Ramaswamy fundraiser
A Democrat mega-donor who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Biden's 2020 campaign and previously claimed 'nobody cares about' the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China is slated to host a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
According to an invitation for the 'intimate dinner and discussion,' Golden State Warriors part-owner Chamath Palihapitiya and his wife Nathalie, along with a number of other individuals, will host Ramaswamy at their home in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sep. 29. The event invitation was first reported by Puck News.
The cost to attend the event is a minimum $50,000 donation to Ramaswamy's American Exceptionalism PAC.
Palihapitiya, a billionaire venture capitalist, made headlines last year when he claimed that 'nobody cares' about the Chinese Communist Party-sponsored (CCP) genocide that has been recognized as such by several national governments.
'Let’s be honest: nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs, OK?' Palihapitiya said on a Jan. 2022 episode of his podcast. 'You bring it up because you care, and I think that it’s nice that you care.'
'The rest of us don’t care,' Palihapitiya said about the ongoing genocide that has reportedly included forced sterilization, beatings and 'mental torture and physical torture.' He said it was a 'very hard, ugly truth.'
'Of all the things I care about, yes, it is below my line,' he continued, repeating that the communist state-sponsored Uyghur genocide was 'below' his caring 'line.'
A campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Ramaswamy vehemently disagrees with Palihapitiya on the Uyghur genocide, but will still attend the super PAC fundraiser.
'He thinks what's happening to the Uyghurs in China is an atrocity,' Ramaswamy campaign communications director Tricia McLaughlin said.
During a speech in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday where Ramaswamy laid out his plan to declare economic independence from China, he called the enslavement, imprisonment and forced sterilization of Uyghurs 'one of the worst human rights atrocities committed by a major nation since the Third Reich of Germany.'
Noting that he is by far the biggest contributor to his own campaign, a McLaughlin added that Ramaswamy believes super PACs and dark money should not be part of the political system in America.
'Vivek thinks money corrupts politics. He's felt very strongly on that since day one, and if he is the GOP nominee he would like to strike a deal with the Democratic nominee to make sure there's no super PAC money in the race. But right now, super PACs are a part of the 2024 primary game, and we've got to play to win,' McLaughlin said.
According to FEC data, Palihapitiya has donated to the campaigns of several prominent Democrats, including Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the Senate Majority PAC (SMP).
He gave $250,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in support of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign in July of that year and another $5,600 directly to his campaign. He also donated $66,200 to the DNC.
That same year, Palihapitiya donated a total of $750,000 to the SMP, a political action committee affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. He also donated $5,800 directly to Schumer’s campaign in September 2021.
