Democrats' $35M Mega-Donor Was Apolitical—Until Trump

First came Dustin Moskovitz's "historically large donation" of $20 million last month to stop Donald Trump from reaching the Oval Office. Then the Facebook co-founder ponied up another $5 million in mid-October to a Hillary Clinton super PAC (as well as $10 million more to other political advocacy and nonpartisan efforts), per Forbes. This nabbed the 32-year-old billionaire the No. 1 spot on the list of Democrat mega-donors and has him now serving, as Politico frames it, as an antidote to GOP bigwigs like Sheldon Adelson. But while Moskovitz's donations have generated much excitement within the Democratic Party, others are concerned his "unicorn-type" gifts may simply be a one-time occurrence, not a signifier of a deeper trend of tech titans stepping up to help out the party.

Moskovitz's sudden political interest has thrown many for a loop, with Politico noting a few Democrat officials it contacted replied "Who?" when his name was mentioned. Moskovitz himself has been publicly stoic: He wouldn't talk to Politico about his donations; the only public references he's made were in two Medium posts, including the latest one in which he noted "further investments are warranted" and that "the events of the past few weeks have only deepened my conviction that Hillary is the best choice for America." Politico adds the operatives it talked to think Moskovitz's abrupt aggressiveness on the political front may be completely Trump-driven. His recent Twitter feed alone appears to validate that—he's been retweeting pro-Hillary messages and trashing Trump, including calling him a "demagogon" in reference to the Stranger Things creature. (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)