Sen. Ted Cruz called it a "big damn deal." And he's not wrong.
A big damn deal. @shaunmmaguire https://t.co/ryyn8CjKdP
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 31, 2024
The Texas Republican was referring to the donation of $300,000 by tech mogul Shaun Maguire to the campaign to re-elect former President Donald Trump.
In a long post to X, Maguire, a physics Ph.D. who is now a venture capitalist and partner in Sequoia Capital, said that he had voted for former first lady Hillary Clinton in 2016 because he "had drunk the media Kool-Aid and was scared out of my mind about Trump."
In 2020 he didn't vote, not liking either major-party candidate, but in 2024 that is no longer the case, he explained in an X article titled "I just donated $300k to Trump."
"I believe this is one of the most important elections of my lifetime, and I’m supporting Trump," he wrote.
"I know that I’ll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me," Maguire wrote. "The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it’s the right thing to do.
"I refuse to live in a society where people are afraid to speak," he added.
Maguire's X Premium+ article, which is over 3,500 words long and was published less than 30 minutes after Trump's guilty verdicts were announced, explains the former national security worker's journey from Clinton supporter to a six-figure supporter of Trump.
A pivotal moment in his transition -- what he calls his "'radicalization' towards the center" -- was the abandonment of Afghanistan by the Biden administration.
"August 16th, 2021 was the day I knew I could never support Joe Biden or any of the senior officials in his administration," he wrote. "This was the day that Afghans fell to their deaths from US C-17 airplanes at the Kabul International Airport, or KAIA as ISAF forces referred to it."
Maguire said he had held a top secret clearance as a government contractor and had worked in Afghanistan in 2012 with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
"We gave up one of the most strategic air bases in the world, and arguably stability in Kabul, for political gain -- to be able to say that President Biden ended the War in Afghanistan," he wrote. "And we did it in the most incompetent manner possible, literally with people falling from our airplanes.
"Everyone I have spoken with that served in Afghanistan knows this," he added.
You can read Maguire's entire post -- which is long, but well worth it -- below.
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) May 30, 2024
Maguire went on to cite numerous examples of policy positions in which he believed Trump to the better choice over President Joe Biden, including foreign policy, illegal immigration, corruption, crime, homelessness and overall quality of life -- although he was quick to point out some areas in which he disagreed with the right, as well.
"Speak up," he wrote in conclusion. "Don't be silenced. Freedom of speech is worth nothing if you're afraid to use it. We can't let cancel culture win."
