Nelson Peltz flip-flops on Trump

Good morning and welcome to US Election Countdown. Today we’re getting into:

• Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz goes back to Trump
• The president’s swing through the US Mountain West
• Biden’s struggle to hold off Trump in Georgia

After donating to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz washed his hands of the former president over the January 6 2021 US Capitol riot.

But now Peltz is singing a different tune, becoming the latest Trump critic to signal he’ll vote for him again [free to read].

Peltz, founder of $10bn investment firm Trian Partners, told the FT’s Harriet Agnew that he’s come back into Trump’s fold because of rising US immigration and because Joe Biden’s “mental condition is really scary” (even though Peltz and Biden are the same age).

“It will probably be Trump and I’m not happy about that,” Peltz said. On January 7 2021, Peltz apologised for backing Trump, but now he sees the criminal charges against the former president as a “miscarriage” of justice.

Peltz, who is worth an estimated $1.5bn, said he hadn’t decided yet whether to support Trump’s campaign financially, adding that the two haven’t spoken in a while. The pair, however, are neighbours in Palm Beach, Florida, so a chat could come anytime.

“I think you wind up saying, ‘If I care about America, I’ve got to care about Trump because I don’t know what I have with Biden,’” Peltz said.

His comments come after Republican megadonors Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein also said they would return to Trump’s orbit. Citadel co-founder Ken Griffin could join the party, too. . . . Register for FT.com to keep reading the newsletter for free.