While Ron DeSantis hasn’t officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 election or picked a campaign slogan, the Florida Governor could find himself the inspiration of a future exchange-traded fund if things work out for himself and a GOP donor.
What Happened: Former president Donald Trump was not the first politician to use the phrase “Make America Great Again.” The use of the phrase and the acronym MAGA became a rallying cry in the 2016 election and even found its way as a ticker for an exchange-traded fund.
Launched in 2017, the Point Bridge America First ETF (BATS:MAGA) was founded by Hal Lambert.
Lambert, who served on Trump’s inaugural committee in 2016, is moving on from the former president.
“I’m in for DeSantis this time. I plan to do a lot to help DeSantis win,” Lambert told the New York Post.
Lambert was among the biggest Republican donors and a former strong ally for Trump. DeSantis has not declared his official candidacy for the 2024 election but was rumored to be making an official announcement this week.
Lambert had dinner with DeSantis and the Florida governor’s wife Casey three weeks ago, according to the report. Lambert was impressed during the dinner and swayed to back the Florida governor.
“Ron is good at giving a message.”
Lambert called Casey DeSantis “amazing” and said she would be “a real asset” for the campaign.
The Point Bridge founder said the strong conservative record while serving as governor of Florida and his takes on items such as energy, border security and school choice were keys to the endorsement.
The former Trump ally also criticized the CNN town hall that featured Donald Trump and saw the former president say the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“What voters who didn’t vote for Trump in 2020 are going to vote for him this time based on his performance? I don’t think anyone will.”
Lambert said Trump might be too focused on the past.
“We can’t talk about things from four years ago that can’t be changed. Trump is going to have a difficult time winning the general election. The election won’t be around Joe Biden’s bad record. It will be a referendum on Trump instead.”
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Why It’s Important: The backing of the mega-GOP donor came as Trump's lead increased in the polls. A recent Morning Consult survey showed Trump has 61% of the support from Republican voters versus 18% for DeSantis.
DeSantis saw his support in the Morning Consult poll fall since February, but Lambert was confident that many polls showing Trump leading by a significant margin were overstated.
Lambert believed the numbers will change significantly when DeSantis officially declares his candidacy for the 2024 election.
“Trump’s support will drop under 50 percent,” Lambert said.
The MAGA ETF invests in companies seen as supporters of Republican candidates and causes through its employees and political action committee donations.
The ETF tracks companies in the S&P 500 that donate to the Republican Party. The ETF has $18.5 million in assets under management according to ETFDB.
The MAGA ETF was down 2.9% year-to-date and down 1.4% in the last year. The ETF had a positive performance of +22.4% and +7.9% in the past three years and five years, respectively.
Lambert told CNN in 2020 that he would be voting for Trump in the 2020 election and he would maintain the ETF and ticker even if Trump lost the election.
“The goal for this ETF was to have something for conservatives to invest in that hasn’t been out there,” Lambert said at the time.
Lambert previously said he would consider making a Democrat-based ETF that could be called “Blue Wave ETF.”
With his support now moving on from Trump and turning to DeSantis, Lambert will likely be questioned on if he will keep the MAGA ETF and consider launching a new one to pay tribute to DeSantis instead.
Read Next: Big GOP Donors Cozying Up To DeSantis, Florida Governor Dines With Trump's Biggest Campaign Financier
Photos: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis via Shutterstock
