Former President Donald Trump pulled in millions at a fundraiser in a swanky neighborhood of Atlanta that has for years railed against the Democrat-led city’s spiraling crime rate and lack of support for the police – even working to secede from the city altogether over the policies.
“Our digital online fundraising continues to skyrocket, our major donor investments are climbing, and Democrats are running scared of the fundraising prowess of President Trump. We are not only raising the necessary funds, but we are deploying strategic assets that will help send President Trump back to the White House and carry Republicans over the finish line,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital of fundraising efforts this week.
Trump attended a fundraiser Wednesday afternoon in Buckhead, a wealthy commercial and residential district in Atlanta, where local leaders joined the 45th president, including: former Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, as well as the co-founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, and poultry industry tycoon Tommy Bagwell, Fox 5 reported.
Trump pulled in more than $15 million on Wednesday, from both the Buckhead event and another fundraiser in Orlando, a campaign official said. Guests in Buckhead spent at least $6,600 per couple, and as much as $250,000 if they wished to be part of the event’s welcoming committee, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Georgia on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Trump is visiting the state to host a campaign fundraising event. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)
The Buckhead fundraiser comes after Trump has repeatedly hammered a return of law and order policies across the nation if he’s re-elected come Nov. 5.
For Buckhead residents, spiraling crime rates have been a hot-button issue they have not taken lightly.
Dubbed the “Beverly Hills of the South,” residents of the Atlanta district tried to secede from the city back in 2021 through last year, as violent crimes such as homicides continued an upward trend, as well as when vehicle thefts and shoplifting spiked.
The wealthy district has a median household income of $109,774, with residents accounting for roughly one-fifth of Atlanta’s total population, according to the district’s website. Bloomberg calculated last year that the district produces about 38% of Atlanta’s tax revenue, meaning a secession likely would have been financially devastating for the city.
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Multiple young men have reported being drugged and robbed after going out in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg)
Residents railed that city leaders weren’t properly handling crime as taxpayers paid the price.
“We are really feeling like this is a war zone, and I don’t say that lightly, especially given what you experienced in a war zone,” Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White told “Fox & Friends First” back in 2022. “This is murder and mayhem… We are dealing with a mayor who voted to defund the police.”
Atlanta recorded a 30-year record high in homicides in 2021, at 158 deaths, while reports of rape skyrocketed by 236% in the first few months of 2022 compared to the same time period the year prior, motor vehicle thefts shot up by 61% in 2023 and shoplifting increased by 22% last year. Violent crimes in the city have since ticked down, but just this week, police in Atlanta announced they were investigating a shooting outside a Buckhead furniture store that left a man in critical condition, Fox 5 reported.
The Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot burns during an Atlanta riot, June 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
Violent crimes skyrocketed across the nation in 2020, when the pandemic’s lockdowns upended day-to-day life, and protests and riots spread across the nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Activists and left-wing politicians echoed calls to defund the police in response to Floyd’s killing, including in Atlanta where the mayor at the time championed that the city had already been working on plans “reallocating” policing funds to community-based initiatives.
Experts who have previously spoken to Fox Digital have pinned blame on 2020’s crime trend in part on anti-police rhetoric that washed over the nation, spurring mass resignations and early retirements from the force, as well as cops pulling back from proactively policing.
The downtown skyline in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s obvious that police officers do not want to come work for a mayor or a city that does not back them, so Buckhead wants to take things into its own hands,” White said during the “Fox & Friends” interview in 2022.
“We’re short 180 police officers, so what are we supposed to do?” White continued. “They said this has never been done taking a part of a city out and making its own city from that, but we’re going to do it, and we’re going to absolutely love our police.”
The effort to secede received support from some local Republican leaders, and notably received Trump’s backing, who railed against “RINO” politicians who did not come to the aid of residents demanding assistance with crime trends.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Georgia on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Trump is visiting the state to host a campaign fundraising event. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)
“What is happening in the City of Atlanta is nothing short of disgraceful. It’s national news and a regional embarrassment. The good people of Buckhead don’t want to be a part of defunding the police and the high crime that’s plaguing their communities,” Trump wrote in February of 2022. “However, RINOs like Governor Brian Kemp, the man responsible, along with his puppet master Mitch McConnell, for the loss of two Senate Seats and 2020 Presidential Vote, Lt. Governor Jeff Duncan, Speaker David Ralston, and State Senators Butch Miller, Jeff Mullis, and John Albers always talk a big game but they don’t deliver.
“What good is having Republican leaders if they are unwilling to fight for what they campaigned on? Every RINO must go! Let the voters decide on the very popular City of Buckhead proposal!”
The effort to secede ultimately failed in the state Senate last year, when all Democrats and a handful of Republicans delivered the blow with a 33-23 vote.
Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives for a GOP fundraiser, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
This year, Trump has continued hammering the issue of crime trends and public safety, including in New York last month, when he attended the wake of an NYPD officer, Jonathan Diller, who was shot and killed allegedly by a career criminal. Trump called for “law and order” outside of the funeral home.
“The other day I was very honored to visit the family of an amazing man, New York Police Detective Jonathan Diller. You read about it, who was gunned down by a vicious thug, who was originally arrested by different law enforcement agencies over twenty-one times for very serious crimes. And the person with them was a known killer,” Trump said days later at a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
“We will very importantly restore law and order to our country, and I’m going to indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States to protect them from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong actions on crime,” Trump said.
Ahead of Trump’s fundraising event in Buckhead, the 45th president pulled in more than $50 million at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Beach on Saturday.