Griffin says Republicans erred by cutting taxes last year
Billionaire Ken Griffin said Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump made a mistake by cutting taxes even further last year.
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After the U.S. government’s heavy spending during the pandemic “we didn’t have the fiscal space to renew the tax cuts,” Griffin said in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday at the Future of Global Markets Conference in New York, noting that the U.S. debt has eclipsed $40 trillion. Republicans “have their hands dirty over the tax cuts the last two years than with spending increases.”
Griffin, a Republican benefactor whose business empire includes hedge fund Citadel and market-maker Citadel Securities, said the solution is to “grow the damn economy,” and to push Europeans to grow theirs, too.
“The tariff war with Europe is a fiasco,” he added.
Griffin also touched on his recent spat with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who filmed a viral video earlier this year outside the billionaire’s penthouse and called him out by name when proposing a pied-à-terre tax for the city. On Tuesday, Griffin said he has no relationship with Mamdani, though he encourages his New York-based staffers to be engaged with politics and isn’t worried about the wave of democratic socialists seeking office across the U.S.
“If you look at where socialism leads you to, look at France this weekend,” he said, referring to the street protests there.
Despite his criticism of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Griffin has been one of biggest donors this election cycle, spending tens of millions of dollars to back the Republican Party’s candidates, including $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund.
He also spent $10 million supporting Byron Donalds, who’s running for Florida governor. Millions more have gone to backing Republicans in close races, including
Griffin’s net worth has climbed 19% this year to $57.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
