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.
Will the guilty verdict actually help Trump’s campaign?
Yes: 100% (670 Votes)
No: 0% (3 Votes)
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.
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.”
A Note from Our Deputy Managing Editor:
I heard a chilling comment the other day: “We don’t even know if an election will be held in 2024.”
That wasn’t said by a conspiracy theorist or a doomsday prophet. No, former U.S. national security advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said that to the founder of The Western Journal, Floyd Brown.
Gen. Flynn’s warning means that the 2024 election is the most important election for every single living American. If we lose this one to the wealthy elites who hate us, hate God, and hate what America stands for, we can only assume that 248 years of American history and the values we hold dear to our hearts may soon vanish.
The end game is here, and as Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
All of this means that without you, it’s over. We have the platform, the journalists, and the experience to fight back hard, but Big Tech is strangling us through advertising blacklists, shadow bans, and algorithms. Did you know that we’ve been blacklisted by 90% of advertisers? Without direct support from you, our readers, we can’t continue the fight.
Can we count on your support? It may not seem like much, but a Western Journal Membership can make all the difference in the world because when you support us directly, you cut Big Tech out of the picture. They lose control.
A monthly Western Journal Membership costs less than one coffee and breakfast sandwich each month, and it gets you access to ALL of our content — news, commentary, and premium articles. You’ll experience a radically reduced number of ads, and most importantly you will be vitally supporting the fight for America’s soul in 2024.
We are literally counting on you because without our members, The Western Journal would cease to exist. Will you join us in the fight?
Sincerely,
Josh Manning
Deputy Managing Editor
The Western Journal
George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of “WJ Live,” powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English as well as a Master’s in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
