Not all Islamists are terrorists,
but all the terrorists are Islamists.
That’s Sheldon Adelson.
casino magnate and GOP megadonor.
He’s currently the 12th richest person in America
and was one of the biggest donors to Trump’s presidential campaign.
A friend of mine says, ‘you’re the tallest guy in the world.’
I said, 'how do you figure that?'
He says, ‘when you stand on your wallet.'
But his wallet wasn’t always comically thick.
Adelson grew up poor.
He was born in 1933 in Boston to a Jewish cab driver and a mother who ran a knitting shop.
When Sheldon was 12, he took a $200 loan from his uncle
and used it to start a newspaper stand.
At 16, Adelson borrowed $10,000 from his uncle
and started a candy-vending-machine business.
Adelson graduated from Roxbury Memorial high school in 1951.
He briefly attended City College of New York before dropping out
and joining the army as a court reporter, transcribing testimony.
When he was done serving his country, he went back to entrepreneurship.
He started a charter travel service in the 60s and business was booming...at first.
The company became the largest travel agency in New England.
Adelson became a millionaire, bought a house in Newton
and installed a state-of-the-art bowling alley.
But in 1969, the competition was fierce,
the stock crashed, and Adelson had to sell his house—even the bowling alley.
But Sheldon rolled a strike in 1979 when he created Comdex,
a computer trade show in Vegas.
Comdex was renting out space in convention centers across Las Vegas, so Adelson figured:
why not buy his own?
His company bought the Sands hotel on the Las Vegas strip,
making it the first privately operated convention center in the country.
It is perhaps then that Adelson began to wonder:
perhaps money isn’t in trade show management,
but instead exploiting the human tendency towards addiction for profit.
In 1995, Adelson sold COMDEX for $862 million.
He demolished Sands in a show filled with fireworks and drama.
In its place, he built The Venetian in 1999 at a $1.5 billion price tag.
There was still more to be made, though:
in the breathtaking Chinese autonomous territory of Macau.
He opened Sands Macau in 2004,
and since then the area has surpassed Vegas to earn the title of the ‘world’s gambling capital.’
But underneath the golden, luxurious 289-suite hotel
lurked golden, luxurious debauchery, organized crime, and corruption.
Steve Jacobs, former CEO of Sands Macau, filed suit against Adelson, for wrongful termination.
Jacobs alleged that Adelson ordered him to perform illegal activities,
such as making payments to local officials that might violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
When Jacobs objected, he was let go.
Jacobs’ lawsuit alleges Adelson not only tolerated illegal acts, but even sometimes encouraged them.
According to the lawsuit, after Jacobs arrived in Macau in 2009,
he launched an effort to rid the casino floor of “loan sharks and prostitution”
Jacobs said in the documents.
Adelson denied any prostitution approving and after a six-year legal battle,
the casino mogul reportedly paid more than $75 million to settle the suit.
He was a Democrat before he became the ultra-rich and became upset with Democrats for taxing the ultra-rich.
So...he switched sides.
Adelson spent at least $98 million on ads in the 2012 election alone.
Did you know that Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million of his own money last year on negative ads?
You’ve gotta really dislike me to spend that kind of money.
I mean, that’s Oprah money!
He’s also one of the biggest roadblocks against marijuana legalization,
donating millions to stop legalization efforts in states like Nevada,
where he coincidentally makes money off people doing literally all of the other vices.
In the 2016 election, Adelson sat on the sidelines during the primaries,
but when his party decided on a nominee, he opened his wallet.
I don’t take comments from anybody unless they’re rich.
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?
Now if they’re rich, they must be smart.
So with this mentality, Adelson gave millions in the 2016 cycle to the man he deemed the “smartest”:
But there was more to it than backing someone who is just ridiculously smart.
One of the biggest reasons the pro-Israel Adelson stood behind Trump
was because of the plan to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel
by moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,
a move that many believe will shatter peace efforts between Israel and Palestine.
So...Adelson coughed up $20 million to a super pac to defeat Hillary Clinton
and even chipped in $5 million to Trump’s inauguration festivities,
the largest single donation given to any president’s inaugural committee.
You get something nice if you act nice, or you get beat up if you don’t act nice.
Adelson got something nice in return:
Today we officially opened the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.
Congratulations.
Now, Adelson is looking for even more leverage.
With the downfall of Steve Wynn,
If I don’t see that sentence in this edited version of this tape,
I will choke both of you after this question and answer.
Desperate GOP hopefuls are crawling to the Venetian
and hopping on its indoor, chlorine scented gondola ride,
sailing past American treasures like Tommy Bahama and Victoria’s Secret,
riding a wave straight up to Mr. Adelson’s office to kiss the ring.
With the potential loss of both chambers of congress in the midterms,
republicans everywhere will be flocking to Adelson’s digs in hopes of acquiring his very expensive sign-off
With a simple stroke of a pen,
Adelson could single handedly close the gap and let the GOP retain full control.
I want my legacy to be that I helped out humankind.