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Agence France-Presse

He is a reclusive hedge fund billionaire who made a fortune using complicated algorithms to bet on things other people could not see.
One of his gambles was on Donald Trump.
And his backing of the long-shot presidential candidate has made Robert “Bob” Mercer, the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, the top power broker in Republican politics today.
The Mercer family is not nearly as well known as the industrialist Koch brothers or the Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson when it comes to supporting right-wing causes in the United States.
And they are more than happy to keep it that way.
Mercer, 71, who worked as a computer scientist at IBM before joining Long Island-based Renaissance Technologies, has always shunned the limelight.
According to numerous accounts, Mercer is socially awkward and intensely private.
He is described in Michael Wolff’s bombshell new book Fire and Fury as “almost non-verbal, looking at you with a dead stare and either not talking or offering only minimal response.”

In November, Robert Mercer abruptly announced that he was stepping down as co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies because of the unwanted press scrutiny brought about by his political activities.
In his resignation letter, Mercer also made his most expansive public comments to date, outlining the core principles of his libertarian philosophy.
“I believe that individuals are happiest and most fulfilled when they form their own opinions, assume responsibility for their own actions, and spend the fruits of their own labour as they see fit,” he said.
“This is why I support conservatives, who favour a smaller, less powerful government.”
In his book about the Trump White House, Wolff expanded further on what he claimed was the Mercer family doctrine.

He said they were attempting to build a “radical free-market, small-government, home-schooling, antiliberal, gold-standard, pro-death penalty, anti-Muslim, pro-Christian, monetarist, anti-civil-rights political movement in the United States.”
With the silver-haired Mercer patriarch remaining behind the scenes, it is up to Rebekah, 44, the second of his three daughters, to channel the family money to conservative causes and maintain the direct line to the White House.
While the Koch brothers and other Republican mega-donors sat out the 2016 presidential race because of a distaste for Trump, the Mercers threw their considerable resources behind the brash real estate tycoon after initially backing Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

They donated millions to Trump’s coffers and persuaded his then floundering campaign to take on board two figures seen as instrumental to his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton – anti-establishment ideologue Steve Bannon and pollster Kellyanne Conway.
Robert Mercer, who reportedly has an abiding hatred of the Clintons, is a long-time patron of Bannon, who headed the right-wing website Breitbart News until becoming chief executive of Trump’s election campaign.
When President Trump angrily severed ties with Bannon recently over comments he made in the Wolff book, it was a damaging blow to his former White House chief strategist.
But the coup de grace to any remaining political ambitions Bannon may have had came a few days later, when the Mercer family pulled the plug on their long-time ally.

“I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,” Rebekah Mercer said in a rare public statement.
“My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”
The excommunication marked the end of the long-standing collaboration between the Mercer family and Bannon, who had been a fringe player in Republican politics until a US$10 million investment by the Mercers turned his Breitbart News into a powerful conservative voice.
The Mercers are estimated to have contributed a total of more than US$100 million to conservative causes over the past decade, including funding for the Government Accountability Institute (GAI).
Rebekah Mercer serves as chairwoman of the board of the Florida-based institute co-founded by Bannon whose stated mission is to root out “cronyism and corruption.”
GAI is perhaps best known for a 2015 book by its president, Peter Schweizer, that was highly critical of the Clintons: Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.
Besides contributing to Breitbart and GAI, the Mercers also invested in Cambridge Analytica, a political data analysis firm whose efforts have been credited with helping Trump win the 2016 election.
While Bannon has been the Mercers’ frontman for their political activities for years, his departure from the scene would not appear to lessen their influence.
According to The Daily Beast, before repudiating Bannon, Rebekah Mercer held a telephone call with the White House, where she spoke with President Trump.


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Donald Trump

Robert Mercer: billionaire Breitbart backer and Republican power broker who gambled on Donald Trump

Robert Mercer plays in the World Poker Tour in 2012. He is a reclusive hedge fund billionaire who made a fortune using complicated algorithms to bet on things other people could not see. One of his gambles was on Donald Trump. Photo: World Poker Tour

FILE PHOTO: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question from the audience during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

President-elect Donald Trump gestures toward reporters as he arrives for a party at the home of Robert Mercer, one of his biggest campaign donors, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016, in Head of the Harbor, N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, addresses the delegates during the third day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Wednesday, July 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican billionaire donor Rebeka Mercer (right) with Stephen Bannon , Kellyanne Conway and Dan Scavino jnr at Donald Trump's inauguration. Rebekak Mercer is the daughter of Robert “Bob” Mercer, the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, the top powerbroker in Republican politics today.

Steve Bannon quits Breitbart News after breaking with Trump over explosive book

The exit of US President’s former chief strategist, who was abandoned by his conservative financial backers, represents a seismic shift for a website that he billed as ‘the platform for the alt-right’

FILE PHOTO: White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon (L) attends a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to discuss trade deals at the at the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington U.S., February 2, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

(FILES): This March 13, 2017 file photo shows then senior White House adviser Steve Bannon (L) listening as US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before meeting with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Rattled by a one-two punch of betrayal and scandal, Donald Trump on Thursday, January 4, 2017 tried to block the publication of a bare-knuckle book that portrays his White House as a fetid stew of backbiting, incompetence and dysfunction. Trump instructed his lawyers to prevent the release of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" -- an expose by author and political muckraker Michael Wolff -- which quotes key Trump aides expressing serious doubt about his fitness for office. The book -- which paints Trump as mentally unstable and far out of his depth -- quotes at length his former ally and chief strategist Steve Bannon, who also received a "cease and desist" order from Trump's attorneys. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

Another copy of the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff is sold at Barbara's Books Store, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Steve Bannon (seen in March last year), ex-Trump campaign strategist and former White House aide, has left Breitbart News. He was executive director of the right-wing website, but remarks about Trump and his administration revealed in a recent book appear to have made his position on the site untenable. Photo: AFP

Book review – Fire and Fury is a must-read toxic tale of Trump’s White House, with Bannon’s voice the loudest

Trump’s circle of ‘friends’, family and acquaintances are unsparing in their criticisms of the president throughout Fire and Fury. Photo: Washington Post

CORTE MADERA, CA - JANUARY 05: Copies of the book "Fire and Fury" by author Michael Wolff are displayed on a shelf at Book Passage on January 5, 2018 in Corte Madera, California. A controversial new book about the inner workings of the Trump administration hit bookstore shelves nearly a week earlier than anticipated after lawyers for Donald Trump issued a cease and desist letter to publisher Henry Holt & Co. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

FILE - In this April 12, 2017, file photo, Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter speaks at the Newseum in Washington. Wolff used to worry about the spotlight moving on. No longer. The author of an explosive book on President Donald Trump's administration is the target of a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyers. And he's the focus of a campaign by the president's allies to cast doubt on the book's claim that Trump is a reluctant and troubled president. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Fire and Fury cover

Who are the people closest to Trump who might doubt his mental fitness?

US President Donald Trump. Photo: The Washington Post

Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, speaks to members of the media before a Senate Republican weekly luncheon meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018. The Trump administration is proposing to open almost all U.S. coastal waters to oil drilling, including those off California and Florida where activists have fought for decades to spare delicate ecosystems from oil spills. Photographer: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg

Former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on June 8, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) answers questions from reporters in a September 26, 2017, file image. (Alex Edelman/Zuma Press/TNS)

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Robert Mercer, who reportedly has an abiding hatred of the Clintons, was a long-time patron of Stephen Bannon – but publicly split with him after his criticism of Trump’s family surfaced this month in Michael Wolff’s book ‘Fire and Fury’


Analysis | Robert Mercer: billionaire Breitbart backer and Republican power broker who gambled on Donald Trump

Robert Mercer, who reportedly has an abiding hatred of the Clintons, was a long-time patron of Stephen Bannon – but publicly split with him after his criticism of Trump’s family surfaced this month in Michael Wolff’s book ‘Fire and Fury’