The Hollywood Producer Behind Suicide Squad And Mad Max Is Donald Trump’s Chief Fundraiser

Suicide Squad and Donald Trump are two of the least popular things in the US right now, but it turns out they have more in common than high disapproval ratings. In May, Trump appointed a guy called Steven Mnuchin to head up his fundraising team. Mnuchin runs an investment fund and was a business associate of Trump’s, but he also co-owns one of the largest film financing companies in Hollywood and has produced blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Movie and, most recently, Suicide Squad. 

RatPac-Dune Entertainment was co-founded by Mnuchin, Brett Ratner (who directed the Rush Hour franchise) and Australia’s own James Packer. The company recently signed a deal with Warner Bros. to produce 75 films, including all films set in the DC Comics’ Extended Universe, like Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad.

Hollywood is generally considered to be a bastion of bleeding-heart, lefty do-gooders, which makes the Trump-Mnuchin connection a bit surprising. In fact, Mnuchin has previously donated to a number of high profile Democratic Party candidates, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. For whatever reason, Mnuchin has now thrown his support behind Trump.

“It’s a great privilege to be working with Mr. Trump to create a world class finance organisation to support the campaign in the general election,” Mnuchin said when he was appointed. More recently, he’s joked about his support for Trump, telling journalists “You’d be surprised how many secret Republicans there are in Hollywood!”

Mnuchin made his fortune working at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, the same bank Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used to head up in Australia, before investing his money in film production. A number of the films he’s produced seem to have foreshadowed his support for Trump.

Mad Max: Fury Road is set in an apocalyptic wasteland (no doubt triggered by Trump’s liberal use of nuclear weapons) ruled by a ruthless tyrant with a bad blonde wig.

Godzilla features an enormous, evil creature hell-bent on wreaking untold havoc.

Suicide Squad is a terrible, yet inexplicably popular film, loved by weirdo’s on Reddit.

It’s now clear that Mnuchin has been softening us up for a Trump presidency for years. The bad news is that he seems to be really good at fundraising, pulling in $80 million last month. Meanwhile Suicide Squad is on track to become one of the biggest films of the year, despite receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews. This Mnuchin guy clearly has some sort of superpower, but why can’t he use it for good instead of evil?