At the Republican National Convention, numerous speakers have been trotted out as so-called “everyday Americans.” Tonight, the list of “everyday Americans” will include Diane Hendricks, a woman who has topped Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women list for seven years in a row and has a net worth of $20 billion.
Hendricks has donated millions to support Donald Trump’s political rise and played a key role in his shocking 2016 victory in Wisconsin — before scoring a massive tax deduction as a result of Trump’s 2017 tax law. She’s scheduled to speak at the convention Thursday before Donald Trump formally accepts the Republican nomination for president.
The Wisconsin businesswoman, who made her billions after co-founding a roofing company with her late husband, doesn’t exactly fit the mold of an average American.
The 77-year-old worked as a Playboy Bunny to pay off her debts as a teen. Now, she boasts a reported net worth of $20.9 billion. She owns a multi-story 9,500-square-foot home that is a testament to her Republican fervor, filled with statues of Ronald Reagan, photos of her and Donald Trump together, and a numbered print showing 10 Republicans drinking together, identical to the one Trump hung in the White House. Outside, three Budweiser Clydesdales roam the luscious greens, Forbes reported. The horses are valued at $15,000 apiece.
The billionaire’s patriotism doesn’t stop there. Her company, ABC Supply, has brandished the slogan “Delivering on the American Dream Since 1982” since inception, and calls “American Pride” one of seven core values. Fellow RNC entertainer Lee Greenwood regularly sings “God Bless the USA” at the company’s events. The song is also regularly featured in a video shown to all company managers.
Hendricks, the 93rd-richest person in the world, has used her fortune to influence elections, and much of it has come to the benefit of Trump. “Everyone knows I am a conservative,” she told Forbes in 2022.
During the 2016 election cycle, Hendricks donated $8 million to the Reform America Fund, which spent $3.5 million attacking Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The spending was focused in Wisconsin, where Clinton narrowly lost by 0.8 percent in a major upset that helped swing the election to Trump.
During the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, Hendricks donated $1.4 million to the Trump Victory committee. In 2020, she donated $4 million to America First Action, the primary pro-Trump Super PAC that cycle. Hendricks has has donated $5 million to Trump’s chief Super PAC this election cycle, Make America Great Again Inc.
Her past support for Trump paid off big time. According to reporting by ProPublica, Hendricks saved tens of millions as a result of a provision in the 2017 Trump tax law designed to benefit owners of large real estate holdings through LLCs.
In the first year of the pass-through provision, Hendricks received a $97 million deduction on her $502 million in income, saving her around $36 million in taxes, according to ProPublica. The outlet reported that the tax cuts may have benefited Hendricks and the Uihlein family, Republican megadonors who own the cardboard box giant Uline, more than anyone else in the country.
Hendricks isn’t the only billionaire scheduled to speak at the RNC on Thursday. Trump megadonor Linda McMahon, who ran the Small Business Administration under Trump, is speaking after Hendricks.
McMahon has donated millions to pro-Trump Super PACs, and currently chairs the board of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.
