Chuck Darwin<p>The Winklevoss twins, Rebekah Mercer, allies of Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and top Trump campaign aides recently joined a conclave of right-wing donors who are suddenly flush with power.</p><p>Just four days after being named the next White House chief of staff, <br>Susie Wiles was waiting patiently for an espresso drink at a five-star hotel in Las Vegas.</p><p>Overnight, she had become one of the most powerful people in America. </p><p>The value of a minute of her time could not be higher during the presidential transition: <br>Republican strivers are hounding her for desirable gigs, <br>and back at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald J. Trump has kept courting controversy with his picks.</p><p>Yet here she was thousands of miles away, flanked only by a security guard, <br>alone in line at a Four Seasons coffee shop. </p><p>She had just peeled off from lunch with other top Trump campaign officials, <br>including her fellow campaign manager, Chris LaCivita; </p><p>the pollster Tony Fabrizio; </p><p>and the campaign’s fund-raising chief, Meredith O’Rourke. </p><p>“We’re all just chilling,” one member of the startled Trump entourage joked aloud when alerted that they had been spotted by a nearby New York Times reporter as they walked through the hotel.</p><p>What demanded the dayslong presence of all these Trumpworld figures during some of the most important weeks of their careers? </p><p>♦️The fall gathering of a secretive group of wealthy tech executives and their allies who have ascended swiftly within the Republican Party’s donor class: ♦️the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rockbridge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rockbridge</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Network" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Network</span></a>.</p><p>The group, which was co-founded five years ago by JD Vance, <br>sprouted from an informal set of dinners into a powerful coalition of Republican donors who have <br>given more than $100 million to Rockbridge projects since 2019, according to a person close to the group, <br>helping lead Silicon Valley’s march to the right. </p><p>For Rockbridge, Mr. Vance’s election as vice president was a crowning achievement <br>— and a tantalizing opportunity to wield new national influence.</p><p>But Rockbridge has largely kept its activities stealthy, <br>mindful of how groups of wealthy conservatives like the Koch Network have drawn attacks from both liberal detractors and Republican wannabes.</p><p>As caravans of black S.U.V.s shuttled in the billionaires from their private jets last week, members of the Rockbridge roster could be spotted around the hotel: <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rebekah" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rebekah</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mercer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mercer</span></a>, the scion of one of the most prolific Republican donor families, greeted well-wishers in the lobby. </p><p>Working the happy-hour scene at the hotel bar were two close friends of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Elon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Musk</span></a>’s <br>— <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ken" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ken</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Howery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Howery</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Luke" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Luke</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Nosek" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nosek</span></a>, whose time with Mr. Musk at PayPal made them megawealthy themselves.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/politics/rockbridge-trump-vance-wiles.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/poli</span><span class="invisible">tics/rockbridge-trump-vance-wiles.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare</span></a></p>