Hedge fund manager and Pershing Square Capital Management CEO Bill Ackman followed fellow CEO billionaire and X owner Elon Musk in endorsing former President and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. 

While Ackman has often used his X account to express his support of Trump and his goals, in the wake of Saturday's assassination attempt on Trump, he decided to formally declare his intent, and explain the reasoning behind his decision.

I am going to formally endorse @realDonaldTrump. I came to this decision some time ago as many @X followers have already understood from my supportive posts of Trump and my criticisms of @POTUS Biden.

The reason why I have not yet formally done so is that I want to explain my…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 14, 2024

I am going to formally endorse @realDonaldTrump. I came to this decision some time ago as many @X followers have already understood from my supportive posts of Trump and my criticisms of @POTUS Biden. 

The reason why I have not yet formally done so is that I want to explain my thinking in detail and address the arguments put forth by others against Trump. I want to make the case thoughtfully and convincingly.  

Today, when one announces an intention to support Trump, Biden supporters who know me tend to assume that I have lost it. I assure you that I have made this decision carefully, rationally, and by relying on as much empirical data as possible.  

It will take a long-form post to explain my thinking.  

Ackman laid his reasons out in detail, sharing his first-hand observations of Trump and how the legacy media's narrative pushing and gaslighting has been complicit in people's negative view of him. 

As always, I respect everyone’s right to form and share their own views on this important topic.  Please keep an open mind on the upcoming presidential election. Bear in mind that your views on Trump have likely been dramatically affected if you have sourced your info on Trump from mainstream media or friends or family who have relied on mainstream media as a source of knowledge.  

We have all recently learned in the starkest manner (the debate) how we cannot rely on the MSM as our source of truth on the ultimate political question.  

Remember, media organizations are like sports teams that run plays chosen by their owners and executed by the coaches they hire. They are not unbiased arbiters of the truth.

He's preaching to the choir. Like Musk, Ackman's political views do not follow the left and Democrat Party lines. Ackman appears unafraid in expressing these views and has openly criticized President Joe Biden and his fitness to lead, even before the June debate. In January, he spoke with CNBC's Squawkbox in the wake of Harvard University then-president Claudine Gay's allowance of the Anti-Semitic protests and activity on the campus. Ackman specified why he felt this way about Biden and alluded more to his personal political leanings. 

Ackman made the remarks during an interview on CNBC's "Squawkbox" about his recent political activity in the wake of Harvard University's antisemitism scandal. When asked about his political views heading into the 2024 presidential election, Ackman said Biden was not fit to serve.

"So one, I've always been a centrist, always believed in supporting whoever is best for the country — Republican, independent, Democrat," Ackman said. "I think it's really important that Biden steps aside."

He continued, "Just on the age, past his prime issue, I think a good part of the reason why we have what's going on in the world geopolitically is he's perceived as a weak president. And he will be even weaker."

When asked if he would support former President Trump over Biden in the 2024 election, Ackman said, "I'll make that decision when I have the choice."

Saturday's assassination attempt on Trump apparently cemented his choice. Ackman also reposted and expressed his concurrence with an article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali about the environment that led up to Saturday's horrors.

.@Ayaan pens an extremely sober and insightful piece on the events leading up to yesterday’s assassination attempt.

We need to return politics in America back to a competition between the best ideas and the best leaders to execute on them, not the raging of holy war against the… https://t.co/klJp7Bitwc

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 14, 2024

.@Ayaan pens an extremely sober and insightful piece on the events leading up to yesterday’s assassination attempt.  We need to return politics in America back to a competition between the best ideas and the best leaders to execute on them, not the raging of holy war against the opposition whose views you don’t support.

Ackman also has no problem challenging his billionaire-class friends who still support Biden, confronting their lockstep party orthodoxy and demonization of Trump. 

A friend who supports Biden and hates Trump complained to me this morning that I am being narcissistic by sharing my views publicly on the presidential election, and that I should keep my views to myself.

I explained to my friend that part of being a good citizen is…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 14, 2024

A friend who supports Biden and hates Trump complained to me this morning that I am being narcissistic by sharing my views publicly on the presidential election, and that I should keep my views to myself.  

I explained to my friend that part of being a good citizen is participating in the political process. If one believes that one candidate is materially better for the country than another, one should advocate in any way that they can for that candidate. 

This is not narcissism. It is patriotism. All of us have an obligation to stand up and be counted.

Ackman is taking his stand, and no doubt this "counting" will involve the counting of cash. Another money car has hitched itself to the Trump Train, adding more fuel to its forward momentum. The Trump campaign was launched into the stratosphere after the assassination attempt, and Trump's bravery and leadership in the wake of it. With the Republican National Convention starting on Monday, and these significant endorsements, Trump is becoming an unstoppable force.