Ike Perlmutter

Ike Perlmutter is the invisible man of American politics — a reclusive billionaire who avoided being photographed for decades, ran Marvel Entertainment with an iron fist, and wielded more influence over Veterans Affairs policy than most elected officials, all without holding any government position whatsoever. Born in 1942 in British Mandate Palestine (now Israel), Perlmutter served in the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six-Day War before immigrating to the United States in the late 1960s. He built his fortune through a series of leveraged buyouts and aggressive cost-cutting in the consumer products and entertainment industries. His defining move was acquiring Marvel Entertainment's debt during its 1996 bankruptcy, eventually gaining control of the company. Under his notoriously frugal management — he was known for counting paper clips and recycling staples — Marvel flourished, and Disney acquired it for $4 billion in 2009. Perlmutter remained as Marvel's CEO until Disney removed him in 2023. But Perlmutter's real political story is the Mar-a-Lago trio. During Trump's first term, ProPublica revealed that Perlmutter, along with physician Bruce Moskowitz and lawyer Marc Sherman — three members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club with zero government experience — were effectively making policy decisions for the Department of Veterans Affairs. They reviewed VA proposals, vetoed personnel decisions, and directed policy priorities through their access to Trump, all without any official role, security clearance, or democratic accountability. The arrangement was extraordinary: three wealthy club members dictating health care policy for millions of veterans, simply because they had physical proximity to the president at his Florida resort. When the story broke, it became a case study in how donor access translates to policy influence outside any formal government structure. Perlmutter's political giving has been substantial — $50 million over his career, almost exclusively to Trump. He is a single-candidate donor: his money goes to Trump, and his influence operates through that personal relationship. Unlike donors who fund broad party infrastructure, Perlmutter buys access to one person and leverages it for maximum policy influence. The irony of Perlmutter's story is that the man who created some of America's most beloved superheroes operated in real life like a comic book villain's description of shadowy power: invisible, unaccountable, and pulling strings from behind the curtain. His influence over VA affairs was eventually curtailed, but the precedent — private citizens dictating government policy through club membership and donations — remains a cautionary tale about the corruption of access.