There’s another worrisome aspect to the election recount donations that are being requested by President Donald Trump according to campaign finance experts, who cite concerns he may be doing this to provide a political slush fund for himself and his family.
Trump has been requesting donations and selling merchandise in an attempt to “stop the left from trying to steal the election,” The Daily Mail [1] reports. His campaign team has fired off hundreds of emails and texts, attempting to convince chumps, er I mean supporters, to help overturn the election result.
But the itty bitty print accompanying the emails shows that the money will largely be used to support a new fundraising arm, Save America, [2] which is a Political Action Committee (PAC) Trump launched less than a week after the election.
I’m going to add here, that the name is laughable because Trump neither cares nor knows how to “save America.” That is simply not part of who he is. He’s merely hoping the PAC will push his agenda of profiting himself and his cronies.
Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told CNN setting up a leadership PAC has always been part of Trump’s purview, “win or lose, so he can support candidates and issues he cares about, such as combating voter fraud.”
As I said, this is laughable. There’s been no demonstrable evidence [3] of voter fraud and some states (especially Georgia, which is recounting [4] votes again Tuesday) have assiduously counted and re-counted ballots. And Trump is only interested in himself and candidates who will brown-nose him as much as possible.
That’s apparent in the emails’ fine print — which state in the Trumpest way possible that: “the first 75 percent of every contribution up to $5,000 will go to Save America,” per Daily Mail, which also reports:
“Once the threshold is met, money then goes into the campaign’s fund for the recount fight.”
The Republican National Committee will also benefit, as a quarter of the funds will go to the RNC’s operating account.
It’s not unusual for politicians to use leadership PACs to donate to politicians with similar backgrounds and sometimes they also do this to keep themselves in the public’s and their own party’s eye. These PACs can also be useful as vehicles to provide campaign travel and fund staff.
Daily Mail also reports the spending rules for leadership PACS are fairly loose, meaning the funds can be used in a variety of ways. Meaning of course, that Trump could use the funds for a 2024 presidential bid and paying his staff — family members included.
That’s an odious thought, but here’s even worse news: fundraising for leadership PACS are higher than those for candidate committees, meaning an individual can donate up to $5,000 per year. Meaning of course, that a politician can pull in $20,000 over a four-year-period from just one donor.
That’s a huge difference from presidential candidate committees, where an individual can only give a maximum of $2,800.
The rules are loose enough that Trump could really have a field day, funneling money into his business by hosting PAC events at his several properties. This has some concerned experts to worry he may claim he’s soliciting funds for his election recount legal challenges, only to divert that money to other interests.
“This money could easily, and legally, end up in his own pocket in the coming years,” said Paul Ryan (no, not the Paul Ryan you’re thinking of), vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause. Ryan also noted after Trump’s legal recount challenges end, he could “tease a 2024 run for years and continue milking his supporters for contributions to this slush fund.”
All I can say at this point is that if his supporters are that gullible, more power to them I guess. Will people really forget how disastrous his presidency has been? His chances of winning in 2024 are pretty poor I’m guessing. But then I thought Hillary Clinton would clinch the presidency in 2016, so who the hell really knows?