Posted on 02/08/2016 1:06:58 PM PST by conservativejoy
I have to admit that I found one aspect of the Trump campaign compelling: his claim that he was self-funding and therefore free of any obligations to his financiers. Any regular reader of mine knows my obsession with money in American politics. Money may not be the root of all evil, but it is the catalyst that produces the most evil in American politics! However my gut tells me to process anything coming from The Donald’s mouth with a healthy dose of skepticism.
On face value I mistrust Trump. He looks slimy to me and has a history of being very money driven. He has a track record of making money primarily by using other people's money not his own. He has declared various bankruptcies and walked away from deals when they soured leaving other harmed and/or holding the bag.
I was one of the last to take his candidacy seriously because I couldn't figure out his motivation for running for President. Trump in not a civically motivated guy. He has never held office before. From a monetary standpoint if he won the job and performed it straight up he'd stand to lose money via lost business opportunities if nothing else. He is a guy who admittedly is used to buying politicians - why would he want to be one? My conclusion was that he had figured out some way to make money by running for and/or winning the Presidency. I just hadn't figured out his angle.
August 28th I got the first indication that my gut was on to something. That night Trump ran what had every appearance of being a fundraiser at the home of Ernie Boch, Jr. Trump denied it was a fundraiser. (See my September 1st posting, Warning Label Needed, for the details.) It appears that the Trump campaign took in around $80,000 to $100,000 that night. Not bad for a non-fundraiser!
Last Sunday Glenn Kessler, one of the premier fact-checkers in America, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled, Five myths Donald Trump tells about Donald Trump. Number four was the one that caught my attention: "I'm self-funding my campaign." It is true that Trump does not have a Super PAC at this point and as far as we can tell has not taken any mega-donations from the deep pocketed, but he is far from self-funding.
Kessler looked into the numbers a bit and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see where Trump can ultimately make money on the project of running for President regardless of the final result. His campaign started with a $1.8 million dollar personal loan. Keep in mind this is a loan. He has subsequently added a little over $100,000 to bringing his total "investment" to $1.9 million in round numbers. During the campaign he has raised $3.9 million in donations. While donations supposedly from smaller donors are certainly preferable to a lump sum or two from some fat cat(s) they are not the candidate's money as Trump would like you to think.
Now let's look at the spending side. The campaign has spent $5.4 million to date. About 25% or $1.35 million was spent with Trump entities, primarily the company that owns his airplane. That money is effectively just shuffled from one Trump pocket to another.
Now we see he has $1.9 million "invested", $1.8 million of which is in the form of a loan that the campaign could very well be paying back to Trump before it is all over. In the process he has already racked up $1.35 million in sales for his companies. Assuming just a 10% profit margin, the profit on the sales exceeds the non-loan "investment" in the campaign. If that loan gets paid off, which it very well may, Trump makes money on the deal.
I find it commendable that Trump has not taken anonymous, dark money to date. Does anyone actually expect that to continue past the convention if Trump is the nominee? Given his track record he will look for the loan to be repaid first and worry about his pledge second. A donation to the Trump campaign is like helping him pay off his loan to himself. Self-funding means with your own money; not other people's money!
And your real point is?
Too many words.
Next!
As a non trump supporter...this is a nothing burger too.
Any regular reader of mine
I was one of the last
I got the first indication that my gut
The self obsession of the Trump haters.
I would pay to watch the ECG of this narcissist, on Trump inauguration day.
Trump is mostly self-funding by loaning his campaign money. He also has some money coming from small donors.
No special interest cash, no super-pac or Wall Street money.
So what’s the argument?
He looks slimy? That’s what passes for analysis? That’s as stupid as people who say Ted Cruz looks like a vampire. Again, aren’t you embarrassed about this?
I agree completely.
Well, that’s just pitiful. Do you people EVER tell the truth?
Don’t confuse us with facts! Trump is perfect.
I think the argument is that when Trump claims his campaign is “self-funded” that’s not a true statement.
I’ve read this from many sources. Trump is reimbursing himself from donations and he has paid his aviation company over a million dollars so far.
“On face value I mistrust Trump. He looks slimy...”
It’s good to see that he isn’t biased in any way.
While story is about Carla Fiorina it does tell us more about Glenn Kessler and how reports on Republican canidates.
Quote from link.
In a stunning confession Tuesday, Glenn Kessler, editor of the embattled Washington Post’s fact check column, admitted that the Post’s fact-check findings “are subjective.†Kessler was responding to the litany of complaints surrounding his partisan attack againt Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. Although the Post’s fact check column verified Fiorina’s claim that she had once been a secretary, Kessler (who openly taunts Republicans) still awarded her three Pinocchios.
I could care less. At least he is not being paid by lobbyists. He might have gotten a loan against his campaign, but it will be paid back by his supporters who are everyday citizens. You guys are really getting desperate now.
What a load of crap.
Would you like some straws to grasp at with your nothingburger, sir?
How about this:
Fact is - Trump is a Chump for not taking all that free PAC money and grabbing all that free insider Goldman Sachs dough.
He boasts about his insider deals and how his bankruptcies were all legit. Well, so is spending OPM.
Does he think people respect him MORE for spending his own money?
I don’t.
LOL!
Brawndo!
Where do you dig up these blogs? LOL.
This writer is a particularly foolish one....he overlooks the fact that every thing Trump does with his campaign....is reported, per FEC.
As astute and experienced as Trump is...and with the campaign legal beagles he has....he won’t risk any underhanded shenanigans...not even the Jeff Roe/Iowa/Carson/CaucusGate type.
This repeated, no-name blogger non-sense is actually laughable, now, cj.
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