Furthermore...
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!
next thing you know you will suss out the hidden secret that Bernie is a socialist.
I have listened to he adds that he accepts small individual contributions.
On his website, donations section, it says: "By law the maximum amount an individual may contribute is $2,700." and one can select to donate the full amount. So I don't see any limits other than law.
Those large corporate donations
I understand the differences in various funding sources; only point here is about claiming his campaign is self-funded. I think this is plainly a false statement - by over $6 million I believe.
thanks again...
Oh no? They say no criticism of him his valid or acceptable. Everything other than his narrative should be banned.
Man these posters are busy busy busy the last week or so!
One sad article after another..sigh
In the meantime, unemployment is down! bwahahah
We’re drowning in debt.
The muzzies are on the march.
Illegals pouring in, still.
No need to list more, we all know what is happening before our eyes.
Is it to much to focus on more than 1 thing, is that the issue? Does Trump live in their heads every waking hour?
Again he admits to independent small donations in every speech. Guess you haven’ t listened to one.
If criticism has a basis in fact and not someone’s blog or a personal opinion piece in a journal committed to establishment(like NYT) I have no problem with valid criticism. Can you say the same about Cruz? I can. I don’t want to hear blogs or establishment BS about him either. Sources matter.
Here is a caveat that you may not know... Trump is only funding himself during the primaries. He expects full external funding in the general. He has stated this several times.
Why?
No. Read the post again. Read the headline. Both imply that Trump is lying about being self funding. Then, it implies (or says outright) that he is ‘’making money on the deal’’.
Considering the blatant dishonesty of y’all’s candidate, you really have a lot of nerve. I guess like candidate, like supporters.
I want to say this loud and clear.
When Trump says he is self-funding he ALWAYS also states that he gets unsolicited small donations. UNSOLICITED.
Because he is a mensch, Trump says he keeps the small donations because they are sent in a spirit of solidarity with the Trump movement, and it would be insulting to send them back.
I say this with respect: when I read criticism like this of Trump, I have to believe that folks hate Trump so much that they do not bother to watch his daily rallies/interviews/town halls, where he states things his critics seem not to know or have heard.
He has also indicated that he will gladly accept RNC money after he has secured the nomination. But so will everybody else.
So should you. You don’t even believe a video when you see it.
Yeah. I mean I guess he could still self-fund for the general but that is really not necessary.
The don is bought and paid for.
Whatever. You know I was referring to Cruz.
Ha! Just as I expected. No link to provide to back up your claim that “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”.
No, YOU are the one who doesn’t believe CaucusGate video/tweet images/voicemail recordings when you see or hear them.
Keep hanging in with the amnesty PAC paid/Jeff Roe dirty tricks supported candidate, though.
Furthermore...
There....fixed it.
No, it was right the first time. The Don is bought and paid for.
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