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If you are making a contribution to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, there is a good chance your hard-earned dollars are lining the pockets of one of his rich friends, or the pockets of The Donald himself.
It’s ironic—Literally tens of millions of dollars from unsuspecting MAGA donors are being siphoned off to line the pockets of the campaign and family of their grifter king.
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“This thing has been a large criminal enterprise,” Republican consultant Stuart Stevens said. Stevens worked on George W. Bush and Mitt Romney’s campaigns for the White House, and he describes Trump’s reelection campaign, “like that scene in the ‘Goodfellas’ after the heist. Dishing out furs to mob bosses’ girlfriends and wives.”
“I think the general public would be interested to know what members of Trump’s extended family are being paid by campaign donors,” remarked Common Cause campaign finance expert Paul Ryan.
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According to Lara Trump, “All the money that we raise that pays salaries is directly from donors, small-dollar donors for the most part.” Lara, a senior campaign advisor who happens to be married to the president’s son Eric, was recorded talking about campaign salaries by Apprentice reality show contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman. “Everything is public,” Lara Trump claimed.
In fact, these re-election campaign salaries are not all public. For instance, Corey Lewandowski, who was maybe/maybe-not fired from Trump’s last campaign, has now joined the new one, but his salary is nowhere to be found in Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. Even Republican National Committee (RNC) budget committee chairman Glenn McCall, is unsure of how much of the money goes into campaign managers’ compensation. “We just approve a budget as a whole,” he said.
But just looking at what the public CAN see shows hundreds of millions of dollars going to Trump, his family, and his business associates.
The head of Trump’s 2020 campaign, Brad Parscale, has pocketed $38.9 million. Parscale, who previously designed websites including ones for Trump properties, has purchased a $2.4 million waterfront house in Florida, two condos, several luxury cars, and a boat valued at $400 thousand.
Stuart Stevens calls this “obscene,” noting that, “There’s a lot of well-intentioned people who are giving five and 10 dollars a month, and it goes to someone like Parscale.”
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Lara Trump is making $15,000 a month from her father-in-law’s campaign, and so is Donald Jr.’s girlfriend. All this money goes through Parscale’s companies. Parscale told HuffPost, “I can pay them however I want to pay them.”
Former RNC staffer Gerrit Lansing’s company has grossed $1.7 million.
Companies owned by one time Trump White House aid and former RNC chief of staff, Katie Walsh, have taken in over $875 thousand.
Current RNC chief of staff Richard Walters has raked in over $750 thousand.
“All organizations reflect the person at the top. That person’s values,” says John Weaver, a Republican consultant and veteran of John McCain’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns. “And that’s the problem for the Trump campaign. Everything reflects off their sun god.”
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FEC data shows that Trump’s hotels and resorts have made a cool $6.4 million from his campaign and the RNC since his inauguration. But Trump took a running start at that figure; as soon as his nomination on the Republican ticket seemed assured, he increased the rent his campaign paid at Trump Tower by five times. Plus, he charged the campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars to host fundraisers at his resorts.
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Despite having more funding—and spending more money—than any other presidential campaign, Trump’s approval rating hasn’t changed much.
In February 2018, 42% of polled American’s approved of Trump’s presidency. In January, just before the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the US, 44% approved.
