Beginning Wednesday morning, the Trump Campaign begins emailing and texting supporters asking for donations to his “official election defense fund.”
In the fine print of the donation website, the campaign makes clear that up to 60% of donations will go towards paying off the campaign’s debt rather than his attempts to challenge the election in court.
“We must PROTECT the Election!” says one campaign text Friday signed by Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. “My father’s calling on YOU to help bolster our critical Election Defense Fund.”
Clicking through to the donation page, potential givers can review a disclaimer that 50% of any contribution will be used for general election campaign debt retirement and 50% for the campaign’s recount account.
Other Trump fundraising pitches in recent days ask for help to “protect the integrity of this election” but lead to a donation page for Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” committee. The fine print on those solicitations says 60% of a contribution helps the campaign retire debt and 40% goes to the Republican National Committee.
The Wall Street Journal
Over the next few days, the campaign’s requests for donations turn into guilt tripping Donald Trump’s supporters.
Later, it’s revealed that some portion of donations that should be going to fund his legal defense are actually going to a new political action committee (PAC) called Save America.
It will be used to underwrite Mr. Trump’s post-presidential activities, tapping into the vast reservoir of small donors that made him a dominant fund-raiser, for a time, in 2020. But it is likely to have far greater significance for a man who is refusing not only to concede the election but remains reluctant to surrender the spotlight. In that sense, his PAC could become a fan-subsidized machine to perpetuate his agenda and plot his next moves.
The New York Times
Sources
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-biden-election-day-2020/card/zU0rMlE7ltxzuW4lIwai
https://twitter.com/DavidCayJ/status/1324826939731988485
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/10/us/joe-biden-trump#trump-starts-raising-money-for-new-save-america-pac-which-will-enable-him-to-fund-his-future-activities
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