Trump biographer raises questions about his wealth as campaign donors foot the bill for his many lawyers
Former President Donald Trump’s PACs have spent about $50 million in donor money on his legal bills last year, sources told The New York Times.
The “staggering sum” spent by Trump on his legal fees and investigation-related expenses is about the same amount his lone remaining GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley raised across all her committees last year, the Times’ Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher write. Federal Election Commission filings this week are expected to detail the full extent of Trump’s “enormous financial strain,” they added.
Trump, who has a penchant for relying on campaign donations to pay his lawyers if he actually pays them at all, has used his Save America PAC to cover his legal costs. When the PAC ran low on cash last year, Trump asked for an unusual refund of $60 million that had been transferred to the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. PAC. Trump has also been directing 10% of donations raised through Save America to a PAC that primarily pays his lawyers, according to the Times.
How can Trump still be a presidential candidate? I’ve been asking myself that for years now. I just don’t get it.
He’s got an enormous base of support in the party with a majority in the parts of the country that get to decide who the President is.
How can anyone think Trump should get a second term? I realize, of course, that neither the interests of the people nor common sense are a factor in the States, but even the most unscrupulous businessmen should realize by now that Trump is not an option. I mean, someone who manages to squander even such an exorbitant inheritance without any significant returns can’t be considered a smart businessman or any good for business. The only way I can explain the support for Trump is that many influential people backed the wrong horse and are now committed - just the way these people handle their share transactions. But hey, I am not a US-American and so I can’t help but get the impression that you all have lost your minds (even for thinking that this is in any way acceptable). How such a ridiculous circus can be possible in a so-called constitutional state is simply beyond me.
This is a case of the inmates running the asylum. The Republicans in power who know he’s an idiot are stuck with him because he has such a large base of hateful assholes (whose votes they have been courting for decades) who think he’s the second coming. Their votes are the only chance they have at winning, and they have only themselves to blame.
That’s clear, but I don’t understand why there is a need to deviate from business as usual all of a sudden. It can’t be in the interests of the rich and powerful to draw attention to how very wrong things have been going in the so called US democracy for decades. I think that’s extremely dangerous - and if there’s one thing big business wants to avoid at all costs, that’s probably this.
It’s the natural progression of big business cozying up to conservatism since it’s profitable to do so. As soon as Republicans starting allying with far-right groups, they were all in bed with fascists. Instead of risk losing profits short-term, they’ll pretend that everything is fine until it’s not possible to any more.
Yes, that’s probably how it went. Fascism is, of course, a perspective that promises profit and power for such people - it worked excellently for the profiteers in Nazi Germany, nowadays also in Russia (in a slightly different disguise) and elsewhere. The only question that remains is whether the Americans will resist. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really look that way to me at the moment. So perhaps the very unscrupulous have bet on the right horse after all. We’ll have to wait and see.
There are just a lot of overly emotional and very stupid people, unfortunately.