Broke Trump Campaign Cuts Number Of Rallies, BEGS Donors For Help

Whether it’s to God, Allah, Mother Nature or the Crumbling Cookie be glad you’re not a ketchup bottle within reach of Trump. Be especially glad you’re not the staffer(s) who had to give Trump the bad news. Can you imagine being the one who drew the short straw and had to tell him: Um, Mr. Trump I mean Mr. President we have a problem. This list of rallies you have planned? The campaign can’t pay for them all so we’ve had to cut some of them from  your schedule.  I wonder if they have some of those bomb-tech suits for people to have to give Trump bad news…

Still, that’s the facts Jack. According to Raw Story the Trump campaign simply can’t afford the cost of the rallies Trump had planned to hold.  It just occurred to me part of the problem is an increasing number of jurisdictions and venues have realized Trump will stiff them for the costs (increased LE, security for crowd control, cleanup costs etc.) and are demanding upfront payment. In any case, while the campaign expresses confidence they will eventually raised the cash they need at the moment they’ve only got 40 million on hand. (The Biden campaign by comparison has 130 million already) So for the months ahead some hard choices have to be made.

Rallies were the lifeblood of Trump’s 2026 and 2020 campaigns. He craves the adoration of the screaming MAGA crowds the way a junkie needs a fix.  Hell, at times he needs it like we need oxygen.  Trump doesn’t merely want or need attention, it’s a physical craving for him!  Also, even if they no longer get carried wall-to-wall live he still gets loads of free advertising from rallies. They always make the news and get some discussion for at least a day or two after. So yes, this hurts. Both Trump’s ego and his campaign.

His solution naturally is to hit up others for money and lots of it. But let’s take a quick trip down memory lane first. Remember when he became an actual announced Presidential candidate?  After sharting his way down his fake gold escalator at Trump Tower and afterwards Trump assured everyone he’d be beholden to nobody because he’d self-fund his campaign. He told everyone he was “really, really rich” and wouldn’t be asking for money. Of course from the start he hit up people for every dollar he could raise. He never intended to spend a single dollar of his own to fund his political ambitions and there were plenty of suckers (from poor people to rich ones) willing to cough up all the money he needed.

That was then. These days Trump is feeling shall we say a bit financially squeezed. If you’re reading this I don’t need to explain the myriad of financial challenges he faces.  Still, from where I sit cutting back on rallies is a sign of desperation. From Raw Story:

With filings showing President Joe Biden and the Democrats sitting on a war chest of $130 million going into February while the former president, while not releasing all of his numbers, did show a combined $40 million with RNC cash included, the New York Times reports the Trump and his election prospects are facing a “perilous” stage.

I’d say perilous might be a tad hyperbolic but still it’s damned sobering things for Trump are where they are. Raw Story cites an article by the NYT’s Maggie Habberman and Shane Goldwater stating Trump’s been holding meetings at Mar A Lago with big money donors hitting them up for “bigly” bucks:

The report states, “Despite years of professing massive wealth and boasting of his desire to ‘drain the swamp,’ the deeply transactional former president is leaning yet again on the cash of others, turning Mar-a-Lago into a staging ground for billionaires and others with their own agendas,” adding, “In a sign of the Trump orbit’s urgent need for cash, at least two donors who made seven-figure pledges to support Mr. Trump this year were nudged to see if they could cut an eight-figure check — meaning $10 million or more — instead, according to a person familiar with the request.”

There’s already been talk lately about how with Trump scrambling to cover civil judgements up in New York he’s been hitting up everyone from Elon Musk to the Saudis to cover the $454 million bond he still has to come up with. The general theme is of a Trump Presidency “for sale” and that’s alarmingly probably spot-on. However, in addition to his immediate financial problem he’s got a Presidential campaign to fund and in this day and age it could cost a billion dollars. If not more. I’m sure in the end that like President Biden (who’s way ahead on this front) Trump will get much of what he needs but as I’ve noted at the moment there’s only $40 million on hand and THAT includes some new money from the RNC takeover.

However, in that blocked quote about hitting up some seven figure donors to up things to EIGHT figures I haven’t gotten to the best part:

Pointing out that the former president is reportedly “concerned about the fund-raising gap” with the sitting president, the Times report adds that big money donors are “hesitant” to throw more money at him fearing they will only be paying his legal bills.

On top of that, some donors don’t want their names associated with him, with the Times reporting, “Some Republican donors have emphasized that wealthy contributors may write large checks, but they often don’t want to see that fact disclosed, given the controversy that attaches itself to Mr. Trump. A number of donors faced public blowback in 2016 for their support.”

Now, we already know even before the RNC takeover big money donors were openly reluctant to contribute to the RNC, fearing what has just happened (Trump completely taking over) would happen. They were concerned he’s suck up all the money for himself and leave down ballot campaigns (keep in mind the DNC and RNC exist to help down ballot campaigns!) high and dry. And for damned sure they didn’t want their money going to pay Trump’s legal expenses. So that part isn’t news.

It’s the latter part of the above section I want to call your attention to. These mega rich individuals and businesses don’t want their names associated with Trump! Oh, they want their tax cuts and continued gutting of regulations. They just are afraid of having their names attached to it. Due to SCOTUS eviscerating campaign finance laws culminating with the Citizens United decision it became fairly easy to remain safely hidden behind the curtain. Now these donors fear exposure after all. What matters for now is that they want to keep their distance and fearing backlash don’t want to give too much to Trump.

The end result is that for the foreseeable future Trump can’t hold nearly as many of his precious rallies as he’d like. AND will have to do much of his campaign from Mar A Lago. Remember all of Trump’s 2020 schtick about Joe Biden campaigning from his basement? I assume The Lincoln Project and perhaps Meidas Touch Network too are already at work with a series of ads reminding Trump of his 2020 barbs and pointing out the irony of his campaigning from his gaudy club while President Biden’s out there on the trail.

A list of planned rallies that were cancelled would be priceless. It’s easy to imagine how much fun LP in particular would have with repeated ads along the lines of: Trump was supposed to be holding one of his freak show rallies HERE, but can’t afford it and is stuck HERE (with some picture of Mar A Lago at its tackiest) and mocking him. For being BROKE.

That will just eat Trump up inside. But this cuts deeper. I’ve kept saying Trump doesn’t merely enjoy his rallies, he NEEDS them. That energy any of us who’ve played sports or been in performing arts (I’ve done both) gets from an audience. Trump is already low energy, and now he’s losing “adrenaline shots” from rallies.

I’ll finish how I started. Be glad you’re not a ketchup bottle within Trump’s reach.

(Note: The Raw Story article includes two links to the NYT piece referenced. One I found hidden behind a paywall. The other did allow the entire NYT article to come up but it too might be hidden behind a paywall. It’s a much more comprehensive take on all this and well worth the time if you aren’t blocked by their paywall so here’s a link that might work)