The New York Times
Power-hungry Trump tries to fight to raise funds for the GOP
WASHINGTON – It was a familiar piece of Donald Trump: attacking your enemies and trying to raise money from it. The former president escalated an impasse this week on the Republican Party’s financial future by attacking party leaders and asking his supporters to send donations to his new political action committee – not to the institutional groups that traditionally control Party coffers. Republican. “No more money for RINOS,” he said in a statement released on Monday by his post-presidential office, referring to Republicans in name only. Instead, he directed donors to his own website. Subscribe to the New York Times newsletter The Morning. The aggressive move against his own party is the last sign that Trump is trying to take control of the low-cost online fundraising juggernaut he helped create, diverting him from Republican fundraising groups to his own. committee, which has virtually no restrictions on how the money can be spent. Last week, Trump sent cease and desist letters – which appear to have little legitimacy – to the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congress Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warning them not to appeal to donors using their name and image. The dispute comes as the party struggles to chart its way after losing the House, Senate and White House during Trump’s term, with moderate leaders pressing the party to move beyond the divisive ex-president, while much of the Party base Republican remains firmly behind him. Who controls most of the donor money must be a fiercely contested point of contention as Republicans try to regroup and retake power in the 2022 midterm elections. Furthermore, Trump advisers believe the future of fundraising Party funds are in the low-dollar contributions, not in the class of big donors who have signaled that they want to distance themselves from him after his months-long push falsely claiming that the November 3 election was stolen. that led to the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Trump’s maneuvers stem in part from his anger at Republican leaders he considers disloyal when they left him after Jan. 6. The former president is also being encouraged by people like Dick Morris, the notorious political adviser known for switching between parties, who has met with him in New York and encouraged to take over the party he led. Trump’s actions could give him a cash flow at a time when his private company is battling the scrutiny of investigations, with some discussions about whether properties need to be sold. His business is now political, and political action committees have few restrictions on how they operate and use their money, according to campaign finance experts. The former president could, in theory, pay himself and his family members wages with the money raised. “This type of PAC has no significant restrictions on how it could spend its money,” said Adav Noti, the senior director of trial litigation at the Campaign Legal Center. People close to the former president say there was no discussion about Trump giving himself a salary. But historically, its political committees have paid to use its properties, among other things, enriching it indirectly. Republican fund-raising groups have spoken out against the former president. In a letter on Monday, responding to the request to cease and desist from the Trump committee, Justin Riemer, the chief lawyer of the RNC, stated: “The RNC, of course, has every right to refer to public figures when engages in the core, The First Amendment protected political discourse and will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals. ”But in a sign of the delicate dance between Trump and a Republican Party fearful of alienating its most popular figure, Riemer also said that the RNC did not and would not make fundraising appeals using Trump’s name or image without his approval, and on Tuesday night, Trump issued a second statement backing down his previous attacks on Republican committees. “I fully support the Party Republican and major republican committees, but I do not support RINOs and fools, and it is not their right to use my image or image to raise funds, “he said. But while trying to clarify that he supported his party, he gave another chance to your own group. “If you donate to our PAC Save America at DonaldJTrump.com, you are helping the America First movement and doing it the right way,” he said. For now, advisers said, Trump’s plan is to stockpile money so he can remain a force in politics and help candidates challenge dissident Republicans like Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who supported his impeachment this year. Trump, along with the national party, raised about $ 250 million between election day and the inauguration of President Joe Biden. More than $ 60 million of that amount went to a new political action committee. This committee and the ex-president’s campaign committee have been converted into linked political action committees. Trump’s advisers said this week that they have not yet started submitting fundraising requests since he stepped down, but plan to do so in the next few days. The Republican confrontation may resonate particularly in the House. If Trump succeeds in persuading donors to give him money instead of supporting Republican candidates for the House, he could cause problems for Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who is trying to retake the House in two years. He needs to turn five seats to do this. “If you control the money, you control the party,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. Some Republican strategists noted that less than a decade ago, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s presidential candidate in 2012, was the biggest fund-raiser in Republican politics. Now he barely recognizes his party. Strategists downplayed the threat that Trump poses to Republican fundraising. “His exclusive donors who would be affected by this message are people who would not have donated in the first place,” said Josh Holmes, a political adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell, a Senate minority leader. Holmes also said that as the Biden government implemented new policies, such as a nearly $ 2 trillion bailout bill, Republicans would join the opposition and develop new constituents for fundraising. “In the middle of a term, you raise a lot of money in opposition to a government and a policy,” said Holmes. “In the presidential years, it becomes more of a face and a name for each of the parties. We are naturally entering a different era of fundraising. “So far, all the Trump organization has done is to disclose endorsements to loyalists in key states, like Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who is running for re-election. But longtime party fund raisers see this as a reminder from Trump to lawmakers that they need to stay with him, or else he could pull his endorsement forward. Trump’s advisers were divided over whether the RNC should have received the threatening letter. Ronna McDaniel, the group’s president, won her job largely because of Trump’s support. Some of her aides told her that Trump himself was unaware that she had received one of the threatening letters. Historically, there have been tensions between some of Trump’s advisers and RNC officials. But in a phone call with McDaniel over the weekend to soften the relationship, Trump downplayed any intention to directly reach the RNC or prevent it from reaching its donors. The result of a pleasant conversation in general, people familiar with the call said, was that Trump still supported the donation of money from Republican donors to the RNC and that he did not plan to get in the way. The RNC is planning to hold part of its spring fundraising gala at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. This plan was in progress before the letters ceased and gave up. The Four Seasons in Palm Beach, which hosts the rest of the gala, had social distance and space requirements that would not allow the 350 people who wanted to attend Saturday night’s reception, where Trump would speak. The hotel also expressed concern about welcoming the former president. This article was originally published in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company