Funding Trump How does the party of an unpopular president continue to beat the competition? James Freeman
https://www.wsj.com/articles/funding-trump-1503515580
Hillary Clinton’s memoir of the 2016 presidential campaign will arrive this fall, and NBC News has a preview:
In audio clips of Clinton reading from the book, “What Happened,” which were first obtained by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday, Clinton recounted her thoughts as she toyed with the idea of telling her Republican rival to “back up, you creep” as he stood behind her during the second presidential debate.
“My skin crawled,” Clinton said.
No doubt a lot of reporters have similar reactions to America’s 45th President. Tuesday night in Phoenix must have presented a particular challenge for any journalists who are still trying—or at least pretending to try—to cover Mr. Trump objectively. That’s because he spent much of the evening criticizing the news media.
According to the Washington Post:
“I mean truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories,” Trump said. “ … They don’t report the facts. Just like they don’t want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the white supremacists and the KKK.”
The Post described the scene inside the Phoenix Convention Center:
Three times, the crowd burst into chants of “USA! USA! USA!” And once, at the mention of Trump’s former rival Hillary Clinton, they chanted: “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!” Several parents put their young children on their shoulders so they could get a good look at the president.
But as the night dragged on, many in the crowd lost interest in what the president was saying.
Hundreds left early, while others plopped down on the ground, scrolled through their social media feeds or started up a conversation with their neighbors. After waiting for hours in 107-degree heat to get into the rally hall — where their water bottles were confiscated by security — people were tired and dehydrated and the president just wasn’t keeping their attention.
This seems plausible. Political speeches that run more than an hour are almost always tiresome, even when the audience is hydrated. Still, given the fact that Mr. Trump’s opponents constantly seem to be able to field energetic, angry crowds at public events all over the country, it is bound to cause more chatter about which political party’s base is more energized.
By one important measurement, it’s still not close. With the arrival of July fundraising reports for the major parties, it appears that Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez may be on his way to setting a record—but probably not the one he intended. According to the Post:
After a strong $12.2 million raised in March — the first full month of Perez’s chairmanship — fundraising has dried up considerably. The $4.7 million it raised in April was the lowest for that particular month since 2009. The $4.3 million raised in May was the worst for that month since 2003. And now the $3.8 million raised in July is the worst for any month since January 2009.
Meanwhile, the Post says that the Republican National Committee “has raised at least $9.5 million each month and carries no debt. Its cash on hand has risen from about $37 million in January to $47.1 million today — more than 13 times the net money that the DNC has available.”
Bloomberg says that most of the GOP money is coming from small-dollar donors, who are also funding a related effort:
Jim Gilly has a recurring charge on his credit card: $100 a month for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election committee.
The 70-year-old small business owner from northeast Florida says he plans to keep making those monthly donations for the next four — or eight — years, even after a succession of corporate executives moved away from Trump in dramatic fashion after the president’s remarks last week appeared to confer legitimacy on white supremacists.
Donors like Gilly and those who given in even smaller increments — often $5 or $10 at a time — offer the president a kind of security blanket as he balances historically low approval ratings with small-donor fundraising that’s setting a record-breaking pace.
“The people who pulled out of the business council were mistaken to do so, and I think the Charlottesville story was a planned event that has been reported on in a very one-sided and inaccurate way, intended to discredit him,” said Gilly, whose company installs and services communications towers.
Based on public-opinion surveys, Mr. Trump and the Republicans need to find more voters. But the ones they’ve already found seem determined to provide the party with all the financial resources it needs to compete.
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