It’s been easy for Donald Trump to self-fund his efforts so far. The ever-hungry media has given him a steady opportunity for self promotion at a cost of nothing. Whether it’s the morning tongue bath on Morning Joe or his job as uncredited co-host of Today, all Trump has to do is pick up the phone and he’s instantly on national TV. When NBC is broadcasting the Nightly News from between the dozens of gold-framed Donald Trump photos that Donald Trump (of course) keeps on his office wall, it’s pretty easy to avoid burning through your cash on the kinds of ads that consume most campaigns.
But as we head into the general election season, Trump has already dropped the pretense that he’s putting up his own bucks. Instead he’s calling on the GOP’s big dollar donors to pony up. And they have some work to do.
At the outset of the general election, Hillary Clinton’s campaign looks like a well-oiled juggernaut next to Donald Trump’s vastly smaller, mostly self-funded operation, a POLITICO analysis of Federal Election Commission reports filed Friday found.
Through the end of last month, the period covered by the most recent FEC filings, Trump’s campaign spending was less than a third of Clinton’s ($57 million to $182 million) and Trump had assembled a staff about one-tenth the size of hers (70 employees to 732), and spent less on offices (Trump last month paid $101,000 in rent vs. $328,000 for Clinton), the analysis found.
Trump’s (repayable) loan to himself accounted for 75 percent of the money his campaign used in the primaries. On the other hand, Ted Cruz managed to run through twice as much as Trump, and Jeb! spent a ridiculous $124 million to be nothing but the butt of jokes.
How much is either cash or staffing going to matter in what’s already been an extremely unusual campaign season?
Clinton has definitely been keeping her powder dry, saving funds for the general. The biggest spender of the whole cycle is actually Sanders. He has run through $207 million, outspending Hillary by $15 million in just the last month. That’s why despite his brisk fundraising, Bernie stated this month with only a fraction of Hillary’s cash on-hand. But neither of them have enough money in the bank to keep spending if the donation dollars start to falter.
In a lot of ways, Trump’s campaign looks to be mimicking earlier Republican campaigns, with big spending aimed at direct mail. As in, mail of the paper variety.
A handful of super PACs are vying to raise big money for Trump, but they have gotten off to a slow start as they’ve struggled with infighting.
But will it make a difference?
Before this election season, Bernie Sanders was not exactly a household name. His spending makes sense in light of the requirement that he introduce both himself and his issues to the general public.
For Trump, the dollar deficit may not matter. Even if the big-name GOP donors continue to shy away from associating with the orange one (which is by no means a sure thing, especially if polls continue to show a close race after the respective conventions), it may not be necessary for Trump to up his spending. After all, what’s the point of spending money on something you can get for free?