Here's some enjoyable news after watching Republican lawmakers repeatedly try and fail to strip tens of millions of Americans of their health care: GOP donors are ticked off. Politico writes:
With the GOP’s agenda at a virtual standstill on Capitol Hill, the party is contending with a hard reality. Some of the party's most elite and influential donors, who spent the past eight years plowing cash into the party’s coffers in hopes of accomplishing a sweeping conservative agenda and undoing Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments, are closing their wallets.
The backlash is threatening to deprive Republicans of resources just as they're gearing up for the 2018 midterms. Party officials are so alarmed that North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who oversees fundraising for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told his colleagues at a recent conference meeting that donations had fallen off a cliff after the Obamacare flop. The committee’s haul plummeted to just $2 million in July and August, less than half of what it raised in June. [...]
In the world of campaign politics, big donors have long been known as gripers — an exclusive group accustomed to stroking and attention. But this year is different. Veteran fundraisers say they’re having an unusually hard time setting up meetings with major contributors, lining up checks and organizing events.
Not business as usual. Conservatives ranging from billionaire Sheldon Adelson to mid-level donors—representing millions of dollars of donations over the years—are reportedly expressing similar levels of frustration. Can't imagine they're too pleased either with the McConnell-aligned Super PAC's fruitless $8-million investment in Alabama's Senate race last week.
If that's not enough, now the GOP establishment is going head-to-head with the master of the dark arts.
Some exasperated givers are turning to Steve Bannon, Trump’s hard-charging former chief strategist and a McConnell nemesis, to vent. Bannon met with several contributors who were in Washington this week for an RNC gala and has eagerly stepped into the role of donor-whisperer. He is looking to establish his own finance network to fund an effort to unseat Senate Republican incumbents in 2018.
Bannon's got big plans for a "shadow party," by the way. But regardless of whether he can actualize that vision, his efforts could still help hobble the GOP in 2018.
