www.msnbc.com/…
I will start by saying I have never blogged at Daily Kos before, although I’ve been a long-time reader.
I’m rather surprised I haven’t seen a story about this on DK today (apologies if I’ve missed one), so I thought this important enough to write about (although I’ll admit I'm rather nervous doing so — first-time jitters, I guess).
On Lawrence O'Donnell’s MSNBC show last night, after trump’s speech, Lawrence pointed out that earlier in the day, trump’s team sent out a mass email to his supporters (supposedly directly from trump) soliciting half a million dollars in donations specifically for something named as the “Official Secure the Border Fund.” The email asserted that the half a million needed to be raised in one day, and that there was a 9 PM Eastern “deadline" for the funds to be donated. The email went on to say that trump had directed his staff to bring him a list of “EVERY AMERICAN PATRIOT” (all caps in the original, of course) who had donated. (Never mind wondering how he would have time to read such a list after 9 pm, when his speech began.)
At the end of the email — my guess would be in smaller print — was a disclaimer that all donations would be given to trump’s 2020 re-election campaign fund. That’s right — NOT to some alleged “Official Secure the Border Fund.”
After the speech, a second email went out to supporters who had not donated, asserting that when trump reviewed the list of donations, “he noticed that your name was not on the list.” (I kid you not.) Therefore, the “deadline" was being extended so that the singled-out supporter could have a chance to donate to the “Official Secure the Border Fund" and get on the list.
I wonder whether any of his supporters are really gullible enough to believe that “trump noticed that [their] name was not on the list.”
Even more, I’d love to know how much they collected on this scam.
So, according to Lawrence, the whole speech was just a fundraising grab, complete with the usual trump lies.