Donald Trump’s re-election campaign started on inauguration day, and just as he’s kept holding campaign rallies, the cheesy fundraising emails filled with lies apparently have not stopped:
"Every month we outraise the Democrats puts us ahead of the curve and ensures we have the resources to cut through the noise of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA and fight back against the left-wing elites trying to bring down our agenda,” one of the emails, sent on July 31, read.
It’s easier to outraise Democrats, of course, when Trump is the only person actively running for president. And in addition to cutting through the noise of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA and its habit of telling awkward truths about Trump, all this fundraising ensures that the Trump campaign has the resources to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at Trump properties. For instance, from January to March:
Trump Tower in Manhattan, where the campaign is based, collected $300,000 in rent. At least another $25,000 went to other properties, including Mr. Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas and a golf course he owns in Florida. Such transactions are legal, and required to ensure he pays fair market rate for campaign costs.
I’m sure Trump’s heart bleeds to think that he’s required to spend his small-dollar supporters’ hard-earned money paying rent that goes to himself. Meanwhile, other Trump fundraising emails appear to have come from an alternate universe, where Trumpcare is popular, yet Democrats were able to defeat it without Republican votes:
"We know the American people are behind President Trump," the email read. "However, obstructionist liberals in the Senate are going AGAINST the voices of their own people in order to bring down the President and protect the FAILING ObamaCare."
Trump fundraising emails warning about fake news ARE the fake news, in other words. But they’ll help keep his hardcore supporters convinced that no one but Trump can be trusted and not realizing what a weak, unable-to-do-a-deal failure their guy is. And by the time Democratic candidates—other than early bird Rep. John Delaney—enter the race, Trump will have banked tens of millions of dollars, forcing a brutal catch-up game.