He’s not spending it on ads. He’s not spending it on infrastructure. So a lot of us have been wondering… what the heck has Trump been spending money on?
Now, thanks to the July FEC filings, we know the answer: He’s been spending money on raising money. Politico reports:
The Donald Trump campaign's boasts of a formidable fundraising month in July spooked Democrats who feared their financial advantage could be slipping.
But a closer inspection of the campaign finance report filed just before Saturday's midnight deadline indicates the haul came at a steep price and that the campaign was still not dedicating resources to catching up on building the staff and field organization that all previous presidential efforts have required.
...The money the Trump campaign raised also didn't come cheap. The campaign more than doubled its spending from the previous month to $18.5 million in July, far more than in any other period of the campaign. Most of that money went toward expanding the campaign's online fundraising operation.
The whole article is chock full of detail. Just a few more highlights:
- Trump raised $80 million total… but… only $36.7 went to the campaign, with the rest going to the RNC, state parties, and paying for that oh-so-successful GOP convention. And Trump burned through half of what he raised — $18 million — the very same month.
- $8.4 million of that spending went to Giles-Parscale of San Antionio for online advertising — which is to say fundraising (this is a company that has never actually done a political campaign before — they used to build websites for Trump’s properties).
- A further $1.8 million was spent on hats and merchandise. I couldn’t find any numbers for how much of that “fundraising” was just folks buying Trump swag at inflated prices.
- Trump spent $0.7 million on… Trump. For campaign use of that flashy Trump jet plane and use of Trump properties in New York and Florida.
- He paid $0.6 million to his outside law firm (about 6 times what Hillary laid out for legal fees).
- Only $0.4 million was spent on staff and field organizing.
The New York Times adds that Trump didn’t even have the money to jump-start July’s fundraising effort. They had to borrow $3 million from the party, and paid it back out of their July haul.
The Times also had unkind words about the Trump organization’s lack of… an organization:
In July, when Mrs. Clinton spent almost $3 million to field a staff of 700 people at her Brooklyn headquarters and in swing states around the country, according to Federal Election Commission payroll data, Mr. Trump spent more money on renting arenas for his speeches than he did on payroll. A senior Trump campaign official, who asked for anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss staffing publicly, said Mr. Trump’s campaign had fewer than 200 total staff members at the end of July, about evenly divided between field offices and New York.
In terms of PAC money:
- Trump’s allies only have $4 million as of Aug 1, half of it from just one guy — Robert Mercer, who also happens to fund Breitbart. (Meanwhile, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers continue to sit out the Presidential PAC game).
- Hillary has $38.6 million on hand with another $44 million committed.
The only bad news on the horizon — there’s a ton of money out there, and GOP donors are shifting it toward Senate and House campaigns:
- The Congressional Leadership Fund Super PAC is pouring $10 million into GOP House races.
- The Koch Brothers have hundreds of millions available, and word is they’ll be flooding downballot contests. Koch-aligned PACs have dumped more than $5.4 million into the Ohio Senate race alone.
- The US Chamber of Commerce, which still hasn’t figured out that its members make MORE MONEY under Democrats, is also throwing around cash.
In response,
The DSCC has also reserved $50 million for the “Party of Trump” campaign linking the GOP nominee to senate candidates who are supporting him.
But will that be enough?