Trump certainly has the talking heads wagging their fingers and shaking their heads. He seems to think that what was so easy and cheap in the primaries will be just as easy and cheap in the general. From the paltry amount in his war chest to the pitifully small number of staffers nationwide to his incoherent ranting and raving whenever he gets in front of a camera, you have to wonder if a) he can turn this around b) wants to turn it around c) has a clue on what he should be doing. He brings new breadth and depth to the word “incompetent”. Before you can be trusted to manage a country, you should prove that you can manage a campaign. Or will he manage this like he did Trump Steak, Trump Mortgage, Trump Casino, Trump University, Trump Vodka…?
I’d be surprised if it’s a mob payout (but, hey, it’s possible), but based on the information that’s come out in the last 24 hours, the evidence doesn’t seem terribly consistent with it being an above-the-board payment for services actually rendered.
We shall see, I suppose.
Again, more evidence of reactive, ad-hoc campaigning. This report about the $35k comes out and then Trump rants about HRC within a couple of hours (remember what I said about coincidences?), re-announcing his anti-Hillary speech for tomorrow night.
I think it’s more a reaction to Hillary’s Anti-Trump speech today, than this Mad Men money.
I gotta admit. As a former political reporter reading that CBS story made my ‘we’re going to destroy some bastard’ juices flow. It’s got ‘ruin someone’s day’ written all over it.
And from Bloomberg:
Albert Hunt: Republicans get weirder in search for ways to find shelter from Trump
Hillary is significantly out-fundraising The Donald in the battleground state of Ohio: http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2016/06/20062016---trump-little-from-ohio.html
What do they mean when they say “respected Republicans” running as “independent”? Does that mean they don’t run as Republicans? That they aren’t officially endorsed by the Republican Party? Aren’t they going to need at least some money? Of course, in some of these states, they could out-fund the Trump “organization” with a couple of PTA bake sales.
I think Trump could be persuaded to give up the nomination in Cleveland and become kingmaker instead. He is smart enough to realize that he will probably lose in November and that the general election campaign is going to be a lot more work than the primaries. So he basically he loses after an unpleasant 5 month grind. If he gives up the nomination, he remains a magnanimous winner and retains enough cachet which he can then translate into serious money perhaps by starting his own network to rival Fox. It seems the smarter move both for his ego and his pocketbook and does he care about anything else?
Assumes facts not in evidence.
I downloaded Trump’s FEC filing and poked around a little. Trump got donations from 3054 individuals in about 2964 households/organizations. In the whole month of May, Trump only convinced about 3000 people to give him money. I didn’t look at Clinton’s numbers. But 3000 donations sounds like not a lot.
It’s not enough for him to just be a grifter – he has to be a blatant and petty grifter whose scampaign would embarrass Boss Hogg.
Further research into “Draper Sterling” shows that there have already been fraud charges filed against them with the FEC for a campaign for the Missouri Governorship. Interesting details in this story.
That is the hallmark of a sociopath–mere successful deception doesn’t satisfy them. They need to believe that others fall for even the flimsiest, most inept ruses due to being ridiculously stupid (in comparison with their own super-genius selves).
Trump’s campaign paying off Trump companies.
You are assuming that he is capable of recognizing the possibility that he * might* lose in November. All evidence seems to point to him being a massive narcissist, possibly not even recognizing that other people are even real.
OTOH paying from a campaign is using somebody else’s money not the candidate’s own. Trump hasn’t AFAIK given any of his money to the campaign, he’s lent most of the money the campaign has used but hopes future contributors pay it back, as well as collecting some contributions. That said though the campaign is a small outfit, it isn’t just Trump. It could have been somebody besides Trump without his knowledge. The just fired Lewandowski is from the same part of NH as the shell co.
Seems to me it could be anything from really juicy to not much.
I’m betting it’s a blackmail payment, to prevent release of the video of Trump crying like a baby when his Muslim boyfriend slaps him and knocks his hair-weave thing right off the back of his head.
You can see the principals LinkedIn pages and none of them mention “Draper Sterling”.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-holzer-7746078b
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-adkins-06bb63
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-mclain-307830110