It’s clear that Donald Trump is on course to lose this election — badly. What’s even worse, though, is that he’s bankrupting the Republican Party in the process. As Open Secrets reports:
Virtually every category of receipts shows a decline this year. Contributions from individuals where the amount given is less than $200 (the “unitemized” category) is less than half what it was in July of 2004, 2008 and 2012. There is a similar decline in direct contributions of larger amounts where specific information about the donor is included in the report. These itemized contributions total much less than July 2004 and 2008 and are even smaller than July 2012 when joint fundraising became much more important.
These joint fundraising efforts where the presidential campaign works together with the national party and state parties around the country are increasingly important, and the RNC total from those efforts also lags in July compared with 2012 and 2008. The Trump campaign has talked about huge joint fundraising successes, but neither the campaign nor the RNC has received all that much from this process so far comparatively.
People often look at cash balances and the end of the month to get a feel for how a committee is positioned for future spending. Here too, the RNC on July 31 was strikingly short of its own status on the same date in past campaigns. At a time when $70 to $90 million is the norm, the RNC finds itself with only $34.5 million in the bank.
The Politics USA website explains:
The Trump campaign bragged about their uptick in fundraising, but a deeper look inside the numbers shows that the RNC only has $15 million in usable cash. That is $15 million for every race, data operation, voter registration, and get out the vote effort in the country. Donald Trump’s refusal to build a campaign operation in all 50 states has resulted in the RNC having to spend their resources. Trump doesn’t have a data operation, so the RNC is using party resources for that too.
In other words, Trump is bleeding the GOP dry. He isn’t doing anything to create a political machine. Everything has to be organized and paid for by the RNC.
As a result, the Republican Party has little to nothing to spend on senatorial and congressional races — races that, unlike the presidential election, can actually be won.
If the RNC doesn’t intervene now — by basically cutting Trump loose and forcing him to take care of his own campaign — a wipeout is coming in November. Responsibility for that epic defeat will rest on the shoulders of Trump and Reince Priebus.
The only question is: While we know that Trump will disappear after November, what will happen to Priebus? Will he be allowed to stay put? Or will the Republican Party finally get its act together and fire this disaster of a man?
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