The campaign increased its spending in July, but not on building a staff or field organization.
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.
Though the campaign touted an $80 million figure for its July fundraising, just $36.7 million of that total went directly to the campaign. The rest came in through joint fundraising vehicles with the Republican National Committee and state parties. At least $9.5 million of that money is off limits for spending on the election because it’s designated for the RNC’s convention, headquarters and legal accounts. Plus, the RNC is considering spending its money down-ballot instead of supporting Trump as tensions boil over between the party’s apparatus and its defiant nominee.
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.
A full 45 percent, or $8.4 million, went to Giles-Parscale, the San Antonio-based digital marketing firm that has done Trump’s online advertising. (The company had never worked for a campaign before 2016.) The campaign also paid $100,000 to the Prosper Group for fundraising consulting.
Meanwhile, spending on the 84-person staff and field organizing barely increased from the previous month, to just $392,000 and $432,000, respectively. The campaign dropped much more — $1.8 million — on hats and other merchandise.
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Steve Deace: “Update: over $8 of the $18 million Trump campaign spent in July went to a Texas web design firm for online fundraising. This is very similar to how the Carson scampaign used its largest expenditures for raising more money and not actually building a campaign.”
And as i pointed out over a year ago, Trump has zilch personal liquidity.
His name hangs on many enterprises over which he has little direct control.
This reality will start to sink in deeply soon.
This sounds more like a money-laundering scam than a campaign. When is the FEC going to call in the watch dogs and start looking at the books for real? I guess since they are giving Hillary a pass, they can’t investigate too closely, but the RNC/GOP should have some morals to say that things are not right, to be more transparent.
This is the most ridiculous excuse for a campaign I have ever heard of. I still firmly believe he is allowing Hillary the win on purpose. I don’t think ANYBODY can sway that opinion from me. We’ve been had, and not only that, but he’s brought down the GOP with it.
Time for true conservatives of the family values, Constitutional, and small government types to quickly form a new enterprise. The RNC is over.
Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem
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