Former President Donald Trump, this week in the civil trial against him for fraud in New York.ANGELA WEISS / POOL (EFE)
The mugshot that could have sunk any candidate for the presidency of the United States has served to speed up Donald Trump’s fundraising machine. There is no official data yet, but Trump’s own campaign said it had revenue of $45.5 million (about €43 million at current exchange rates) in the third quarter of the year. During that period, he received his third and fourth indictments, both for crimes related to his attempt to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which he lost to Joe Biden.
Trump used the mugshot taken when he was booked in Georgia to sell T-shirts, mugs and all sorts of products with his picture on it. In addition, his campaign bombarded registered users with messages encouraging donations, and the former president even posted his first message in more than two and a half years on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, where he has 87 million followers. The message included the photo and a link to the campaign’s website, from which it markets its products and solicits money from supporters.
There is no data on how much spending was during this period, but the Trump campaign assures that it had more than $37.5 million in cash as of September 30, of which $36 million was available for the primary campaign. Third quarter expenditure and income details must be submitted by all candidates to the electoral authority by October 15.
The Trump campaign attacks its – not so immediate – pursuer in the Republican primaries: “In the meantime, the DeSanctimonious campaign [como llama despectivamente a Ron DeSantis, algo así como DeSanturrón] “admits he only has $5 million in cash for the primary, a serious sign that Ron’s candidacy may not make it to the Iowa caucuses in January or even later this month,” his statement said.
DeSantis has reported raising $15 million between July and September, a third of Trump’s and less than the previous quarter. The governor of Florida has his coffers full with a political action committee that, while not purely campaign-oriented, could be used if necessary. Trump says the Florida governor is suffering an “exponential decline” in polls and fundraising and has begun attacking Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, whom he calls “Brain Brain” for his tyrannical style. Bird.” In some polls, Haley is ahead of DeSantis in the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, two of the frontrunners in the primary race.
The Trump campaign estimates first quarter revenue at $10 million, second quarter revenue at $35 million, and third quarter revenue at the aforementioned $45.5 million. “The third quarter numbers are even more impressive considering that most campaigns typically experience a decline in fundraising during the summer months. “President Trump and his campaign have rejected this idea,” his statement said.
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The former president has a joint fundraising committee, the Save America PAC, which is one of the so-called leadership PACs, with more leeway to devote it to expenses other than pure election spending, the official campaign committee (Donald J. Trump for President 2024 ). , Inc) and the super PAC Make America Great Again Inc, which has fewer restrictions on fundraising.
According to an EL PAÍS analysis of data provided to the Federal Election Commission by these companies, their combined cash balance increased from $79.1 million at the end of 2022 to $62.6 million at the end of the first half of 2023. That reflected that the Trump campaign spent more than it took in, due in part to the tens of millions of dollars allocated to cover its legal costs. The Trump campaign has not yet released the cash position of all of these organizations at the end of the third quarter, and it is not clear in its statement how many of them the $37.5 million figure refers to.
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