Back in 2000, Trump gave an interview to Fortune Magazine in which he said that he might end up as the first person who ever made money running for President. This is when he was playing around with Jesse Ventura, with the two of them talking about forming a ticket on something called the Reform Party, which ended up lasting about as long as the United States Football League – another one of Trump’s bright ideas.
Trump repeated his comments about making money from a Presidential campaign in 2016, which is why he copyrighted the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ and made a buck on every MAGA shirt, flag, hats, and bumper sticker that you still see occasionally although the MAGA brand has become somewhat tarnished by the events surrounding January 6th.
Yesterday’s Select Committee hearing made it clear that not only did Trump continue to promote his brand and stick money in his pocket through four years of his administration, but the reason he continues to rant about election ‘fraud’ is because this narrative has become part and parcel of Trump’s efforts to maintain a cash flow again.
Turns out that Trump raised $250 million after the election allegedly to pay the costs of getting the results investigated and overturned. Donors were asked to send money to something called the ‘Victory Fund,’ which maybe didn’t exist, and monies paid out from this cash haul went to individuals who played no role in Trump’s attempts to undo the 2020 election results.
So, for instances, his daughter was paid $60,000 for giving a 3-minute speech at the big rally before the crowd went down and began invading and ransacking the Capitol, and Steve Bannon was paid one million bucks for just hanging around.
The payment to Bannon is doubly interesting because he was convicted of stealing more than a million dollars from donors who thought the money they gave him was going to finish construction of the Mexican wall. So, here’s a guy who has been involved in not one, but at least two efforts to scam the public with the help of Trump’s name. When it comes to corruption, things just can’t get better than that.
It’s difficult to imagine that someone, anyone would view the Office of the President of the United States as just another business deal. But what’s important to understand about Trump is that if you define your business career in terms of how much money you can make whether you do it honestly or not, than any income source becomes an opportunity to figure out how to make a buck.
And what’s a more attractive income source than a political campaign because much of the money which floats around in politics happens to be – cash! For all the do-gooders who talk about ‘cleaning up’ campaign fundraising and making politicians more open about the money they raise and the money they spend, do you really believe that someone like Donald Trump spends one second thinking about the legalities of campaign fundraising if he believes he won’t get caught?
The most brilliant thing about Trump’s election ‘fraud’ strategy is that even if it didn’t work to get him elected again, he can still use it to make money and continue to build his brand. And don’t kid yourself – he doesn’t care whether Billy Barr or anyone else gets up before the Select Committee and says that he’s full of shit. It’s the bottom line which counts and he’s the only public figure who seems to be keeping score.
I don’t want Trump to get indicted because he can’t use a laptop or a cell phone while he’s in jail. And frankly, the more he tries to peddle his name in the political media market, the more he gives me something to write about and grow my Fake News website crowd.
What’s wrong with that?