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Posted
5 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Why does Trump's presidential campaign need money?

  • the entire right wing media apparatus exists
  • the MSM breathlessly covers his every utterance in a misguided pursuit of "balance"
  • Musk, Vlad, et al are going to do their part on social media

Oh, they don't need "money" in the traditional sense.  But Trump "needs" money.

Besides, there's legions of MAGA folk willing and ready to toss money that way and countless layers of grift below Trump that need their fix as well.

Posted

Still gotta grift though.  Always a friend or family member who has a printing company or a digital media company or a slapped together "GOTV operation" that needs money to "pay" "volunteers" 

If Trump and the Lara Trump-run RNC doesn't raise money, how else will everyone in the Trump family get paid? 

Plus Melania's hairdresser/fashion consultants.  And Don Jr.'s coke habits doesn't pay for itself.

Posted
16 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Why does Trump's presidential campaign need money?

  • the entire right wing media apparatus exists
  • the MSM breathlessly covers his every utterance in a misguided pursuit of "balance"
  • Musk, Vlad, et al are going to do their part on social media

0379bf99-911b-4aff-a1b4-acf602134445_tex

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Posted
8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Happy Chris Hemsworth GIF by Marvel Studios
 

This is the Holidome experience I remember across multiple Holidomes in multiple states.

We maybe going through that area this summer and if it’s there, we are stopping.

The Pearl on the Concho in San Angelo is also an old Holidome.  

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Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, Pods said:

That is the tackiest cologne bottle ever, which is saying something. 

And I'm pretty sure it's Old Spice in there for 10 times the normal price.

Edited by TexArcher
Posted (edited)
On 2/19/2024 at 7:37 PM, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Reminds me of the the old Super 8 indoor pool area next to the Circle Bar truck stop. Who says you can find luxury amenities in between Ozona and Sonora? Not me. 

 

Screenshot_20240219-193213.png

I think I got athlete's foot just looking at the picture.

On 2/19/2024 at 8:41 PM, miguelito said:

Son of a bitch. This thread is marked "HOT" and I walk into a discussion about shoes and old hotels.

 

I can smell the hotel pictures, though.

Yup. 

On 2/19/2024 at 10:43 PM, tokamak said:

Reagan at 16 huh?

Trending down. Glad LBJ is in the top ten; there was more to his presidency than the Viet Nam disaster.

Truman over-rated. He ushered in the security state and the military-industrial state that Eisenhower warned us about. 

Washington should be number 1. There is no USA without him holding together the army and using his own money to do so. The Constitution Convention was illegal under the laws of Federation. Washington's presence quelled any thought of acting on that fact. He surrendered power in the first peaceful transfer of the office. He was a great man. He arranged for the freedom of the people enslaved on his farm which is at least a little something against his terrible history of trafficking Africans.

Edited by RomaVicta
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Posted
16 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

 

oklahoma is calling BS on that list. #45 on the list but #1 in the hearts of all maga oklhomoians !

 

 

Why do I think that this guy is going to force every student in OK stop their lessons for an hour and require the teacher read a prepared statement or play a video about Trumps “achievements.”

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Posted
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-cash-crunch-just-got-much-much-worse?ref=wrap
 
As Donald Trump’s legal troubles consume more and more of his time, they’re also consuming more of his donors’ money—and there’s a huge hole in the bucket.
On Tuesday, Trump’s “Save America” leadership political action committee reported raising just $8,508 from donors in the entire month of January, while spending about $3.9 million, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission.
 
Nearly $3 million of that overall spending total was used for one purpose: to pay lawyers.
At the same time, the Trump campaign itself reported a net loss of more than $2.6 million for the month of January. It raised about $8.8 million while spending around $11.5 million, according to a separate filing made public on Tuesday.
The filings reveal that Trump is continuing to burn through his donors’ funds as he struggles to feed two massive cash drains—astronomical legal bills stemming from numerous civil cases and four criminal indictments, plus the costs of a national presidential campaign.
 
After the Trump filings were released on Tuesday evening, his sole primary challenger, Nikki Haley, flashed a sign of strength, with her campaign reporting $11.5 million in receipts last month. It is the first-ever fundraising period where Haley’s campaign outraised Trump.
Despite reporting almost no donations in January, the Save America PAC—a group Trump launched days after the 2020 election, ostensibly to fund legal challenges—actually increased its bottom line by more than $1 million, ending the month with nearly $6.3 million on hand.
However, that increase can’t be chalked up to new donations. It’s entirely due to a $5 million transfer from a different pro-Trump super PAC, which is still in the process of refunding $60 million that the former president demanded back last year, as his legal bills threatened to put Save America, his legal slush fund, into bankruptcy.
 
 
Spoiler

The super PAC has been kicking that refund back in $5 million installments beginning late last spring, but that emergency bailout won’t last, either—the full refund is set to be completed by June.
There’s another metric for the depth of Trump’s financial strain: Save America itself had to bail out yet another one of Trump’s PACs, transferring $500,000 to his old campaign committee in the middle of January. That group, called “Make America Great Again PAC,” started the year with only about $570,000 in the bank, so the mid-month injection from the sputtering Save America suggests that MAGA PAC might very well be in danger of bottoming out too.
A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
As he heads into his third consecutive presidential campaign, it’s safe to say Trump’s cash apparatus is complicated.
At this point, the Save America PAC exists almost exclusively to cover the former president’s legal bills, but Trump also has to fund his political campaign. He does that by raising the bulk of his money through a joint fundraising committee, which automatically splits the proceeds—90 percent goes to the campaign, with Save America cleaning up the other 10 percent, according to the terms of online solicitations.
Last month, however, the joint fundraising committee didn’t send any money to Save America, the latest filings show, though it did transfer about $8.5 million to the Trump campaign. This suggests Save America might still have as much as $850,000 headed its way from January fundraising efforts—a drop in the bucket, considering the ferocious burn rate of those legal costs.
Trump’s cash crunch is hitting at a terrible time. Recent weeks have seen two massive legal judgments against the former president. First came the $83.3 million sum for the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming; that was followed weeks later with a whopping $355 million fine for years of business fraud in New York.
Along with interest and other costs, those two rulings alone could set Trump back as much as $600 million.
While Trump is a billionaire, his choice to pass his legal costs on to his donors is threatening to derail the GOP’s national fundraising efforts. Trump is now attempting a takeover of the Republican National Committee, planting MAGA loyalists and even his own daughter-in-law at the top echelons of party leadership.
The Daily Beast previously reported that this self-interested maneuvering could severely constrain the RNC as the national party struggles to unify behind its beleaguered standard-bearer during a monumental election cycle.
But Trump can’t raise money with the party until he officially secures the nomination, which could happen as soon as March. And a breakdown of the Trump campaign’s spending last month shows that the primary contest is taking its toll, even as that competition winnowed to just Haley.
The campaign’s biggest January line item was the nearly $4.7 million spent for placed media, which accounts for TV ad spending. Another roughly $820,000 went out the door for audio visual support at events, $602,000 for video production, nearly $550,000 in travel-related expenses, and more than $450,000 for polling services.
The campaign also shelled out about $15,000 for teleprompter services, a sharp increase over recent months, as Trump held rallies to bolster support as primary voting got underway. Outside of those direct political costs, however, the campaign’s biggest expense was the $830,000 it also dropped on lawyers.

 

Help me out here - I don’t know campaign finance law well at all. But as I understood, a PAC can’t “coordinate” with a campaign. That seems like a pointless distinction when a PAC can apparently…just directly transfer money to a campaign. What am I missing here?

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Posted
36 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

I think I got athlete's foot just looking at the picture.

Yup. 

Trending down. Glad LBJ is in the top ten; there was more to his presidency than the Viet Nam disaster.

Truman over-rated. He ushered in the security state and the military-industrial state that Eisenhower warned us about. 

Washington should be number 1. There is no USA without him holding together the army and using his own money to do so. The Constitution Convention was illegal under the laws of Federation. Washington's presence quelled any thought of acting on that fact. He surrendered power in the first peaceful transfer of the office. He was a great man. He arranged for the freedom of the people enslaved on his farm which is at least a little something against his terrible history of trafficking Africans.

 

He surrendered power a number of times. At the end of the Revolutionary War, he could have set himself up as dictator, but didn't. After two terms in office, he was hugely popular and could have remained in power indefinitely, but didn't. 

 

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Posted
15 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 
 
 
 
Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

The super PAC has been kicking that refund back in $5 million installments beginning late last spring, but that emergency bailout won’t last, either—the full refund is set to be completed by June.
There’s another metric for the depth of Trump’s financial strain: Save America itself had to bail out yet another one of Trump’s PACs, transferring $500,000 to his old campaign committee in the middle of January. That group, called “Make America Great Again PAC,” started the year with only about $570,000 in the bank, so the mid-month injection from the sputtering Save America suggests that MAGA PAC might very well be in danger of bottoming out too.
A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
As he heads into his third consecutive presidential campaign, it’s safe to say Trump’s cash apparatus is complicated.
At this point, the Save America PAC exists almost exclusively to cover the former president’s legal bills, but Trump also has to fund his political campaign. He does that by raising the bulk of his money through a joint fundraising committee, which automatically splits the proceeds—90 percent goes to the campaign, with Save America cleaning up the other 10 percent, according to the terms of online solicitations.
Last month, however, the joint fundraising committee didn’t send any money to Save America, the latest filings show, though it did transfer about $8.5 million to the Trump campaign. This suggests Save America might still have as much as $850,000 headed its way from January fundraising efforts—a drop in the bucket, considering the ferocious burn rate of those legal costs.
Trump’s cash crunch is hitting at a terrible time. Recent weeks have seen two massive legal judgments against the former president. First came the $83.3 million sum for the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming; that was followed weeks later with a whopping $355 million fine for years of business fraud in New York.
Along with interest and other costs, those two rulings alone could set Trump back as much as $600 million.
While Trump is a billionaire, his choice to pass his legal costs on to his donors is threatening to derail the GOP’s national fundraising efforts. Trump is now attempting a takeover of the Republican National Committee, planting MAGA loyalists and even his own daughter-in-law at the top echelons of party leadership.
The Daily Beast previously reported that this self-interested maneuvering could severely constrain the RNC as the national party struggles to unify behind its beleaguered standard-bearer during a monumental election cycle.
But Trump can’t raise money with the party until he officially secures the nomination, which could happen as soon as March. And a breakdown of the Trump campaign’s spending last month shows that the primary contest is taking its toll, even as that competition winnowed to just Haley.
The campaign’s biggest January line item was the nearly $4.7 million spent for placed media, which accounts for TV ad spending. Another roughly $820,000 went out the door for audio visual support at events, $602,000 for video production, nearly $550,000 in travel-related expenses, and more than $450,000 for polling services.
The campaign also shelled out about $15,000 for teleprompter services, a sharp increase over recent months, as Trump held rallies to bolster support as primary voting got underway. Outside of those direct political costs, however, the campaign’s biggest expense was the $830,000 it also dropped on lawyers.

 

Help me out here - I don’t know campaign finance law well at all. But as I understood, a PAC can’t “coordinate” with a campaign. That seems like a pointless distinction when a PAC can apparently…just directly transfer money to a campaign. What am I missing here?

Transfers between a candidate’s committees for the same office

In the same election

Funds and assets may be transferred without limit between a candidate’s principal campaign committee and the candidate’s other authorized committees for the same office during the same election. However, an authorized committee may not transfer funds to another authorized committee of the same candidate if the transferring committee has net debts outstanding.

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Posted

 

33 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Why do I think that this guy is going to force every student in OK stop their lessons for an hour and require the teacher read a prepared statement or play a video about Trumps “achievements.”

 

Lol, "based on how the country performed during his presidency."

A million dead due to covid. Millions of jobs lost. Exploding budget deficits. Absurd levels of graft and corruption. 

 

I guess the video could talk about how dOTarD never wore a tan suit, or never put his feet up on the desk, or never asked for spicy mustard. 

 

17 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 
 
 
 
Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

The super PAC has been kicking that refund back in $5 million installments beginning late last spring, but that emergency bailout won’t last, either—the full refund is set to be completed by June.
There’s another metric for the depth of Trump’s financial strain: Save America itself had to bail out yet another one of Trump’s PACs, transferring $500,000 to his old campaign committee in the middle of January. That group, called “Make America Great Again PAC,” started the year with only about $570,000 in the bank, so the mid-month injection from the sputtering Save America suggests that MAGA PAC might very well be in danger of bottoming out too.
A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
As he heads into his third consecutive presidential campaign, it’s safe to say Trump’s cash apparatus is complicated.
At this point, the Save America PAC exists almost exclusively to cover the former president’s legal bills, but Trump also has to fund his political campaign. He does that by raising the bulk of his money through a joint fundraising committee, which automatically splits the proceeds—90 percent goes to the campaign, with Save America cleaning up the other 10 percent, according to the terms of online solicitations.
Last month, however, the joint fundraising committee didn’t send any money to Save America, the latest filings show, though it did transfer about $8.5 million to the Trump campaign. This suggests Save America might still have as much as $850,000 headed its way from January fundraising efforts—a drop in the bucket, considering the ferocious burn rate of those legal costs.
Trump’s cash crunch is hitting at a terrible time. Recent weeks have seen two massive legal judgments against the former president. First came the $83.3 million sum for the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming; that was followed weeks later with a whopping $355 million fine for years of business fraud in New York.
Along with interest and other costs, those two rulings alone could set Trump back as much as $600 million.
While Trump is a billionaire, his choice to pass his legal costs on to his donors is threatening to derail the GOP’s national fundraising efforts. Trump is now attempting a takeover of the Republican National Committee, planting MAGA loyalists and even his own daughter-in-law at the top echelons of party leadership.
The Daily Beast previously reported that this self-interested maneuvering could severely constrain the RNC as the national party struggles to unify behind its beleaguered standard-bearer during a monumental election cycle.
But Trump can’t raise money with the party until he officially secures the nomination, which could happen as soon as March. And a breakdown of the Trump campaign’s spending last month shows that the primary contest is taking its toll, even as that competition winnowed to just Haley.
The campaign’s biggest January line item was the nearly $4.7 million spent for placed media, which accounts for TV ad spending. Another roughly $820,000 went out the door for audio visual support at events, $602,000 for video production, nearly $550,000 in travel-related expenses, and more than $450,000 for polling services.
The campaign also shelled out about $15,000 for teleprompter services, a sharp increase over recent months, as Trump held rallies to bolster support as primary voting got underway. Outside of those direct political costs, however, the campaign’s biggest expense was the $830,000 it also dropped on lawyers.

 

Help me out here - I don’t know campaign finance law well at all. But as I understood, a PAC can’t “coordinate” with a campaign. That seems like a pointless distinction when a PAC can apparently…just directly transfer money to a campaign. What am I missing here?

 

The fact that you obviously hate freedom?

 

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Transfers between a candidate’s committees for the same office

In the same election

Funds and assets may be transferred without limit between a candidate’s principal campaign committee and the candidate’s other authorized committees for the same office during the same election. However, an authorized committee may not transfer funds to another authorized committee of the same candidate if the transferring committee has net debts outstanding.

So I still don't understand.  Donations directly to a candidate's committee are limited/capped, AND are public.  But donations to a PAC are unlimited, and are not public.  Sinister Shitheads Inc. can donated eleventy billion dollars to the "Save America" PAC, and we'll never know about it (except the PAC's reported COH will skyrocket).  Then, Save America can just transfer all of that money to the Trump campaign, circumventing the limits and reporting requirements?  Again, I am positive that I'm missing something/flat-out don't get it.

Posted
24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So I still don't understand.  Donations directly to a candidate's committee are limited/capped, AND are public.  But donations to a PAC are unlimited, and are not public.  Sinister Shitheads Inc. can donated eleventy billion dollars to the "Save America" PAC, and we'll never know about it (except the PAC's reported COH will skyrocket).  Then, Save America can just transfer all of that money to the Trump campaign, circumventing the limits and reporting requirements?  Again, I am positive that I'm missing something/flat-out don't get it.

 

It almost sounds like you don't want the rich to be able to anonymously buy candidates. Again, why do you hate freedom?

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

So I still don't understand.  Donations directly to a candidate's committee are limited/capped, AND are public.  But donations to a PAC are unlimited, and are not public.  Sinister Shitheads Inc. can donated eleventy billion dollars to the "Save America" PAC, and we'll never know about it (except the PAC's reported COH will skyrocket).  Then, Save America can just transfer all of that money to the Trump campaign, circumventing the limits and reporting requirements?  Again, I am positive that I'm missing something/flat-out don't get it.

For the self-proclaimed Leader of the Ledge Party, some times you're not too smart.

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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

 Help me out here - I don’t know campaign finance law well at all. But as I understood, a PAC can’t “coordinate” with a campaign. That seems like a pointless distinction when a PAC can apparently…just directly transfer money to a campaign. What am I missing here?

 

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

So I still don't understand.  Donations directly to a candidate's committee are limited/capped, AND are public.  But donations to a PAC are unlimited, and are not public.  Sinister Shitheads Inc. can donated eleventy billion dollars to the "Save America" PAC, and we'll never know about it (except the PAC's reported COH will skyrocket).  Then, Save America can just transfer all of that money to the Trump campaign, circumventing the limits and reporting requirements?  Again, I am positive that I'm missing something/flat-out don't get it

 

From the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can’t explain it.

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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Posted
29 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

From the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can’t explain it.

So its cryptocurrency?  

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Posted
8 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-cash-crunch-just-got-much-much-worse?ref=wrap

 

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

The super PAC has been kicking that refund back in $5 million installments beginning late last spring, but that emergency bailout won’t last, either—the full refund is set to be completed by June.

There’s another metric for the depth of Trump’s financial strain: Save America itself had to bail out yet another one of Trump’s PACs, transferring $500,000 to his old campaign committee in the middle of January. That group, called “Make America Great Again PAC,” started the year with only about $570,000 in the bank, so the mid-month injection from the sputtering Save America suggests that MAGA PAC might very well be in danger of bottoming out too.

A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.

As he heads into his third consecutive presidential campaign, it’s safe to say Trump’s cash apparatus is complicated.

At this point, the Save America PAC exists almost exclusively to cover the former president’s legal bills, but Trump also has to fund his political campaign. He does that by raising the bulk of his money through a joint fundraising committee, which automatically splits the proceeds—90 percent goes to the campaign, with Save America cleaning up the other 10 percent, according to the terms of online solicitations.

Last month, however, the joint fundraising committee didn’t send any money to Save America, the latest filings show, though it did transfer about $8.5 million to the Trump campaign. This suggests Save America might still have as much as $850,000 headed its way from January fundraising efforts—a drop in the bucket, considering the ferocious burn rate of those legal costs.

Trump’s cash crunch is hitting at a terrible time. Recent weeks have seen two massive legal judgments against the former president. First came the $83.3 million sum for the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming; that was followed weeks later with a whopping $355 million fine for years of business fraud in New York.

Along with interest and other costs, those two rulings alone could set Trump back as much as $600 million.

While Trump is a billionaire, his choice to pass his legal costs on to his donors is threatening to derail the GOP’s national fundraising efforts. Trump is now attempting a takeover of the Republican National Committee, planting MAGA loyalists and even his own daughter-in-law at the top echelons of party leadership.

The Daily Beast previously reported that this self-interested maneuvering could severely constrain the RNC as the national party struggles to unify behind its beleaguered standard-bearer during a monumental election cycle.

But Trump can’t raise money with the party until he officially secures the nomination, which could happen as soon as March. And a breakdown of the Trump campaign’s spending last month shows that the primary contest is taking its toll, even as that competition winnowed to just Haley.

The campaign’s biggest January line item was the nearly $4.7 million spent for placed media, which accounts for TV ad spending. Another roughly $820,000 went out the door for audio visual support at events, $602,000 for video production, nearly $550,000 in travel-related expenses, and more than $450,000 for polling services.

The campaign also shelled out about $15,000 for teleprompter services, a sharp increase over recent months, as Trump held rallies to bolster support as primary voting got underway. Outside of those direct political costs, however, the campaign’s biggest expense was the $830,000 it also dropped on lawyers.

 

lol he runs his campaigns like he runs his businesses

Posted
6 hours ago, tokamak said:

Why does Trump's presidential campaign need money?

  • the entire right wing media apparatus exists
  • the MSM breathlessly covers his every utterance in a misguided pursuit of "balance"
  • Musk, Vlad, et al are going to do their part on social media

Because you still need suckers dumb enough to keep sending good money after bad to keep the grift going. People wise up to the scam.

Posted
2 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

 

Like he could button those with his wee tiny hands... 

These do make sense, given his interest in showers of gold 

Posted (edited)
1 minute ago, Art Vandelay said:

And his followers are even more stupid to believe it


there are posters here, some with a college degree that believe and idolize him 

Edited by tx 3 putt
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Posted

Trump isn't lying when he said it was the greatest economy ever -- for him and his family.

His son in law walked off with 3 billion after just 4 years.  That is a hell of an economy.

Posted
7 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

This is one stupid mother fucker …..

 

Trump vs. Zombie George Washington? Honesty, I would want to hear a few of Washington's ideas before I voted for him. In this scenario, can GW communicate with words?

Posted
4 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Has never won the popular vote, but could take on Lincoln and Washington. Also he began the sentence with "Sir..." which means he's lying. 

Also his mouth was moving, so you know he was lying. 

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Posted
9 hours ago, NWBuck said:

Like he could button those with his wee tiny hands... 

These do make sense, given his interest in showers of gold 

The buttons are purely cosmetic.   Those are pullups.

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Posted
On 2/21/2024 at 8:58 AM, atomheartbevo said:
  • “Jewing me down”
  • doesn’t look like Melania
  • he’s on his iPad like a child
  • And so on..

Not to mention he has to sit behind velvet ropes... and can someone explain the patio umbrella to me?

Posted

That's legitimately the first time I've seen him with Melania in months.  Or this footage old?  The umbrella is a typical secret service move to make it more difficult for snipers to get an accurate read.  I've seen that before in person, not that weird actually.  

But yes, the only time he's not staring at his iPad is when the guy says "Jewing me"      But seriously, if he was the current President, it wouldn't be strange to stare at some comms device for legit reasons.  But other than my 9yo and a USSCOM Admiral, who the fuck brings a tablet to a dinner?  

Posted
21 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

The umbrella is a typical secret service move to make it more difficult for snipers to get an accurate read.  I've seen that before in person, not that weird actually.  

Seems kind of weird inside a building unless... "GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!?!?" or monkeys in the chandeliers  

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

Monkey snipers flinging poisonous poo.

Your newsletter sounds strange, but I am willing to do a trial subscription.  

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Posted
3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Trump vs. Zombie George Washington? Honesty, I would want to hear a few of Washington's ideas before I voted for him. In this scenario, can GW communicate with words?

Zombie Washington:  "You know, we pretty much fucked up that second amendment thing back in the day.  If elected, I'm going to make sure it is re-written to something more appropriate for the current times."

Trump wins the election 70% to 30%.

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Posted
On 2/20/2024 at 2:25 PM, WhatTheBuck said:

It’s all rigged. It’s a hoax. It’s a witch hunt. It’s all politically motivated. It’s the greatest injustice in the history of the world. No one has ever been treated so unfairly.

How fucking stupid do you have to be to not see through the bullshit?

I haven’t an answer to your question, but I hesitate to chalk it up to stupidity.

Supposedly smart people are willing to admit that they believe in a conspiracy, or perhaps they’d call it political bias, on a grand scale. For example, one Surly poster is certain that conclusions reached in peer reviewed research are cooked due to political bias. To admit to believing that the peer review system is flawed due to politics. An academics take on fake news. (Which just so happens to align with the goal of those inimical to our nation: eroding trust in our institutions). 

Generally, though, it amazes me, too, that some folks are willing to conclude that the faceless masses are suspect, and corrupt.

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Posted

Here you go @Brisketexan,  If you thought the cooperation between Trump's PAC's was bad enough

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-cash-strapped-trump-campaign-is-trying-to-get-away-with-a-new-donor-loophole?ref=home

 

Quote

Campaign donor refunds have been a part of political finances since modern contribution limits were first instituted in 1972. But just over 50 years later, Donald Trump’s political operation seems to have found a novel workaround, with the campaign reporting just one individual refund—for $400—over the entirety of last year.

To date, the Trump campaign has reported only $1,400 in refunds since November 2022, according to Federal Election Commission filings—a jaw-droppingly low amount for a frontrunner presidential campaign. For context, President Joe Biden’s campaign refunded its supporters about $360,000 last year, with another $222,000 last month alone. In 2019, the year before the last presidential election, the Trump campaign returned more than $900,000 to its donors, racking up more than $11 million in refunds the following year.

 

Quote

But now, the refunds are essentially zero, raising the prospect of the former president’s campaign once again stretching the bounds of campaign finance law to inflate his war chest—and the public’s impressions of his political strength.

On paper, Trump’s refund rate is virtually impossible. His campaign has not solved this persistent problem of overpayments. His donors are, in fact, breaking the donation limits—dozens and dozens of them, according to the notices that the FEC sent his campaign after every 2023 filing.

So how exactly has the Trump campaign found a way to make the refunds disappear? That question arrives at a sensitive political moment, as numerous news reports pillory the Trump operation for its breakneck spending amid an alarmingly bleak fundraising outlook.

 

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While no one on Trump’s campaign would answer these questions for The Daily Beast—either on the record or on background—there are clues in the campaign’s responses to the FEC’s notices. In those replies, Trump campaign treasurer Bradley Crate acknowledges the excessive donations. He states that the money has since been “returned” to an affiliated committee, which will be “reflected on a subsequent [campaign] report.”

Crate’s answer, it seems, is that the Trump campaign is forwarding the excessive amounts to other political accounts, potentially raising a host of other issues.

But Crate’s explanation, as written, doesn’t seem explicitly true—at least not at the moment.

 

Spoiler

According to FEC data, the 2024 Trump campaign has never reported sending any money to that affiliated committee, a joint fundraising committee (JFC) called “Trump Save America.” And that committee’s refund rate also appears low—a total $150,000 out of $129 million raised. By comparison, Haley’s JFC refunded roughly $115,000 while raising $20 million. (In 2022, Trump’s JFC returned $42,000, and just $2,500 the year before.)

Trump’s JFC, however, is also torching cash. It shelled out $48.3 million in operating expenses last year, while distributing $80.8 million to the campaign and Save America—a burn rate hovering around 40 percent. It ended the year with a net loss, holding just $3.5 million on hand. Most of those costs are for services typically associated with fundraising—$14.2 million for digital consulting, another $11 million on direct mail, $4.2 million for online solicitation fees, and $3.4 million on texting services. At the same time, Biden’s JFC raised nearly $30 million more, spent $15 million less, and walked away from 2023 with more than 10 times as much cash on hand.

Refunds are also low for Trump’s “Save America” leadership PAC—a legal slush fund that is also a political cash incinerator with a stunning refund rate of nearly zero. While the PAC reported $560,000 in refunds last year, the PAC quietly admitted in letters to the FEC that those were not contemporary. The refunds came from an array of old errors that were caught in an internal audit—with some mistakes dating back more than two years. In 2022, the PAC refunded $770, and in 2021, it refunded $50. It raised about $160 million in that same time.

In 2020, the Trump campaign refunded $11.3 million.

The Trump, Biden, and Nikki Haley campaigns all have JFCs. The Biden and Haley operations fund committees beyond themselves, with broader political imperatives. But Trump Save America only feeds two committees, his campaign and his Save America leadership PAC. The default “split” sends 90 percent of every donation to the campaign, and 10 percent to Save America. Both committees have been raising almost all their money through the JFC.

Typically, if a donor gives a campaign too much money, the campaign refunds the excess amount to the person, reporting it later in FEC filings. But when a donor gives too much to the Trump campaign through this joint committee, the campaign does not refund that person. Instead, The Daily Beast’s analysis of FEC data indicates that some reports appear to have simply vanished the original excessive amount altogether, even though the new amended filings show the exact same bottom line totals, down to the penny.

In short, the arrangement appears to swap out the refund process with a new batch of donations. It clearly requires more work behind closed doors, but the bottom lines remain the same, and at least to that end, it all comes out in the wash, so to speak.

This has come up previously with Trump. In 2020, BuzzFeed News reported the first known illegal foreign contribution to the Trump campaign, from a Turkish national turned MAGAworld influencer. The donation had gone to the campaign through the JFC at the time, called “Trump Victory.” In response to the report, Trump Victory refunded the illicit donation in full. But the campaign itself kept the money—it did not return the cash to Trump Victory, even after months of inquiry. The refunded money came out of other Trump Victory donations.

Notably, the maneuvering also appears to demand at least some degree of misrepresentation to the FEC, if not outright lying—specifically, the treasurer’s written statements that the campaign had “returned” the money when its reports show no such transactions.

Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast that excessive donations shouldn’t be a huge problem to begin with, because JFCs typically pre-screen donations for potential limit-breakers.

“The way this is supposed to work is that the JFC checks for excessive contributions, and with written approval, rebalances the percentages on an excessive contribution to keep it from being excessive,” Libowitz explained, citing FEC rules.

Refunds are typically easy to resolve, through processes the FEC lays out on its website. The available guidance for joint fundraising is thinner, though those rules stipulate that the JFC and participants “must screen all contributions” to ensure they are not in excess of the limits, saying participants “must provide” donor records to facilitate those efforts. The rules appear equally clear that all committees must disclose their refunds, regardless of amount.

“What the Trump campaign appears to have done is said ‘Money is fungible,’” Libowitz said. However, he noted, the Trump campaign’s solution is also its most glaring problem.

“You cannot take $9,900 from one donor and $3,300 from another and claim to have taken $6,600 from each,” he said.

Excessive donations are a common issue for all campaigns. Trump’s top primary opponents forked over hundreds of thousands of dollars, even while raising less money than the former president. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential campaign kicked back about $535,000, and Haley’s campaign returned more than $260,000. Even dropouts like Tim Scott ($44,000), Chris Christie ($11,000), and Mike Pence ($9,600) all showed higher refunds despite dramatically lagging Trump in fundraising, combined. And the campaign for longshot independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent about $485,000 back to his donors, disclosures show.

The issue is so pervasive that the FEC itself actually notifies committees about any impermissibly large contributions that it discovers in its standard reviews. Last year, the FEC caught excess donations on all of the Trump campaign’s filings, with his last quarterly report racking up a 286-page list of individual donors who apparently gave more than they’re allowed. The donors on that one list alone have given the campaign nearly $470,000 combined, according to the notice, though the excess amounts only make up a partial amount of that total.

But it’s not just a disclosure issue either; campaign refunds also happen to provide an important political metric.

High refund rates can signal potential donor burnout, a financial clue that a campaign has maxed out most of its reliable supporters and might be in danger of going into the red if it can’t find other funding sources. This was the case with the Trump campaign in 2020, when a number of newsreports identified small-dollar donor burnout as a problem. Combined with reportedly lavish spending, that left the Trump operation with a massive cash deficit against Biden just ahead of the election.

Today, both Trump and Biden are feeling the pinch—part of a national downward trend that Politico dubbed a “political recession.” But of the two campaigns, Trump’s operation appears to have been hit hardest.

Recent reports have raised alarms about Trump’s runaway legal spending and drooping donations, sparking internal concerns about whether Trump can sustain the necessary financial support through the election.

However, if a campaign doesn’t report refunds, those potential weaknesses are harder to calculate—and harder to report.

Given Trump’s personal financial history, critics may be tempted to assume his campaign is simply lying, holding on to the money and daring the government to do something about it. (The FEC has never taken action against Trump.) That, of course, would be wildly illegal, carrying serious, potentially criminal penalties not just for the campaign, but also for his outside treasurer and the established political accounting firm that processes and signs his reports.

But the campaign doesn’t appear to just be holding the money—at least, not exactly.

Instead, it appears the Trump team has engaged in some creative accounting, exploiting structural and regulatory nuances to report an artificially low refund rate. The tactic, it seems, accounts for refunded donations through mathematics, without engaging in financial transfers that would trigger reporting requirements.

In other words, the campaign may have found a way to make refunds disappear, thanks to the fungible property of money. While several legal experts consulted for this article couldn’t say how the scheme fit within the framework of campaign finance laws, here is how it appears to work.

In the interest of maintaining a reasonably fair financial playing field, individual campaign donations are capped at relatively low amounts. For 2024, federal campaigns can accept up to $6,600 from a single source—$3,300 for the primary and $3,300 for the general election. Anything above that must either be returned to the donor, redesignated to a spouse, or reallocated to a different committee or election.

Trump’s setup hinges on the joint fundraising committees. These committees collect donations on behalf of a group of participating committees and campaigns, then divvy the money up according to allocation terms. The donations are often transferred to the participants in large collective lump sums, with the individual contributors specially marked and identified for tracking purposes.

In November, the FEC flagged a nice 69 Trump campaign contributors who appear to have cracked the limit between July and the end of September. In his Dec. 21 reply, the campaign treasurer explained that “Sixty-Eight (68) of the listed contributors’ contributions were returned to a joint fundraising committee (‘JFC’) in which the Committee participates for proper allocation,” adding that “the relevant information will be reflected on a subsequent Committee report.”

Only one of the contributors on that list was “properly and timely refunded,” he wrote.

The treasurer’s note told the FEC that all of the campaign’s refund action will be reflected on a future report. That report came in at the end of January, and—as promised—added one new individual refund, a $400 rebate to a nuclear medicine specialist in Florida who broke the limit. (The Trump campaign’s remaining $1,000 in refunds all went back to Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign in November.)

But that donor had given directly to the campaign, disclosures show. The other 68 donors had not. The day the campaign filed its response, it also filed an amended version of the report, reflecting the same totals to the penny. But today, some of the original excessive donations appear to have vanished from FEC data.

The campaign has yet to reply to the most recent FEC notice, which flagged a much longer list—running to 286 pages—showing that more donors are maxing over time.

One major difference with Trump, is that where the Biden and Haley JFCs include committees not tied to them personally, Trump’s setup only feeds Trump. The Biden operation, for instance, has a “waterfall” that takes the first $6,600 for Biden then automatically sends excess amounts out to the other participants, including the Democratic National Committee and various state parties. But Trump’s JFC splits all donations 90/10. This means donors will hit the $6,600 campaign limit first, and Save America—which has a $5,000 annual individual limit—fills up later.

On even closer inspection, the Trump refund setup raises some other questions.

Trump has in the past sought to exploit automatically recurring donations, a practice that has been criticized for squeezing cash from donors without them knowing it. (This also makes donors max out more quickly, however.)

One donor chosen at random from the FEC’s November list had broken the primary campaign limit on Sept. 1. But FEC filings show that the donor continued to contribute to the Trump Save America JFC—at a rate of $1,000 per month. Despite maxing out, the JFC kept transferring that donor’s funds to the campaign’s primary election account at least through December, FEC records show. Additionally, those $1,000 donations were not split 90/10, or at least not yet. While the Trump campaign received $900 from each donation, there isn’t a matching record of $100 transfers to Save America. The donor then appeared again on the 286-page list.

The campaign has one other incentive to hold all the money it can: it earns money, collecting interest while sitting in the bank. Trump’s joint fundraising committee, however, does not report interest income.

 

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