Trump's fundraising boasting as hollow as he is- Filed with the FEC yesterday evening

Last edited Sun Aug 21, 2016, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

The details are quite interesting.

By Isaac Arnsdorf
| 08/21/16 01:17 AM EDT


Trump paid dearly to boost fundraising

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 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. But 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 that 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. But 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.

<snip, and what the hell is THIS?>

The filing did list a $1,713.40 "contribution refund" to Manafort, who did not take a salary for his work on Trump's behalf.

The consulting firm of ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also continued to receive $20,000 from the Trump campaign in July, despite his firing in June and new position as a CNN commentator.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-paid-dearly-to-boost-fundraising-227236#ixzz4Hx6PHSRx
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I'm not saying it's chickenfeed, but he lags well behind Clinton and his expenditures make no sense, not to mention that Lewandowski business. And he spent over 4x on hats and other junk than salaries for staffers. Clinton spent over 2 million on salaries.