If former President Donald Trump wants to run for another term in 2024, he will have a huge financial head start. Writes Jon Dougherty
If he doesn’t, he will be able to fund perhaps dozens of self-chosen GOP candidates between now and then — and beyond.
According to Trump’s latest Federal Election Commission filing, his Save America PAC hauled in $51 million during the second half of 2021, bringing his total cash-on-hand to an eye-popping $122 million.
Earlier, the former president had reported raising $82 million during the first half of last year, which, according to a statement he released at the time, was the most money ever raised by a former president.
“President Trump’s continued and unprecedented pace of fundraising shows that the future of the Republican Party in 2022 and beyond remains, perhaps, the strongest in our country’s history — the MAGA movement is here to stay!” the Save America PAC statement Monday read.
“This massive fundraising accomplishment does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars raised by other candidates and organizations who use President Trump’s name, likeness, endorsement, and America First Agenda as a platform for their efforts, further strengthening the movement he began in 2016,” the statement continued.
In March 2021, lawyers for the former president sent cease-and-desist letters to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and National Republican Senatorial Committee after they began using his name and likeness to fundraise, according to Politico.
‘President Donald J. Trump has built a political organization that continues to capture and define the future of the Republican Party,” Trump and Save America PAC’s director of communications, Taylor Budowich, noted in a statement.
“From the massive and unprecedented Save America Rallies, to these record-breaking fundraising numbers, there is no question that the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (MAGA!) wave is set to crash across the midterms and carry forward all the way through 2024,” he added.
“In the history of our country there has never been a more reliable or winning endorsement of candidates than that of President Trump. President Trump is incredibly well positioned to look beyond November as the need for his leadership has never been more important,” he continued.
The former president has repeatedly teased a 2024 presidential run but has yet to formally announce it. Newsmax reported that Trump has repeatedly told the network he can’t do so yet because of “antiquated” campaign finance laws, though he has said his supporters “will be very happy.”
Others including several of his surrogates have said he is waiting to see what happens during this year’s midterm elections — specifically, how well Republicans perform and whether the party can manage to win back control of one or both chambers of Congress, which looks increasingly likely as President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both continue to slip in approval rating surveys.
“The key fundraising numbers released Monday show an average donation of $31 among 1,631,648 total donations. Of those, 98.6% are small donations of under $200, according to the Save America PAC,” Newsmax noted.
“Trump’s Save America PAC alone has already ‘contributed $1,350,000 to like-minded causes and endorsed candidates,’” the outlet continued.
During a rally in Texas over the weekend, Trump declared his “MAGA” – Make America Great Again — the “greatest political movement” in U.S. history.
“Our MAGA movement is by far the greatest political movement in the history of our country, and I say it all the time, and they never even – the fake news – they never even questioned it because it there’s never been anything like it,” Trump said.
“And you know what it really stands for? Loving our country, that’s all it is,” he added.
“Together we are standing up against some of the most sinister forces, entrenched interests, and vicious opponents our people have ever seen – could say our country has never seen anything like it,” Trump continued.
“But no matter how big or powerful these corrupt radicals may be, you must never forget our nation does not belong to them. Our nation belongs to you. This is your home. This is your heritage. And our American liberty is your God-given right,” he added.
