Trump's Poor Fundraising Shocks GOP And Makes Revolt More Likely

Donald Trump’s disastrous Federal Election Commission (FEC) report that was filed yesterday will only increase the paranoia of the rank-and-file Republican establishment and raise the possibility that Trump will actually be tossed aside at the July convention. The paltry $1.2 million on hand compares to Hillary Clinton’s war chest of nearly $42 million. And when you look at the totals raised by the candidate, party, and PACs combined, the results are even more shocking.

That is nearly a 5-to-1 advantage for Hillary’s campaign. Even more distressing is the pathetic $3.1 million that Trump apparently raised last month. Again, for comparison, Hillary raised over $26 million for the same time period.

In addition, to these potentially crippling financial disadvantages, the organization that Trump has on the ground is also woefully inadequate. According to the filing, Trump has only 69 people on the payroll, compared to the nearly 700 that Hillary has.  All this means that Trump will be more and more reliant on the Republican National Committee (RNC) for money and resources to run his campaign. And every dollar that the RNC has to use because of Trump’s lack of funds and organization is one less dollar they can spend protecting vulnerable Republicans in the House and Senate.

Possibly adding to some Republicans’ anger will be the fact that Trump apparently paid over $1 million to Trump-owned enterprises for campaign expenses. Now campaign finance law requires companies to charge fair market value for goods and services that are provided to candidates, so these are all legitimate expenses.  But for those #NeverTrump Republicans, this may just look like Trump is running another scam. And one other fascinating tidbit from Trump’s filing was a $35,000 payment to a firm named Draper Sterling. I’m sure most of you recognize that as the names of the two leading characters in the classic Mad Men series. It remains unclear what the work was for but the leading players involved have already been targeted in a complaint filed with the FEC in May. Read the whole, fascinating story.

This FEC report will put even more pressure on Trump and the calls for a convention coup will only get louder. State and local Republican operatives will look at these number in horror and realize they may essentially be on their own this November. As I noted in an earlier post, the Trump campaign has only a few weeks to start showing it is capable of running a real election campaign – putting together a ground operation, raising money, and possibly even having to regain some ground in the polls. Otherwise, the July convention could turn into a total free-for-all.