Trump's "Self-Funded" Campaign Could Result in Being Paid Back as a Loan

Trump has constantly made reference to his paying his own way in the run to the nomination, but has set up the funding as a loan, leaving the possibility of pay back via donor money.

Not a chance, says campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. "He is not going to repay himself," Lewandowski said in an interview this week with The Associated Press

Trump has employed a common practice used by wealthy presidential hopefuls, and while he states he won't repay himself, he left the door open to do just that at a later date.

"I'm self-funding. I'm putting up my own money," Trump says in one of several Facebook videos on the issue. "It's something I don't know that I'm given proper credit for, but you know what, I feel better about it because nobody has me. I'm working for you." Charlie Spies, a Republican campaign attorney and public Trump critic, said Trump's use of campaign loans "sets up the ironic and potentially dishonest situation where he could end up using donated money to pay himself back.

Just like Trump in 2016, Jon Huntsman in 2012, Mitt Romney in 2008 and Steve Forbes in 1996 each made multimillion-dollar loans to their presidential campaigns, which they never repaid. "All campaign lawyers advise candidates to do these things as loans. I certainly do," said Ben Ginsberg, a longtime Republican campaign attorney. That's because once a candidate hands over a personal check as a contribution, there's no way to ever recoup the money. "They'd all like to get paid back, if possible," Ginsberg said.

Trump hasn't gotten to where he is in life without making allowances for all potential financial outcomes. It will be interesting to see if his stance on the issue changes later, especially if his bid for the WH takes a dive.

Trump says if he becomes the nominee, he would help raise money for the Republican Party, which, in turn, would help him try to win the White House. Yet at a press conference Saturday, he seemed to foreclose the possibility of raising money from donors even as a general election candidate. "I'm not looking for funds for myself," he said. If Trump changes his mind and ends up raising enough money, he has only until Election Day to repay his loans, said Bob Biersack, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics who was an FEC employee for 30 years. After that time, FEC rules say candidates can repay themselves a maximum of $250,000.

bigstory.ap.org...:publicid:ap.org:b87136a68b1349bfb2990c5eede62ba6

If Trump does change his position at a later date during his campaign, it could damage his image and raise serious questions about his trustworthiness. Personally, I don't see it happening if he does gain the nomination.

a reply to: Boscowashisnamo

The candidate only is allowed to give his/her campaign a loan from their own assets. Anything else would be a violation of FEC guidelines / federal law.

I think Trump is doing as well as he is because hes not a career politician. I think the American people are getting fed up with eing lied to by government officials.

He gave his campaign 250,000 outright. He loaned his campaign 17.5 million. He has to repay himself, you can default on a loan to yourself. Whatever is left, he gives himself back. He has also made 1.4 million by timing speaking engagements with campaign stops as of 12/29 Trump Makes Money by Campaigning

Odd...he 'gave' his campaign $250,000 and 'FEC rules say candidates can repay themselves a maximum of $250,000", that does not include loans. Hmmmmm.

He will not lose a dime. He will actually become more rich.

a reply to: reldra

Can't fault him for having a smart strategy / campaign. Although what he commands for speaking engagements is nowhere near what clinton commands.

The term funding obviously includes loans.

Giving yourself loans is indeed self-funding.

No lies. No decpetion. No change of position.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: reldra

Can't fault him for having a smart strategy / campaign. Although what he commands for speaking engagements is nowhere near what clinton commands.

Like I said previously, Trump is a businessman, a successful one at that. To not lay the groundwork for possible repayment wouldn't be prudent. According to those in his circle, repayment is not part of the game-plan at this point. That doesn't mean that if things go south Trump wouldn't seek a means of recouping his outlay...

originally posted by: Xcathdra


I think Trump is doing as well as he is because hes not a career politician. I think the American people are getting fed up with being lied to by government officials, stooges

Fixed that for ya buddy

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: reldra

Can't fault him for having a smart strategy / campaign. Although what he commands for speaking engagements is nowhere near what clinton commands.

He got 1 million from Tony Robbins for speaking engagements, I am not sure how many times he had to speak though.

I can;t fault him for that, but he never describes it that way.

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
The term funding obviously includes loans.

Giving yourself loans is indeed self-funding.

No lies. No decpetion. No change of position.

It does not include loans. Whatever is left of that 17.5 million, even if it is 15 million, he has until the RNC to give it back to himself.

a reply to: Boscowashisnamo

So He is self funded and not looking to repay himself than why does his web page ask for donations?

a reply to: interupt42

Because he's stating he isn't funded by Super PAC's and big business. The donations received are from the general public with a max donation of what 2500?

This is common for elections. I don't like Trump but I won't jump on a let's hate him bandwagon for something completely innocuous.

~Tenth

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
a reply to: interupt42

Because he's stating he isn't funded by Super PAC's and big business. The donations received are from the general public with a max donation of what 2500?

This is common for elections. I don't like Trump but I won't jump on a let's hate him bandwagon for something completely innocuous.

~Tenth

I understand that, but he is still not stating the truth or at minimum misrepresenting the facts.

The truth is, that he IS NOT self funded by the fact that he is taking donations. I applaud him for not taking lobbyist money and wish more would do the same, but he isn't exactly self funded either.

It's a good argument, he's just making it poorly.

Absolutely, but with trump and most politicians its hard to tell if its intentional or unintentional?

a reply to: interupt42

To me a self funded campaign means that Trump put up the most cash to get his campaign off the ground. He'd obviously need contributions in order to move forward from that point.

It's a good argument, he's just making it poorly. If I were him I would say I self funded a start up campaign that grew into a country wide movement of supporters. That would drive the point home and take the air out of the room for anything else who could not do the same, because they needed a war chest that was pretty full from the onset of the election.

~Tenth

a reply to: Boscowashisnamo

He could receive repayment and nobody would care as long as he did something for the people such as refund all Obamacare penalty money to the taxpayers.

Imagine that.

Two years of penalty money (2015 and 2016) refunded in 2017 as a stealth inflation. It would all have been paid forward and then given back as an economic stimulus.

Talk about buying the vote.

a reply to: interupt42

My intent in this thread was not to fan the flames of any hatred for Trump. I merely wanted to clarify the the financial aspects of his campaign. I believe the difference between giving and lending, and the possibilities the latter presents in a failed bid for the nomination are relevant to Trump's campaign structure and how it is viewed by the public.

Trump is an astute and successful businessman. Does anyone think he has provided a loan in the past without expectation of repayment? That is point of my initial post.

a reply to: Boscowashisnamo

My intent in this thread was not to fan the flames of any hatred for Trump.

I merely wanted to clarify the the financial aspects of his campaign

That wasn't my intention either, It was merely clarifying the financial aspects of his campaign as well that he is not self funded and does take donations.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Like I said, I'm not knocking him for how he is doing his campaign contributions and wish Rubio , Hillary, Cruz would follow , I was just clarifying that in reality he is not self funded and does take donations.

Especially since trump does have a history to misrepresent himself just like the rest.

originally posted by: SLAYER69

originally posted by: Xcathdra


I think Trump is doing as well as he is because hes not a career politician. I think the American people are getting fed up with being lied to by government officials, stooges

Fixed that for ya buddy

lol thanx... my bad.

originally posted by: interupt42


I understand that, but he is still not stating the truth or at minimum misrepresenting the facts.

The truth is, that he IS NOT self funded by the fact that he is taking donations. I applaud him for not taking lobbyist money and wish more would do the same, but he isn't exactly self funded either.

I can't find the video right now, but the only reason he is taking donations is because people are/were sending donations to his businesses, he said that it would be rude to refuse them so he accepts them. I also just found out anything you buy off of his website is a campaign donation.

a reply to: sandman441

I can't find the video right now, but the only reason he is taking donations is because people are/were sending donations to his businesses, he said that it would be rude to refuse them so he accepts them.

Hard to not giggle at that and now that you mention it , I think I do recalling hearing him say something along those line.


Many ways he could have handled that without taking donations, but I rather not make this thread about that.