Trump embraces fundraising, not transparency

Remember when Trump was "self funding". Remember when Trump used to attack others for being in the pockets of big money and corporations. Well, those days are gone. And when you break one of the keys to your campaign you want to keep it on the down low. Donald Trump embraces fundraising, not transparency

Trump has had a surge of money as of late. And its not coming from small donation or his everyday supporters.

Trump has scheduled a blitz of fundraisers across the country in the coming weeks, such as the two high-dollar soirees he attended in Nantucket and Cape Cod over the weekend, including one at the home of billionaire Bill Koch, the lesser-known brother of Charles and David. There, co-hosts had to raise at least $100,000 for six tickets to a VIP reception and a photo with the Manhattan mogul.

No big deal, right they all do it, of course they do not all campaign on it

“Trump spent his entire primary campaign calling his opponents puppets of big donors and now some of those same big donors are raising money for his campaign,” said Adam Smith, a spokesman for Every Voice, a group dedicated to lessening the influence of money. “He’s been all talk and no action on money on politics.”

Trump’s move to keep his bundlers secret is just one element of a dramatic campaign-finance flip, from attacking donors to soliciting them, from bashing super PACS to embracing them, from promising to release his taxes to refusing. Some of the very donors he demonized by name Trump has since gone back to seek support from, hat-in-hand.

But, Clinton is doing the same thing right? Sure but, at least she is being open about where the money is coming from.

Clinton has voluntarily released the names of nearly 500 bundlers who raised at least $100,000 for her, and her campaign shares with the press the location of all fundraisers that she or vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine attends, including whose home it is, the price of admission and the approximate number of attendees. She has released decades of her tax returns.

Trump not so much

Trump, in contrast, has so far refused to release any of his taxes, justifying the break with historic precedent by claiming he is under audit. Trump’s campaign has also not disclosed the names of his bundlers, and it didn't respond to multiple inquiries about whether it intends to do so. Nor does the Trump campaign systematically disclose when he attends fundraisers, who is hosting, or the price of admission.

Well that sounds bad. Surely he is not going after money from the same people he attacked?

Trump once said billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson was backing Marco Rubio “because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet.” But days after he became the presumptive nominee in May, Trump shared a Manhattan meal with Adelson and his wife, Miriam. And during the Republican convention, Trump made sure to visit with the Adelsons at a private suite of Quicken Loans Arena as the couple contemplate spending as much as $100 million to elect him.

Ok sure, but Trump is not giving out positions for donations like Clinton and other candidates have right?

One billionaire donor, energy magnate Harold Hamm, was given a plum speaking slot at the Republican convention and has been floated as a possible appointment as secretary of energy.

his 13-member new economic advisory council is filled with contributors who have given his joint fundraising account with the Republican Party more than $2 million.

So Trump as we learn more and more is just as establishment and any other politician. So why the big secret? Well not being that guy has been what his entire campaign has been about.

Trump’s move to keep his bundlers secret is just one element of a dramatic campaign-finance flip, from attacking donors to soliciting them, from bashing super PACS to embracing them, from promising to release his taxes to refusing. Some of the very donors he demonized by name Trump has since gone back to seek support from, hat-in-hand.
The reversals threaten to rob Trump of credibility on what had been one of his most effective outsider themes and signature lines of attack.

For a lot of people Trump was suppose to be an outsider. And he played that role during the primaries and got away with it. Now, in the election he is just like anybody else. Throwing his convictions out the window for money. no wonder Trump has become a good little GOP boy, with his poll numbers he needs the same people who he bashed on to bail him out. He might as well just admit it and make the information public. It is not like anybody will be surprised to see the usual suspect donors. Trump the outsider RIP.

a reply to: MrSpad

None of this is going to work you know? You're likely just ensuring people vote for him?

a reply to: MrSpad

I think it's pretty clear that the "Trump candidate" brand is all in the past. His true colors are showing. He has already sucked up to the party, turned his back on his supporters and sold out to the establishment - all for the "win".

The "Trump candidate" brand got him so far... the rough talking, tell-it-like-it-is, politically incorrect tough-guy has now morphed into the wealthy-fundraising, one percenter, teleprompter-reading, party-line pushing establishment candidate.

If only he would 'tell in like it is' about his tax returns and wealthy donors... Transparency... riiight.

originally posted by: TheBulk
a reply to: MrSpad

None of this is going to work you know? You're likely just ensuring people vote for him?

None of what is going to work? Trumps own actions? Sure Trump has a cult like group that follows him and does not care what he says or does. However, as we have seen Trumps own words and actions have driven many many voters away. To point out Trumps own desperation save his campaign simply exposes him for what it he is.

Outside of the Trump Cult the biggest appeal of Trump candidacy was that, he was an outsider, not in the pockets of big donors or Wall Street. That he could do and say whatever he wanted. That he was anti establishment and because of that they were willing to ignore the racism, sexism, hate, divisiveness and sometimes out right insanity of Trump. Without his outsider status all you have left is a loud mouthed, bigoted, GOP poster boy with no experience and thin skin.

Trump is going to suffer one of the greatest election defeats in US history. If people want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that Trump is something different and the only reason he lost was because it was fixed, I am going to make sure we have a nice record of the real reasons.

a reply to: TheBulk

What do you imagine his agenda is?

Seems to me that the guy was running out of money. He claimed that his campaign was 'self-funded'
I'm not sure that that is/was completely true, but either way, the money HRC and others were spending to bash him was catching up and he was running low on funds.
It was only a matter of time before he had to take a hand out.
I don't mean to turn this in to a 'him vs her' but when it comes to from who and how they get their money and the fact that he tried to do it with own money in the beginning, Trump still has the moral high ground on this issue, I would say.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

They may have polished him up a bit but last week proved that the old how did you put it, rough talking? tell it like I see it Trump is still in there. Come on he's 70 for cripes sake. Does anybody think there's any flexibility in that guy?

At least Trump hasn't taken cash from ISIS and shipped weapons to our enemies like Clinton and Obama.

So whatever he wants to do should be just fine with you.

No?

Criminality and treason are only okay if you happen to support them first right?

a reply to: Sillyolme

I don't think he's flexible. I think he's an actor. Neither of the personas we've seen is really him.

OK we get the picture you want someone who probably has epilepsy,has seizures,often forgets where she is,cant walk up a flight of stairs and who is melting before our very eyes like the wicked witch whom it appears needs a permanent witch doctor to keep her vertical as president. If want all the you tube videos of my claims only too happy to oblige.

originally posted by: NoCorruptionAllowed
At least Trump hasn't taken cash from ISIS and shipped weapons to our enemies like Clinton and Obama.

So whatever he wants to do should be just fine with you.

No?

Criminality and treason are only okay if you happen to support them first right?

Now you do not know what Trump has done not do you? He is keeping it all hidden. Although the idea that Trump took money from or gave weapons to ISIS is as fantastical as Obama or Clinton doing it as well.

Still, makes you wonder what Trump is hiding does it not? I mean if crooked Hillary has her books open why not sweet honest Trump? Maybe it is nothing bad. Maybe he is just trying to win Politifacts liar of the year, two years in a row.

The system that is in place requires a ton of money to become president! I read somewhere at the end of the day it will end up costing $5 billion for the POTUS election. So considering Hillary is in bed with the banks, soros, and many foreign countries like the suadis, Trump has no choice but to fund raise! Fundraising and releasing taxes are not the same thing yet you correlate them as such!

Im waiting for Hillary to release her transcripts from her big bank speeches she was paid handsomely for!

What is interesting is how much Hillary has had to spend to even get the Democratic nomination (not even gonna mention the collusion with the DNC) and she will have to use her unlimited cash to win the presidency even with the lame stream media ignoring her deficiencies (crimes) and highlighting every single gaff from Trump.

it is hypocritical to bash a candidate for raising money unless off source your just a shill for said candidate!!!

originally posted by: khnum
OK we get the picture you want someone who probably has epilepsy,has seizures,often forgets where she is,cant walk up a flight of stairs and who is melting before our very eyes like the wicked witch whom it appears needs a permanent witch doctor to keep her vertical as president. If want all the you tube videos of my claims only too happy to oblige.

You can keep your You Tube, including the one that show people becoming lizard people. Both Clinton and Trumps have released medical assessments from their doctors and Clinton's also included lab work results. See some of have to deal with this election from the stand point of facts not fantasy.

a reply to: MrSpad

I am not a US citizen so I dont have blinkers on your choice is diahera or dysentry but I will state that I am fully cognicent of what forces dont want Trump President and the Fantasy is the outrageous media bias against Trump which to me makes him the better of two very ordinary choices

To have anykind of credibility, now Trump will be forced to debate Clinton. If he backs out like he did with Bernie he will be labeled as a chicken **** and who would want to fund one of those?

Sorry when you mention the word "transparency" and it comes from a progressive democrat I get flashbacks!

Trump, like him or not, will and has been a hell of a lot more transparent then Clinton! For gods sake she just did a press conference (amongst supporters) for the first time in like 200+ days and your complaining about Trumps transparency?

Clinton doesn't need to hide because she just get free passes all the way down the field!

originally posted by: sirlancelot
The system that is in place requires a ton of money to become president! I read somewhere at the end of the day it will end up costing $5 billion for the POTUS election. So considering Hillary is in bed with the banks, soros, and many foreign countries like the suadis, Trump has no choice but to fund raise! Fundraising and releasing taxes are not the same thing yet you correlate them as such!

Im waiting for Hillary to release her transcripts from her big bank speeches she was paid handsomely for!

What is interesting is how much Hillary has had to spend to even get the Democratic nomination (not even gonna mention the collusion with the DNC) and she will have to use her unlimited cash to win the presidency even with the lame stream media ignoring her deficiencies (crimes) and highlighting every single gaff from Trump.

it is hypocritical to bash a candidate for raising money unless off source your just a shill for said candidate!!!

See I covered this. All candidate do it but, one candidate made it a key to his campaign that he did not. That anybody that did was a puppet. So the only thing hypocritical is Trumps own words. In particular when he knew he would have to do this during the election. Lying his way through the primaries with a promise he knew and did break the second he got the nomination. And saying Clinton is in bed with banks and people Soros or Koch is just as true about Trump.

Although Trump has been bailed out by the Saudis long before he ran for office. I guess we just pretend he does not do a great deal of business in the Arab world eh? Billionaire Saudi Prince trolls Trump, ‘I bailed you out twice’

“Trump: You base your statements on photoshopped pics? I bailed you out twice; a 3rd time,maybe?”

The prince also included a link to a story showing that he was part of the group that bought New York City’s Plaza Hotel from Trump in 1995. As part of the deal, bin Talal paid off Trump’s debt on the hotel in what the New York Times newspaper said was “a defeat for the real estate developer.”

originally posted by: olaru12
To have anykind of credibility, now Trump will be forced to debate Clinton. If he backs out like he did with Bernie he will be labeled as a chicken **** and who would want to fund one of those?

LOL you have it backwards! Hillary is #ting her pants knowing she will have to debate Trump! She can't even do a press conference and the democratic debate was a joke! When Bernie gave Hillary a pass on her emails I knew the "FIX WAS IN"

originally posted by: olaru12
To have anykind of credibility, now Trump will be forced to debate Clinton. If he backs out like he did with Bernie he will be labeled as a chicken **** and who would want to fund one of those?

Well he says he wants the debates but wants to negotiate on the conditions. Trumps says he may seek conditions for debates The conditions which were agreed to last September between both parties. Which is the way they keep it fair. Trump of course says he wants changes, and likely if he does not get them he will not show. If he is still doing this badly in the polls then a debate could be a last hail Mary but, he sure does not seem confident about it.

originally posted by: sirlancelot

originally posted by: olaru12
To have anykind of credibility, now Trump will be forced to debate Clinton. If he backs out like he did with Bernie he will be labeled as a chicken **** and who would want to fund one of those?

LOL you have it backwards! Hillary is #ting her pants knowing she will have to debate Trump! She can't even do a press conference and the democratic debate was a joke! When Bernie gave Hillary a pass on her emails I knew the "FIX WAS IN"

Clinton is not the one wanting to do the debates with certain conditions. The debate conditions were agreed upon a year ago between the two parties. Trump does not seem like he wants them and is looking for an out.