While the re-election effort for President Donald Trump is now in high gear, it appears that top officials in the 2020 Trump campaign are very worried by the anemic fundraising totals they’ve been able to reach so far.
As Gabriel Sherman notes in Vanity Fair, the financial picture looks bleak for the Trump 2020 campaign so far:
According to sources, Trump campaign officials are sounding the alarm over the president’s early fund-raising hauls. Trump’s son Don Jr. has privately warned donors that Trump only raised around $30 million in the last quarter, and pointed out that the number fell far short of the roughly $45 million Barack Obama raised in the second quarter of 2011 for his 2012 re-election bid, according to a source briefed on the conversations
A top donor admitted that the situation is dire:
“They need more money, and there’s no enthusiasm. They need to amp it up. Wall Street never liked Trump from the beginning. Goldman is filled with people who were Obama fund-raisers.”
It also appears that the reason so many donors are tepid in their reaction to the president, the only person to blame is Trump himself:
Sources say the anemic fundraising is being driven by several factors. The biggest is Trump himself:
Trump’s shambolic governing style and endless tweeting are exhausting donors. “There’s Trump fatigue,” the longtime Republican donor told me. “The 2020 bumper sticker should be: ‘Same Policies, but We Promise Less Crazy.’” Then there’s Trump’s difficult re-election pathway. According to a source, some donors aren’t stepping up because Trump’s numbers in must-win states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin continue to disappoint.
And many donors feel they’re either being ignored or taken for granted by the Trump 2020 campaign:
Simply put, donors feel ignored. “There’s no follow-through,” said a donor who’s interacted with the campaign. “They don’t return favors,” another donor said. One former administration official said some donors are upset at the slow pace of confirming ambassadorships and political appointments. “Donors are not being taken care of,” the official said. “All these people were supposed to be ambassadors by now, but they’ve been slow-rolled. Trump is furious.”
All of this does not bode well for an already historically unpopular president who cannot seem to get his approval ratings above the low 40s. Another factor could be fear on the part of donors that Trump is already so politically damaged that he cannot possibly win, no matter who the Democrats nominate.
So while Trump may be saying on Twitter that he’s confident he’ll be re-elected next year, the numbers — at least at this point — don’t exactly look favorable.
Featured Image Via Fox News
