By now, we all know that Trump’s hair-on-fire emails soliciting donations to fund windmill-tilting lawsuits based on groundless claims of election fraud are just another Trump grift. According to the fine print of the fundraising site, 60 percent of all donations go toward servicing Trump’s campaign debt.
But a closer look at the fine print on the fundraising site reveals that the RNC is in on the scam as well (emphasis mine).
Contributions to TMAGAC made by an Individual/Federal Multicandidate Political Committee will be allocated according to the following formula:
60% to DJTP for deposit in DJTP’s 2020 General Election Account for the retirement of general election debt (up to a maximum of $2,800/$5,000) or, if such debt has been retired or any portion of the contribution would exceed the limit to the 2020 General Election Account, for deposit in DJTP’s Recount Account (up to a maximum of $2,800/$5,000); 40% to the RNC’s Operating account (up to a maximum of $35,500/$15,000); and any additional funds to the RNC for deposit in the RNC’s Legal Proceedings account or Headquarters account (up to a maximum of $213,000/$90,000).
If I’m reading this right, Trump takes 60 percent of any donations to the “Election Defense Fund” in order to service his campaign debt. Then the RNC takes most, if not all, of the remaining 40 percent and places it in its “operating account.”
In other words, Ronna McDaniel and the RNC are in on a blatant attempt on Trump’s part to swindle his donors. They’re being led to believe they’re funding lawsuits, when they’re actually lining the pockets of the Trump campaign and the RNC.
If I were a Democratic lawyer involved in these ridiculous lawsuits, I’d pound on the fine print in this fundraising campaign. There’s no way in hell this is legal—to my non-lawyer’s mind, this sounds like a fraud upon the court. And in the off chance it is legal, it’s wrong—and the blue team needs to tie this around the Repubs’ necks.
There were already myriad reasons why any Republican with an iota of decency must denounce this Trump gambit as an outrageous attack on democracy. Well, add another to the list.