"A Lot of Money Was Spent When Voters Weren't Paying Attention."

September 8, 2020 11:47 AM

How Trump's Billion-Dollar Campaign Lost Its Cash Advantage (SLNYT) In which the Trump campaign makes a $1 million ad buy in Washington, DC, spends $6 million for 'donor mementos,' and pays $4 million to Trump-owned businesses, $21 million in legal fees, and $39 million to consulting firms linked to former campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Following the publication of this story, Trump says (Politico) he'll spend his own money on his campaign if he has to, and WaPo columnist Paul Waldman wonders whether he has enough cash on hand to do it. Trump loaned (Politico) his campaign $43.5 million of his own money in 2016.

posted by box (67 comments total)

It was too long for the post title, but I also enjoyed this quote from veteran Republican campaigner Ed Rollins: “If you spend $800 million and you’re 10 points behind, I think you’ve got to answer the question ‘What was the game plan?’”
posted by box at 11:49 AM on September 8, 2020 [18 favorites]

box: To grift, of course.
posted by SansPoint at 11:58 AM on September 8, 2020 [50 favorites]

Cults are never very good with the money handling.
posted by benzenedream at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2020 [11 favorites]

Another Trump-pleasing expense: more than $1 million in ads aired in the Washington, D.C., media market, a region that is not likely to be competitive in the fall but where the president, a famously voracious television consumer, resides.

And where an awful lot of the viewing audience are federal employees in Maryland and NoVa who hate his guts. Nice move!
posted by gimonca at 12:04 PM on September 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

His ability to fuck up everything he touches in breathtaking.
posted by Frayed Knot at 12:04 PM on September 8, 2020 [23 favorites]

$1 million ad buy in Washington, DC

Man, that money couldn't have been worse spent if they'd just set it on fire. They're not competitive in DC no matter how much money they pour into it. They're not gonna win Maryland either. They might, almost, if the Democrats fuck up horribly somehow, get Virginia, but they're not getting it out of the DC suburbs (and if Virginia's in play, things are much, much worse than we imagined).
posted by jackbishop at 12:04 PM on September 8, 2020 [10 favorites]

One of the distinguishing features of trumpism is its self-destructiveness. If only they weren't trying to take the rest of us with them.
posted by adamrice at 12:15 PM on September 8, 2020 [15 favorites]

“If you spend $800 million and you’re 10 points behind, I think you’ve got to answer the question ‘What was the game plan?’”

See, any worthwhile ad man would retort, "If you hadn't spent that money (with us), how many points do you think you would have been behind by?"
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:33 PM on September 8, 2020 [21 favorites]

Trump says ... he'll spend his own money on his campaign if he has to

I'll believe that when I see it. And after four-plus years, it's high time the so-called "elite political press" recognized that Trump says he'll do a lot of things that he never does, as well.

(If memory serves me correctly, AP style used to discourage the use of the word "claimed," as it implies skepticism, but that word seems perfectly cromulent and justified for use regarding Trump. "Trump claims he'll spend his own money on his campaign if he has to" is much better.)
posted by Gelatin at 12:37 PM on September 8, 2020 [18 favorites]

“If you spend $800 million...”

Yeah, but it’s OPM. Other People’s Money. This is the lofty heights and true end game of high finance, where financial acumen is indistinguishable from grift.

If you can blow through $800 million of OPM but manage to direct even a few percent of that into your own pockets along the way, it’s a hell of a success, as any hedge fund manager or vulture capitalist could tell you.
posted by darkstar at 12:43 PM on September 8, 2020 [16 favorites]

To grift, of course.

[Miracle Max inflates Trump's chest with a bellows.]
Miracle Max: Hey! Hello in there. Hey! What's so important? What you got here that's worth living for? [presses on Trump's chest to force the air back out]
Trump: [faintly] Tooooooo... griiiiiiiifffftttt...
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:45 PM on September 8, 2020 [43 favorites]

The DC ad spends have an audience of one: making sure Donnie sees that they're working on his campaign.

I don't think he's getting the message, spend all the money there and anywhere near his golf courses. That's sure to get his attention.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:45 PM on September 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

Maybe that's what the $156,000 for aerial banners was for.
posted by box at 12:48 PM on September 8, 2020

Just to re-emphasize: these last four years, so disastrous for the country, have been a resounding success for Trump on every metric he actually values.

He’s made out financially, gained the adoration of millions, has been the center of attention on television and the Internet, will have his every utterance listened to for the rest of his life, and can forever claim to have been the leader of (arguably) the most powerful country on earth.

For a guy who never really wanted the job, everything turned out supremely well for him.
posted by darkstar at 12:49 PM on September 8, 2020 [69 favorites]

LOL I saw one of his banners down here in NE Florida yesterday.
posted by saladin at 12:51 PM on September 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

The DC ad spends have an audience of one: making sure Donnie sees that they're working on his campaign.

This makes me wonder. . . have we seen any photos of what the INSIDE of the white house perimeter wall looks like?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:59 PM on September 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

these last four years, so disastrous for the country, have been a resounding success for Trump on every metric he actually values

Which is why it's even more vitally important that Trump's crimes in office and before are vigorously prosecuted by state and Federal authorities. Because "staying out of jail" is also a metric he values, I'm sure.
posted by Gelatin at 1:08 PM on September 8, 2020 [40 favorites]

For a guy who never really wanted the job, everything turned out supremely well for him.

Unless you factor in the legal troubles and shady deals that lit up on the radar after be became president which might still catch up with him after he's out out office. He wouldn't be under this many investigations if he'd stayed out of this level of spotlight.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:10 PM on September 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

Unless you factor in the legal troubles

I guarantee you most of those troubles will go away as soon as he leaves office, "because we don't want to set a bad precedent" and "it's important we all move on with the important work ahead".
posted by aramaic at 1:18 PM on September 8, 2020 [58 favorites]

"Trump says ... he'll spend his own money on his campaign if he has to..."

Where's Old Man Fred when Donnie needs him, to have a guy walk into his failing casino, buy three million in chips, and walk out again?
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:19 PM on September 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

Where's Old Man Fred when Donnie needs him, to have a guy walk into his failing casino, buy three million in chips, and walk out again?

Москва.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:20 PM on September 8, 2020 [17 favorites]

I guarantee you most of those troubles will go away as soon as he leaves office, "because we don't want to set a bad precedent" and "it's important we all move on with the important work ahead".

I'm sure the David Brookses of the world are already warming up their rehashes of the same lines from the end of the George W. Bush administration and its attendant financial catastrophe, but I doubt many Democratic politicians have many illusions that their voters are not in a forgiving mood at all.

Letting Trump and his lackeys get away with nearly wrecking our democracy is what'll set a bad precedent. And even if the Federal government does nothing, states will have to line up behind New York to prosecute him.
posted by Gelatin at 1:22 PM on September 8, 2020 [16 favorites]

I guarantee you most of those troubles will go away as soon as he leaves office, "because we don't want to set a bad precedent" and "it's important we all move on with the important work ahead".

We have to win, first, before legal action becomes an option. He's managed to delay court cases past election day, and Republicans don't care about getting dirty to win elections.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:24 PM on September 8, 2020 [8 favorites]

Letting Trump and his lackeys get away with nearly wrecking our democracy is what'll set a bad precedent. And even if the Federal government does nothing, states will have to line up behind New York to prosecute him.

Things that should scare the shit out of Trump: Double jeopardy doesn't apply to different states prosecuting for the same crime.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:25 PM on September 8, 2020 [10 favorites]

he'll spend his own money

Thus the trending of "Deutsch Bank" earlier today on Twitter.
posted by soundguy99 at 1:30 PM on September 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

I guarantee you most of those troubles will go away as soon as he leaves office,

Yeah of course, but he's got far more than your average president, and they don't all rely on Democrats enacting them.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:34 PM on September 8, 2020

It turns out when you're surrounded by grifters and down 10 points, they see the writing on the wall and try to extract as much money as possible before the party's over.

The party operatives who would normally get in the way - because they care about down-ballot races if nothing else - never had any influence in the campaign to begin with.
posted by allegedly at 1:38 PM on September 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

Money was spent? Are we sure of that? My guess is that it went into Trump's pockets.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:52 PM on September 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

“I’ve been involved in a number of cults, both a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader.” -Creed Bratton
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:06 PM on September 8, 2020 [30 favorites]

I don't know what the future holds, but I would confidently bet everything my wife and I own that one way or another, Trump will never see the inside of a jail cell. If nothing else he'll be able to run out the clock with appeals and every other legal stalling tactic that the law provides for rich and powerful people until he dies. But it probably won't even come to that.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:25 PM on September 8, 2020 [8 favorites]

“If you spend $800 million and you’re 10 points behind, I think you’ve got to answer the question ‘What was the game plan?’”

When are people going to realize that HE DOESN'T HAVE A GAME PLAN?? He's a cognitively-deteriorating narcissist, who, as stated in TFA, only bought the Super Bowl ad time because it fed his narcissism. Sorry for the all caps; I am beyond tired of people minimizing his behavior and trying to assume that his only problem is that he's not acting presidential.
posted by Melismata at 2:27 PM on September 8, 2020 [14 favorites]

I guarantee you most of those troubles will go away as soon as he leaves office, "because we don't want to set a bad precedent" and "it's important we all move on with the important work ahead".

I really hope that, if there is a Biden administration, they realize that the usual Rich Evil Guy bargain won't work here. I commit war crimes and steal some money, you commit war crimes and steal some money, we all make some money when we leave office, it's all good. The deal is contingent on the outgoing incumbent shutting up when they leave office and taking the suitcase full of cash. Trump is intrinsically incapable of living up to this kind of deal. He is guaranteed to be inciting assassinations via Twitter the minute he leaves office. I hope enough people realize this and decide to stick the knife in as soon as he can't pardon himself and his family.
posted by benzenedream at 2:46 PM on September 8, 2020 [12 favorites]

This makes me wonder. . . have we seen any photos of what the INSIDE of the white house perimeter wall looks like?

You don't suppose
I use too many photographs
of myself, do ya?

No! No!
It worked for the Ayatollah.
posted by krisjohn at 3:00 PM on September 8, 2020

Why is there so much talk as if this race is over?
posted by asra at 3:08 PM on September 8, 2020 [15 favorites]

Is Biden spending any money? I've seen nothing. I do try to avoid seeing anything so there is that but normally I am much less successful at it than this year.
posted by srboisvert at 3:22 PM on September 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's not clear how important money is to presidential campaigns anymore, now that politics has become so polarized.

Clinton outspent Trump in 2016, by nearly 2 to 1, and (obvi) lost. And Jeb!, widely considered the candidate to beat in the 2016 Republican Primaries, spent 130 million to get humiliated (although he did not have to ask the consultants or the tv stations to Please Clap, they were having a great time on his donor's millions).

So Trump might have burned his cash already, but will it matter? I doubt it.
posted by dis_integration at 3:33 PM on September 8, 2020 [6 favorites]

Why is there so much talk as if this race is over?

It's a good question. If rulings like Citizens United and non-profit groups like the NRA make it easy to launder cash in support of Trump, is it as important to fundraise directly as it once was? Obviously, it isn't not important, just that Trump and Republicans have a lot of secret sources to draw upon indirectly, generally.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:02 PM on September 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

Is Biden spending any money? I've seen nothing.

Any presidential candidate spending money in your ad market is pure weaponized dipshittium. All you (or I, here in western NY) are gonna see are the national ads. I've seen reports anyway of Biden doing substantial ad buys in swing states and the next round of on-the-offensive states like GA.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:30 PM on September 8, 2020 [6 favorites]

Is Biden spending any money?

We see Biden ads here in Indy pretty regularly now. They’re pretty straightforward, reassuring ads that also outright call Trump a failure. They very much have the tone of “I know. You regret your mistake. Just vote for me and we’ll get through this mess and rebuild for the better.” They’re definitely aimed at the republicans who are fed up with the crazy.

To be honest, Biden running any ads in Indiana means they must feel there’s actually a chance here. That in itself is pretty striking.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:24 PM on September 8, 2020 [17 favorites]

FWIW, I think I’ve seen one lone Trump ad so far.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:29 PM on September 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

I see Biden ads constantly whenever I watch a free streaming service like Pluto TV in both English and Spanish. I live in Southern Arizona fwiw.
posted by nestor_makhno at 5:40 PM on September 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

Under Mr. Parscale, more than $350 million — almost half of the $800 million spent — went to fund-raising operations, as no expense was spared in finding new donors online.

Sure smells like a lot of burning cash.

On one hand, it doesn't sounds too bad if you phrase it as 'for every dollar we spend, we profit two' (750million in the piggy bank once you've spend the online donor outreach) but if Biden (and I assume the Republicans) can make a call and ask a plurality of donors for at least $720k each, then how much of that donor outreach is actually covering it's own costs?
posted by Static Vagabond at 5:58 PM on September 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

Why is there so much talk as if this race is over?
posted by asra at 6:08 PM on September 8

This, and this, and this again. I can only speak as a Canadian but the second scariest thing I can imagine this fall is a complacent American left. I literally beg you, don't take this for granted.
posted by ZaphodB at 6:20 PM on September 8, 2020 [6 favorites]

My favorite petty bit of this whole grift is this:

Among the first changes implemented was shutting down an ad campaign that used Mr. Parscale’s personal social media accounts to deliver pro-Trump ads. More than $800,000 had been poured into boosting Mr. Parscale’s Facebook and Instagram pages; those ads ceased the day after he was removed as campaign manager.

What an amazing scam, to use campaign funds to boost your own personal brand.

It also reminded me of this Lincoln Project ad about Parscale that seemed to be aimed at an audience of one: Trump. Driving a little wedge aimed right at Parscale's getting rich and mildly famous off his role in the campaign. It seems to have worked, it must have helped speed along getting him fired.
posted by Nelson at 6:35 PM on September 8, 2020 [7 favorites]

pure weaponized dipshittium

this is a glorious phrase and I thank you for it.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:50 PM on September 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

Looks like most of that war chest went right into Trump's pockets. Buried in the article:

Many of the specifics of Mr. Trump’s spending are opaque; since 2017, the campaign and the R.N.C. have routed $227 million through a single limited liability company linked to Trump campaign officials. That firm, American Made Media Consultants, has been used to place television and digital ads and was the subject of a recent Federal Election Commission complaint arguing it was used to disguise the final destination of spending, which has included paychecks to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the partners of Mr. Trump’s two adult sons.

Regarding the possibility of Trump putting his own money into the campaign, as somebody on Twitter wrote: without his tax returns, how can we know?
posted by cheshyre at 7:20 PM on September 8, 2020 [9 favorites]

We almost never get national political ads, but we've been seeing plenty of Trump ads lately...in Hawaii. We live in Hawaii. Where the Trump campaign is spending money.
posted by entropyiswinning at 9:55 PM on September 8, 2020 [7 favorites]

I see lots of Trump ads atop my yahoo mail inbox, and also on the Worldometers COVID pages. I only see Biden ads in my Facebook feed. I guess Facebook has figured out my political alignment. What a surprise.
posted by Windopaene at 10:02 PM on September 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yesterday for some reason the adblock on my browser was off for a few minutes, and I saw a Trump ad online. Like a picture ad, a still pic, not even a gif. It was a photo of the Hoover dam, with the river behind it labeled "Socialism" in Impact/meme font, and the Hoover dam was labeled "Trump", and the little annex of buildings in front of the dam was labeled "you". That was it.

It was such a simple, really too simple ad? But effective, no doubt, to its target demographic. I wish I could see what Biden's doing in a similar vein. I live in NY state and I never see anything from either party.
posted by MiraK at 11:34 PM on September 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

I get the part about how socialism drives the turbines that would provide power to the nation, but I'm not sure how Trump as a dam fits into the picture.
posted by straight at 12:48 AM on September 9, 2020 [16 favorites]

The Hoover Dam? The dam built by the WPA? The dam that is a lasting monument to the New Deal? That's what is holding back socialism? Clearly I'm too stupid to understand political symbolism.
posted by rdr at 2:22 AM on September 9, 2020 [30 favorites]

More likely: not stupid enough.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:41 AM on September 9, 2020 [16 favorites]

Metafilter: Not Stupid Enough.
posted by Paladin1138 at 3:46 AM on September 9, 2020 [8 favorites]

Trump family motto, it's gotta be on that fake coat of arms they whipped up that time:
"A.B.G."
Always
Be
Grifting
Trump campaign lost money? No, none of that money was lost - someone got a cushion to sit on for the rest of their life.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:54 AM on September 9, 2020

Ack...It's too early in the morning for accuracy. The Hoover Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation and the PWA, not the WPA.
posted by rdr at 4:01 AM on September 9, 2020 [6 favorites]

Biden ads are fairly frequent on Twin Cities broadcast TV right now (which covers significant areas of rural Minnesota as well as the metro). Trump ads are frequent, too, but I've only seen the one "chaos in the streets" ad running over and over from the Trump campaign.

It's interesting to see the Trump 'chaos' ad being followed right away by a Biden ad saying 'Trump's fanning the flames, he's a big part of the problem'.

Trump's ad name-checks Ilhan Omar as well, ignoring that she just blew away her extremely well-funded primary opponent by 20 points or so. People in this TV market--even if they don't live in the 5th congressional district (city of Minneapolis and some adjacent areas)--have been swamped with anti-Ilhan-Omar TV ads all summer. What effect this will have outstate, don't know, but in the city it juiced up the base vote on the left in a big way. Long story short, Trump attacking Ilhan in local ads is probably a bad idea for him; the net effect is probably more DFL base vote turnout in the city.
posted by gimonca at 5:30 AM on September 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

I live in Massachusetts, and whenever I go to some national web sites like shopping for clothes, I get these weird surveys: "Vote for Trump! Are you going to vote for Trump? Please click the yes or no button. Paid for by the committee to re-elect Trump."

He's showing people videos of chaos and riots, saying "I can stop them, and my opponent can't." Are people really not aware that he's president now?
posted by Melismata at 5:55 AM on September 9, 2020 [4 favorites]

...Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican strategist who runs a small pro-Trump super PAC, and who accused Mr. Parscale of spending “like a drunken sailor.”

*Reflects back a few weeks to the Steve Bannon yacht arrest story*. I mean.... it's entirely possible he's being quite literal with that quote. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen this campaign this week.

Also, wonder what Metafilter's fair share of that $1.1B is if we put our collective grifting hats on...
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:02 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mr. Trump filed for re-election on the day of his inauguration — earlier than any other modern president — betting that the head start would deliver him a decisive financial advantage this year.

Bullshit. He did it so that he didn't have to stop the automatic monthly donations that his campaign had swindled people into signing up for. No different than all those shady "first month is free, cancel any time" offers since they know that once they've got your credit card and it's setup for automatic billing, you'll likely forget about it for a while and the money can keep rolling in.
posted by VTX at 12:23 PM on September 9, 2020 [9 favorites]

“If you spend $800 million and you’re 10 points behind, I think you’ve got to answer the question ‘What was the game plan?’”, said Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican strategist who runs a small pro-Trump super PAC, and who accused Mr. Parscale of spending “like a drunken sailor.”

...

Mr. Trump, who once joked he could be the first candidate to make money running for president, has steered, along with the Republican Party, about $4 million into the Trump family businesses since 2019: hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr. Trump’s club at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, lavish donor retreats at Trump hotels, office space in Trump Tower, and thousands of dollars at the steakhouse in Mr. Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel.

Many of the specifics of Mr. Trump’s spending are opaque; since 2017, the campaign and the R.N.C. have routed $227 million through a single limited liability company linked to Trump campaign officials. That firm, American Made Media Consultants, has been used to place television and digital ads and was the subject of a recent Federal Election Commission complaint arguing it was used to disguise the final destination of spending, which has included paychecks to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the partners of Mr. Trump’s two adult sons.

Millions more followed to firms tied to R.N.C. and Trump-linked officials, including more than $39 million to two firms, Parscale Strategy LLC and Giles-Parscale, controlled by Mr. Parscale since the beginning of 2017.

Well I guess that's the answer to your question, Mr. Veteran Republican Strategist.
posted by egypturnash at 12:35 PM on September 9, 2020 [5 favorites]

Is Biden spending any money?

I've seen ads for both campaigns on youtube. I should probably fix the pi-hole soon.
posted by pwnguin at 1:43 PM on September 9, 2020 [3 favorites]

In Illinois I see no ads, but usually don’t because we have been solid blue for so long. Apart from ads for a tax referendum on the ballot this year I haven’t seen anything on local races yet either even watching the network news live on a tv. I’ve always felt awful for those of you in swing states that see ads all the time leading up to an election.
posted by Bunglegirl at 1:51 PM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

He's showing people videos of chaos and riots, saying "I can stop them, and my opponent can't." Are people really not aware that he's president now?

Well, it's technically true though. Trump can stop the riots pretty quickly by resigning. On the other hand, no amount of resigning from the office of the presidency by Biden will stop the riots. Weak!
posted by pwnguin at 1:52 PM on September 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Well, it's technically true though. Trump can stop the riots pretty quickly by resigning. On the other hand, no amount of resigning from the office of the presidency by Biden will stop the riots. Weak!

this is huge derail, but the BLM protests have nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with a status quo acceptance of the murder of black folks that traverses both parties. These protests won’t stop because Biden is elected, they’ll stop when police stop indiscriminate murder.
posted by dis_integration at 4:33 PM on September 9, 2020 [18 favorites]

He's showing people videos of chaos and riots, saying "I can stop them, and my opponent can't." Are people really not aware that he's president now?

It's the same principle when you see an ad for a new television where they show some vibrant multi-coloured visual image on the new television while you're currently watching it on your old television and your mind thinks "Wow! Those vibrant colours I need to upgrade!"
posted by PenDevil at 1:56 AM on September 10, 2020

Why is there so much talk as if this race is over?

I think its a tempting conclusion in the absence of any evidence that LITERALLY ANYTHING could change peoples opinions of who should be president.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:37 AM on September 11, 2020

I was vastly amused and genuinely baffled upon seeing trump ads in the Washington Post of all places. Maybe it's because I occasionally click their left baiting token conservatives insanity to see the enemies fig leaves
posted by Jacen at 7:40 AM on September 12, 2020