Donald Trump’s campaign starts to cut costs as cash crisis hits
Donald Trump’s campaign is having to cut costs and aggressively seek out new funding as the Republican 2024 candidate confronts a cash crisis heading into the general election.
The former president, 77, faces the compounding issue of growing legal bills at the same time as a shortfall in donations to bankroll his bid to return to the White House.
Having seen off his last Republican rival, Nikki Haley, Mr Trump is now trying to address the glaring disparity his campaign faces with Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Mr Trump’s campaign had $30.5 million of cash, compared with Mr Biden’s $56 million, according to the latest financial disclosures.
Mr Trump hopes to win back the deep-pocketed GOP donors who bankrolled his Republican rivals, but some have expressed scepticism that the money could be used in part to foot Mr Trump’s legal bills.
On Friday, Mr Trump posted a nearly $92 million (£72 million) bond in the defamation case he lost to the writer E Jean Carroll after he denied sexually assaulting her.
Mr Trump also owes more than $455 million (£354 million) in a separate fraud case relating to his New York businesses.
His costs are only growing as he attempts to fight four criminal indictments, the first of which comes to trial later this month.
His main fundraising vehicle has already spent more than $50 million on legal expenses since last year, a significant cash-burn rate.
In 2019, his campaign collected $72 million in donations of $200 or less. But since launching his third White House bid in November 2022 and the end of last year, small donors have given just $27 million, according to data from the non-profit OpenSecrets.
Trump campaign insiders said they were cognisant of the problem and are finding creative ways to address it.
One insider suggested Mr Trump’s hallmark rallies could be scaled back to cut costs, while a meeting was recently organised between the former president, and Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and one of the world’s richest men.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s extraordinary ability to power his movement through small-dollar, grassroots donors appears to be waning.
Mr Trump has even begun to pay some of his legal bills from his own private fortune, according to some within his inner circle.
However, some conservative donors remain uninterested in bankrolling Mr Trump.
Eric Levine, a former Haley donor, said he would be focusing “all my attention on helping Republicans win back the Senate”.
Ken Griffin, who was the third-largest individual Republican donor in the 2020 presidential cycle, donated $5 million to support Mr Haley but has not given to Mr Trump.
Donor uncertainty
Mr Griffin has indicated he too will be focusing on the battle for control of Congress, rather than the White House race.
Four other significant donors to Ms Haley have ruled out donating to Mr Trump.
“I’m not going to write him a check for $50,000 when I don’t know where the hell it’s going – to lawyers or who knows what else,” one major California-based donor told Reuters, adding that other donors had said similar.
The cash crunch extends to the wider machinery of the Republican Party. The Republican National Committee (RNC) entered 2024 with nearly three-times less cash-on-hand than the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
However, with two Trump loyalists – including the former president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump – assuming leadership positions in the RNC on Friday, even the RNC’s coffers could in future be used to help cover Mr Trump’s legal costs.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden, as the incumbent Democratic candidate, has had the benefit of raising money in conjunction with the DNC.
The president’s senior campaign advisers have gleefully seized on the Republicans’ dilemma and planned a $30 million advertising blitz in battleground states to capitalise on the advantage.
Mr Biden has also embarked on a swing-state tour including Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan.
His campaign aides claim the president has amassed more than any other Democratic candidate in history at this point in the campaign, thanks in large part to a record-breaking grassroots operation.
Historic war chest
Jen O’Malley Dillon, longtime White House staffer and Mr Biden’s 2024 campaign chairman, said his re-election bid has a “historic war chest”, having raised nearly $280 million.
Following Mr Trump’s early lead in the GOP primary, Ms O’Malley Dillon said the Biden camp saw their strongest month in grassroots fundraising last month.
By contrast, she said, Mr Trump and the Republican Party were entering the general election race “cash-strapped and straddled with insurmountable costs”.
However, Mr Trump’s team remains optimistic Republican donors will return to the MAGA fold as the election nears.
Mr Trump has already received around $10 million from the banking heir Timothy Mellon.
Dan Eberhart, a former donor to Ron DeSantis who has returned to Mr Trump, said “a little spending discipline this time around is a good thing”.
But he added: “I expect the donors will be there when it counts. They may not like it, but they’ll show up. This is the White House we’re talking about. And there’s no other option on the table.”