Donald Trump’s money concerns are closely watched in the United States, because the campaign coffers often determine the winner of the election. However, the meaning of gambling may change in these elections, writes ‘s US correspondent Iida Tikka.
Iida TikkaYhdysvaltain correspondent
WASHINGTON. In an election year, there is one thing that interests American political circles more than anything else, and that is money. Especially how much money With Donald Trump is, which sometimes leads to inaccurate reporting.
Another example of this was seen on Monday, when Trump’s financial problems were in the headlines.
Trump’s social media platform Truth Social lost 21 percent of its value in a day as the stock price plunged just a few days after listing on the stock exchange. At the same time, the shares owned by Trump lost their value by a couple of billions.
The incident was widely reported and made into a joke by late-night entertainment show hosts.
All of a sudden it sounds like Trump has lost a lot of money. In reality, Trump has only lost his hypothetical value, which was originally just an estimate of Truth Social’s value.
Trump cannot sell his shares due to stock exchange rules for six months, so only then can he really say he lost or made money.
So it’s possibly a storm in a teacup. So why make such a big news about the subject?
One reason is the importance of money in American politics. Another, more uncomfortable reason, however, is the wishful thinking of liberal Americans.
Trump’s wealth is being watched especially closely right now because personal money issues directly affect the size of Trump’s campaign coffers.
These money problems are primarily due to Trump’s legal fees and fines that Trump has already been ordered to pay. Trump’s lawyers are estimated to have used only lawyers so far 76 million dollars for salariesand not all trials have even begun.
In addition, Trump has already had to pay $175 million in bail to a New York court when further proceedings are held on the final fine amount. A New York court originally ordered Trump to pay $454 million in fines in a fraud case in which Trump was found to have defrauded banks to get better loan terms.
These numbers are absurdly large and don’t really say anything by themselves. But if they are compared to, for example, the price of the last presidential election, the picture becomes a little clearer.
Campaign finance to follow According to the Open Secrets organization Trump’s total funding for the 2020 campaign was well over one billion dollars.
In the event that Trump ends up having to pay New York nearly $500 million in fines, it would have a huge impact on campaign funds. So if it is assumed that Trump would be able to pay his legal expenses directly from the campaign fund by using various loopholes.
Then, for example, everyone’s Bibles, sneakers and books sold by Trump the proceeds would first go to legal expenses and only then to advertising space, travel expenses and campaign workers’ salaries.
Traditionally, US elections are won by a candidate, who has more money. This happened, for example, in 2020, when Joe Biden beat Trump handily in fundraising.
This is why many of Trump’s opponents vent whenever Trump’s economic woes worsen. For them, counting sums of money increases the feeling of security that Trump’s path to the presidency will become significantly more difficult as the stack of bills grows.
The biggest challenge for both candidates in the fall rematch is to get voters moving. If Biden wins overwhelmingly in advertising and in the number of campaign workers, it will be easier for the Democrats.
But on the other hand, Trump won the 2016 election, despite finishing second in fundraising to Hillary Clinton. It has been attributed to the free media attention Trump received and the fact that Clinton was not popular with voters. Biden is also unpopular in opinion polls.
Besides, Trump’s take on the Republican Party is so tight-lipped that money worries don’t primarily concern his campaign.
Trump has done a special agreement with the Republican Party, which directs money given by major donors to Republicans first to Trump’s legal fees and campaign committee, then to the party. It means that Trump will have significantly more money at his disposal in the future than the normal distribution of money would accumulate for a presidential candidate.
The biggest losers in the scenario are the other Republican politicians, to whom the party office has less money to distribute. Elections are also held in the House of Representatives and the Senate – and they are impossibly expensive at every level.
Watch the video below to see how Trump comments on the trial where he is accused of using campaign money to pay off a porn star.