It is well known that money is the key to war. Antiphon which also applies during the presidential election, for which the race to raise funds continues across the Atlantic. And between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the gap is widening. The President of the United States confirms his advance.
According to information from our colleagues at New York Timesthe outgoing candidate’s campaign closed the month of January with nearly 56 million dollars, compared to some 30 million for the campaign of the MAGA cantor (for Make America Great Again, campaign slogan used by Ronald Reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign and adopted by Donald Trump).
Already on the eve of New Year’s Eve, 13 million dollars separated the coffers of the campaign accounts of the two rivals. But while donations flowed to the Biden camp, which ended the year with $46 million, Trump’s campaign accounts fell by $3 million. In addition, the balance for the month of January turns out to be negative. Only $8.8 million was raised, and $11.4 million spent.
Trump, deprived for the moment of the Republican National Committee
To understand this discrepancy, two elements must be taken into account. First of all, unlike Joe Biden, Donald Trump does not benefit from the support of his party’s National Committee. However, these organs are real machines for generating donations. The outgoing president is said to have collected nearly $42 million in January from support committees through the Democratic National Committee which quickly lined up behind his candidacy.
In contrast to Donald Trump, who thus finds himself deprived of a collection in tandem with the Republican National Committee, which this Tuesday, February 20, indicated that it had 8.7 million dollars at the end of January. In addition, her main competitor in the Republican primaries, Nikki Haley is still in the race, and managed to raise significant funds in January even though she lost the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. In total, 11.5 million dollars which will not go into the coffers of Donald Trump’s campaign.
Proof, for Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Joe Biden’s campaign director, that fundraising is an “undeniable show of force to start the election year”. He argued: “As the Biden-Harris team continues to build its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either they spend money to fight Donald Trump or they spend money to support Donald Trump’s extremist and losing agenda.”
Campaign accounts weighed down by legal costs
Another possible explanation: the legal costs of Donald Trump, entangled in no less than four legal cases, which amount to millions of dollars, and weigh on his campaign accounts. According to the documents consulted by our colleagues at New York Times, its support committees reportedly spent no less than $50 million in legal fees last year. Astronomical amounts, likely to increase as the Republican candidate prepares for possible trials in 2024.
It was the PAC Save America support committee that was notably used to pay his legal costs. According to a report consulted by the New York Times, the group would have spent nearly 3 million dollars in this regard in January. $1.8 million also remains to be paid to Donald Trump’s lawyers.
Because while waiting for support from the Republican National Committee, several organizations are managing fundraising for Donald Trump’s campaign. This is also the case for MAGA Inc., or the Trump Save America Joint Fund-Raising Committee, which did not file a declaration on Tuesday. Latest figures published, those for the second half of 2023: the committee would have collected $75.2 million, but at the same time would have spent $77.3 million, ending the year with $3.6 million in cash.