During the Republican primary season, Donald Trump routinely railed against the influence of wealthy special interests in American politics and touted that his campaign was largely self-funded.
Remember, I am self-funding my campaign, the only one in either party. I'm not controlled by lobbyists or special interests-only the U.S.A.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2016
Remember, I am the only candidate who is self-funding. While I am given little credit for this by the voters, I am not bought like others!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 26, 2016
You might’ve noticed Trump hasn’t said or tweeted anything along those lines in a while. There’s a good reason for that — doing so these days would be highly hypocritical, especially in light of an event at Trump Tower that’s reportedly taking place on Thursday.
Trump claims to be worth $10 billion, but an analysis by Bloomberg found he’s actually worth well less than half that. Earlier this week, Mark Cuban said his look into Trump’s latest campaign finance filings led him to the conclusion that Trump is in serious financial trouble.
https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/740555302093754368
https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/740555586958295041
https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/740558813825105920
So instead of self-financing a general election campaign he estimates will cost upwards of $1 billion, Trump has teamed with the Republication National Committee to put together a more traditional fundraising operation relying on the same wealthy donors he once criticized establishment politicians for taking money from.
Beyond his partnership with the RNC, Trump is reportedly courting wealthy potential donors more directly. The Daily Beast reports that on Thursday, “Donald Trump will assemble a group of high-powered lobbyists… so they can pitch him on their special interests behind closed doors at Trump Tower.”
“The ‘Trump Leadership Council,’ as it has been dubbed, was formed to provide the presumptive Republican nominee with guidance on various industries,” the Daily Beast adds. “Thursday’s multi-hour meeting will include whirlwind rounds of presentations by America’s powerful defense, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and commerce industries, according to a source involved with planning the meeting.”
Rather than railing against the role of special interests and lobbyists in politics, Trump now seeks to burnish his outsider credentials by discussing the “rigged” political system he overcome by winning enough votes to become the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. For instance, during his speech Tuesday night, Trump said, “To all those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms. We can’t fix a rigged system by relying on, and I mean this so strongly, on the very people who rigged it.”
While he’s no longer openly disdainful of special interests and lobbyists, Trump is still maintaining that he’s at least less reliant on them than other presidential candidates historically have been. During an interview with Bloomberg this week, Trump downplayed how much money he’d have to raise to run an effective campaign.
“I just don’t think I need nearly as much money as other people need because I get so much publicity,” Trump said. “I get so many invitations to be on television. I get so many interviews, if I want them.”
But there have been recent indications that television coverage of Trump is becoming tougher than it was during the primary. If that continues, Trump may face the choice of fulfilling Cuban’s prediction by becoming even more reliant on the special interests he once decried, or perhaps following through on a suggestion one of his spokespeople recently floated to sell some of his real estate in order to raise money.