Based on the financial filings made public yesterday by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), it now appears certain that the Donald Trump campaign is going to be destroyed by Hillary Clinton when the votes are counted in November.
In May, the Trump camp reported they raised $3.1 million and had $1.3 million on hand to spend. Clinton’s campaign raised $26.4 million in May, and now has $42.5 million on hand. Clinton already has anti-Trump ads up and running in key markets across the country. As recently as Saturday of last week, Trump was sending out an email begging supporters to help him raise a mere $100,000 so he could try to counter with his own ads.
But money is only part of the story. Trump also has a mere 70 campaign employees. Clinton has over 700. That kind of decided advantage is critical even though the election is five months away.
Additionally, the FEC filing made by Trump’s campaign raises some interesting questions about whether or not the real estate mogul is merely using funds meant for the campaign to enrich himself. For example, the disclosure shows the campaign paid $423,371 for the use of Trump’s Florida mansion, Mar-A-Lago. And it also has a separate item which notes Trump receives a salary of $2,574 a month, which is listed as “payroll.” Why does a billionaire draw a salary while running for President?
The numbers from the Trump campaign are even small when compared to those released by members of the House of Representatives who are running for reelection. Consider these House members and their cash on hand: Peter King (R-N.Y.) had $3 million, Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) reported $2.2 million, Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) each reported about $1.8 million, and Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) had $1.4 million.
There is an old saying in the political world which goes like this: Money is the mother’s milk of any campaign. If that is indeed true, and if it’s a predictor of how a race will turn out, Trump could indeed be looking at losing by the largest margin in American history.
Featured Image Via BBC.com
