Donald Trump takes every opportunity to remind the world just how rich he is. He’s a billionaire and a negotiator who hopes to Make America Great Again. Unfortunately for Trump, the media is abuzz over his terribly disorganized campaign. Not only has he suddenly swapped campaign managers, but it appears that his finances are in terrible disarray. This matters because Trump — who doesn’t have political experience — can only currently be assessed through his business prowess. When he can’t get his finances together, the man has nothing to highlight his greatness for the American people. And if he cannot manage his own bank account, what will he do for the country?
How bad is the problem? His presidential campaign is looking very unpresidential, and he’s operating at a huge disadvantage relative to major party-nominee history. Trump kicked off June with a paltry $1.3 million in his campaign coffers. This isn’t even close to optimal while heading into general election season, whereas Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton raised $42 million in May alone. As the New York Times points out, Trump’s cash level cannot practically sustain a more than a congressional campaign, and if he doesn’t get things together in a serious way, his whole candidacy will crumble.
Trump delights in his self-funding status, but his refusal (or inability) to raise adequate cash shows that he fails at his greatest strength. Not only that, but Republican strategist Rory Cooper points out that 20 percent of these funds are going directly back into Trump’s own pockets. He’s making money from his own campaign, and he’s blowing it on travel and upkeep of various Trump properties. Well, the real-estate mogul insisted that everything is fine during a Tuesday morning phone call to Today:
“I understand money better than anybody. I understand it far better than Hillary, and I’m way up on the economy when it comes to questions on the economy. But we have a party that, I mean, I’m having more difficulty, frankly, with some of the people in the party than I am with the Democrats because they’re just, they don’t want to come on.”
People aren’t buying Trump’s financial rhetoric, and they’re reacting with a series of hot takes and jokes. There are some good zingers here.
https://twitter.com/1MrChris/status/745186350995910656
#TrumpSoPoor he can't even afford to pay his Mexican, Chinese, & Bangladeshi workers to make his TrumpChump Clothes pic.twitter.com/8cHcBJ6vbC
— Peter For ALL of US (@1stungun) June 21, 2016
#TrumpSoPoor he'll have to start marrying women his own age.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/cavaticat/status/745104083145547776
#TrumpSoPoor his real hair left him today pic.twitter.com/LTmEcMefOE
— Fight 4What's Right (@DRocks777) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/RodneyAnon/status/745221288851955712
Man, people are aiming right for the student loans. Brutal.
https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/745225330932211712
https://twitter.com/RodneyAnon/status/745221288851955712
#TrumpSoPoor he's been forced to scale back his Mexican wall to a "Stay off my lawn" sign
— TrueNorthSNF (@rsguy999) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/jawillie/status/745216539033374720
https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/745112531459407873
#TrumpSoPoor he's got the "family values" of a hillbilly. pic.twitter.com/vr7SwxKFPU
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) June 21, 2016
#TrumpSoPoor His hair's about to get repossessed.
— Ben Wright – @queex@dice.camp (@ChthonicQueex) June 21, 2016
#TrumpSoPoor he changed his campaign slogan to "Ramen In Every Pot!"
— The Notorious ROY G BIV (@robwoodyard1) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/745127717335490560
Chris Christie seems like a good note to end this post. As Mark Cuban points out, Trump could easily solve this problem by writing himself a check, but he’s probably not that liquid.
(Via NBC News, NYTimes and Rory Cooper on Medium)