When the Dems have total control over the Executive and Legislative branches, they should codify laws for the norms and expectations of the office of the president* that this mal-administration has broken over and over again.
(No more grifting, nepotism, etc. etc. etc.)
22
Well, I am shocked, just shocked, that anyone could even IMAGINE that any Republican would engage in self-dealing! It cuts me to the very marrow of my bones. It is such an unRepublican thing to do, to try to grab taxpayers' or political contributors' money for private gain. And just to prove my point, look at how Donald Trump, that latter-day St. Thomas More, that reincarnation of Albert Schweitzer, that pillar of virtue, a man as selfless as the day is long, gave a good talking-to to Brad Parscale! Why didn't you mention that Parscale, as soon as the election is past, plans to renounce all worldly goods, and become a Franciscan friar?
12
Reince Priebus has to revisit the autopsy.
“Our message was weak (and now that we have two justices, tax cuts for the rich, the message remains weak).
Our ground game was insufficient (but it barely has a chance to eke out another electoral college win because 401(k) are busted and economic prosperity is no where near the promised levels).
We weren’t inclusive (and in 2020 we'll just have to rely on the exclusivity of fearful older white Christian gun owners.)
We were behind in both data and digital (but there still is the Trump propaganda and disinformation from Fox News, talk radio, and Brietbart).”
5
They all thought they could control him. Joke's on them. You reap what you sow.
9
If a group of self-dealing political grifters want to take Republican donors’ money and line their pockets with it - fine with me. I would rather that money go to Parscale’s Ferrari or some con artist’s Florida condo than electing more Republicans.
It’s a pity so few of the sheep getting fleeced read the ‘fake news’ NYT.
11
10 years from now people will look back at this sordid era, lorded over by hucksters masquerading as political operatives, and ask themselves just what was it that ate their brains!
6
Trump Makes America Sick Again (MASA). Don't worry folks, Mike Pence will "pray away" the virus....
6
Trumps’ are grifters one and all — time to go!
6
Total lack of any redeeming qualities. Just like Trump.
7
What a swamp trump has created. The alligators are all fighting for a share of the raw meat. One can take some small consolation in the fact that the Kochs have been bushwhacked by the very party they were backing. All of this points to the desperate need we have for campaign finance reform and publicly funded elections.
My advice to everyone with their handout in this for profit trump campaign, get yours now. If trump loses the election there are going to be some very angry big donors.
11
I almost feel bad for the rubes from the Evangelical Welfare Empire that is the Estates. Between fantastically wealthy Evangelical grifters like Billy Graham’s family and the Republican Party, it’s no wonder they have no money. But then I remember what nasty bigots they all are and my sympathies melt away.
11
Grifters going to grift.
I suspect Mr. Parscale may want to lay low right now. This article, preceded by last week's New Yorker piece, puts him a bit too much in the limelight. If history is any guide, Trump does not like someone else to be making a buck off him or overshadowing him.
As for Ms. Trump and Ms. Guilfoyle getting paid... almost too on the nose to be believable. Perfectly on brand though. Grifters going to grift.
12
All this for nothing as the republican party nor the democratic party can ever attain absolute power as it would negate what the Bible says about the political makeup of the Anglo-American world power. Each side is to constantly be undermining the other, never allowing the other to gain a complete foothold and this has proven to be truth.
The Good News is the Anglo-American world power is the final power and it will be hurled into the lake of fire fully functional with the rest of this worldwide corrupt system of things and the Kingdom of God ushered in to take back rulership here on this planet. The Earth will never be completely ruined by human activities as humans will be living forever on this planet in peace and prosperity.
1
I am surprised you find or insinuate the Trump campaign machine as a unique work of art benefitting Trump personally. Someone with eyes open might say this is not the primary story. Trump has most effectively made life better economically and in liberty than most politicians of the past. Democrats had the same opportunities in their 2016 and 2020 campaign yet have encountered much criticism in playing out their role. There is a different working philosophy: Liberals will coalesce together to support legislation and campaigning regardless of the principles involved. Conservatives insist on maintaining their individuality and principles no matter the cost. It makes working together for the good of the citizens difficult. It helps to respect one another for good ideas and meld them together focusing on a common goal - the good of the country not the individual. Trump didn't take this job to gain money for himself or his family as did many Presidents of the past. It's difficult to find appreciation in managing America and fighting corruption.
3
@Jim Newcomb Managing America? Fighting corruption? Tell me you’re joking.
19
@Jim Newcomb
Truly, you must be kidding! Trump has brought corruption to the highest level of our government. He is a con man who is draining both integrity and cash out of our country every day. This has been documented on a daily basis since before he was even inaugurated. Even Fox news occasionally comes out with documentation of Trump's lying and corruption!
19
@Jim Newcomb
"Trump didn't take this job to gain money for himself or his family as did many Presidents of the past"
Ummm.. OK if that is what you believe. Let's just say it's true. You would then have to totally ignore the fact that the Trump family has totally leveraged their position and the power that comes with it, for profit now and in the future. I am unsure what planet you are actually living on but here on ours, this President has done nothing, and I mean nothing for the people of this country that hasn't been either a calculation to gain and keep power, or to benefit his family and their businesses. He is corrupt as they come, sir.
16
Is the federal government charging the Trump crusade for all the extra security measures at their rallies and other political excursions? If not, why not?
4
GOP sold souls to Devil
THE SECRET ORIGINS OF THE TEA PARTY [TIME]
How Big Oil and Big Tobacco Partnered with the Koch Brothers to take over the GOP
“Over the years, Rich Fink, Charles Koch’s political adviser, and his various Koch protégés have occasionally talked publicly about what would be needed to take over one of the two national political parties from the outside and place Libertarian, free-market principles at its center.”
Kochs spent a billion dollars putting the GOP into office.
How Putin’s oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns [DallasMoriningNews]
As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team probes deeper into potential collusion between Trump officials and representatives of the Russian government, investigators are taking a closer look at political contributions made by U.S. citizens with close ties to Russia.
Buried in the campaign finance reports available to the public are some troubling connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to President Donald Trump and a number of top Republican leaders…In 2015-16 Blavatnik's political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
In 2017, donations continued, with $41,000 going to Republican candidates, along with $1 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund.
7
Apparently the swamp is not yet completely drained.
3
That's easy; bribery, extortion, blackmail.
3
Well, it's truly delightful to learn that the USA re-election of an incumbent is all about the $. Trump must be so happy to be enriching himself and all those about him! Is there any member of the adult Trump family that is not fleecing the blind?
5
Chalk it as a Rule of Thumb:
The most macho-acting man is generally the most unsecured. The GOP has always pretended to be a strong bunch of He-men, the strident, uncompromising kind. Think of Mitch, McCarthy, Collins, Jordan and that newer upstart, the stupid stuntman Gaetz from Florida. In reality, these pretenders get away with their kabuki theater because their opponents are like the jello with no backbone, and next to nothing will power to go toe to toe with the bullies.
So when a usurper, a perpetually greedy man, like Trump, comes along with eyes firmly fixed on the party kitty, he would have no difficulty in pushing to the side the puffed-up namby-pambys of GOP. With so much soft money (the black money, as they more appropriately call the unaccounted cash in the Third World), floating around, it would be a surprise, nay, a shock, if a man with the humongous greed of Trump did not reach for it.
The only thing now that remains for Trump to do is to complete the takeover by having a secretive person, like Jared, from his clan to take control of the GOP collection plates.
Trump is doing exactly what the presidency of the US meant to him, in the first place. A vehicle for self-aggrandizement, for amassing fame and fortune on an unprecedented scale. The GOP collections are now forever going to rest in a black hole, called the Trump Tribe. They'd rest there with Trump's tax returns and accounting of his inauguration expenditures.
5
What happens when Trump is gone? Will he retain this political business and promote “his” candidates with it?
1
When Elizabeth Warren identified corruption as the number one problem that needed to be addressed, this is exactly the kind of thing she was talking about.
11
Just FYI, According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), Trump-allied political committees and the Republican party have spent a whopping $18.1m at Trump properties since he launched his 2016 campaign. Republican candidates, elected officials and Pacs have ponied up another $1.2m in the same period.
Who knew swamp draining paid so well?
15
So much personal data in private political data banks. So many insider pirates fighting over the spoils and enriching themselves with secret deals. Where does it leave us, the voters, whose info is vacuumed up for psy-ops manipulation because of Citizens United. Any comments now, Mr. Supreme Court Judge John Roberts? Or do you still think you're above it all calling balls and strikes?
12
Swamp, swamp, swamp!
6
Heaven help us because no one here on earth will.
4
I would think these big dark money capitalist donors would take note that the same organizational opacity they seek also enables self-dealing.
4
Going directly after Trump alone is not working. An additional method is needed. Go after his enablers and handlers like this guy. Trump cannot wreak havoc on his own. Break apart the foundation and the tower will fall.
6
I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell ya! The idea that Trump might be cheating his own party has almost no precedent.
8
What is the RNC going to do when Trump is out of office (sooner or later) and he and Parscale own all their voter data and fundraising records? How much money will Trump and Parscale extort from the Republican party for the Republicans to get control and ownership of their data back? 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
11
This statement - needs further discussion.
During a campaign appearance last summer in Orlando, Ms. Guilfoyle confronted Mr. Parscale: Why were her checks always late? Two people who witnessed the encounter said a contrite Mr. Parscale promised that the problem would be sorted out promptly by his wife, Candice Parscale, who handles the books on many of his ventures.
8
I firmly believe that a fulsome deep dive into the spending of these Trump/GOP campaign 'businesses' would reveal many more payoffs to the Trump family than just Lara and Jr's girlfriend.
Trump did not get rich by being an honest broker.
They probably pay for Melania's very expensive wardrobe and travel, etc. I also wonder just how much Jared is making.
Interesting that Trump is jealous of Mr. Parscale's earnings. He thinks he is being ripped off by Brad? Yeah, probably because Don the Con knows how to play this game all too well.
What share of the data does Trump own? If he looses in 2020, will he sell the data back to the GOP for a hefty sum?
The Trump/GOP is a bunch of grifters.
16
No Trump appearance is NOT a campaign appearance. That's one thing he knows how to do so he sticks with it. Surprised his hairdresser doesn't just glue the red hat on and be done with it.
11
If only Democrats were this organized, LOL.
5
Trump is not a complex sociological phenomenon. He's actually simple...
By that I mean: Somehow (Cambridge Analytica), Trump learned that America is stocked full with 30,000,000 adults having no place in the nation's economy.
These "losers" are the wind filling TheWindbag's sails.
6
Grifters! A bunch of Grifters. You've been had, MAGA folks.
6
An enabler of these "schemes" that offset the real wishes of the people is the enormous collections of wealth on just a few persons. When one single person has the economic power of millions of "normals" it is naive to believe that the power will not be used. Interesting that the Koch empire seem to have been de-throned. Will they accept defeat or fight back? I guess we'll see the drama on Netflix soon.
4
The Republican party no longer exists, it is the Trump party even down ballot.
11
The decadence of and invasive surveillance by (wealthy) Citizens United driven corporate personhood and money as free speech. We are watching the oval office as the center of family for profit business. The heart beat of quid quo pro politics. The super swamp.
11
This comes as no surprise. The Trumps including son-in-law Kushner are enriching themselves making Hunter Biden's "possible" misdeeds look like kindergarten.
What does surprise me are the few republican voices speaking up about the lack of integrity and ethics in the republican congress and leaders throughout the country. Many like Brooks , George Will and Gearson are using their columns to speak up but where are the rest?
9
If ever there was an argument for a cap on individual political donations, and banning of private and corporate funded PAC's, surely this is it.
The task asked of voters to un-pick the Gordian Knot of double-talk, lies, character assassinations, corrupted media and biased reporting in order to make a reasoned decision - has only one solution, cut the knot...and cash is the sword.
It's preposterous that a handful of billionaires can put their candidate in the Oval Office over the choices of 'We the people'.
And forever puzzling is how and why the GOP have abandoned the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - and switched to eviscerating them.
10
We could avoid a lot this nonsense if we limited active campaigning to a single month before an election.
Wouldn't that be nice to have 11 months without this stuff?
9
@John
I can think of nothing better than limited active campaigning!! I say start when school starts/right after Labor Day and give candidates approximately 2 months to the ballot box. No one really pays attention anyway until the summer fun is over and people get back to school/work.
Also, the time limit enhances the opportunity to control campaign spending so that regular people could run for office, not just the obscenely rich.
Excellent article! Please, make it available to all media and publications in a repetitive way, so that this valuable information doesn’t get lost in the daily avalanche of shocking revelations. Thanks for your great work!
3
Trickledown Corruption from Trump and through Kushner and Pascale. This is far from shocking and the GOP approves of it all. Here’s the best line:
“Mr. Parscale declined to comment in detail for this article. But he and his associates have said that private companies give them greater operational flexibility, given the constraints of campaign-finance laws.”
We need a deeper investigation into this.
10
Thank Alito and his band of Republican Supreme Court justice, including Roberts.
5
@Almighty Dollar
And that is why Democrats need to take this election very seriously. Justices Ginsberg and Breyer will need to be replaced some time soon.
Roberts has proven himself to be right-wing Republican. His hand-wringing over the public perception of partisanship is beyond hypocritical.
4
Shouldn’t we all want these kind of shenanigans to be regulated if not illegal? Obviously the courts no longer serve the interests of ordinary citizens, so electoral justice seems like a pipe dream. Only through a concerted effort to embrace common decency and to VOTE BLUE will we even begin to reinstate the “consent of the governed.” We’re going to reclaim our country from these thugs.
4
All of the high moralizing and hand wringing by leftist commenters here is laughable. They will be silent when the shoe is on the other foot. It is not at all surprising that the party apparatus becomes a handmaiden to the financial needs and ambitions of a sitting President and “all the President’s Men.” Do we really believe that the Democrat Party was less controlled by FDR in 1940 or by Obama in 2016? The technology is different today, but the idea that a President and his people control the party for his own purposes is as old as the party system itself. Moreover, few people are shedding tears when it is their preferred President who is benefitting from this system. We all love it when Caesar is throwing bread in our direction and only start moralizing when he is someone else’s Caesar throwing bread in someone else’s direction.
1
Since I can only judge a person that I don't know by their friends and associates, I've always thought that there was something very flukey about Parscale. Consider his boss.
2
Trump has become a full-fledged corrupt dictator, and the GOP is supporting him.
Trump is damaging American health and well-being by denying and obstructing national and international efforts to combat the Coronavirus/COVID pandemic. No one in the GOP will stand up to him.
Trump has betrayed our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia. The GOP has become the Gang of Putin.
Trump sees enemies among immigrants, refugees, minorities, the Press, our government agencies, and our Allies. The GOP has endorsed all of this.
In November, we need a “Big Tent” landslide repudiation of Trump and Trumpism at all levels, in order to preserve American Democracy.
Vote Blue, no matter who!
8
So.. when Trump loses his re-election bid..... does the RNC get back what has been stolen from them, or will Trump hold it hostage and use it for his own private post office reality performances when he is constantly and publicly lying about whoever is sitting in the white house after he is removed?
My guess is that Trump and family will not return the information and will use it for profit and gain after the 2020 election.
8
And after the enabling of Trump, the GOP as a political party will never be able to be trusted again.
6
The “Trust the GOP” ship sailed for me years ago. No regrets.
5
They're not breathing life into the Republican party. They're breathing life into some nationalistic bunch of unscrupulous criminals that have co-opted the name Republican.
The GOP on the other hand is so afraid to lose what tenuous grip they think still remains on the trappings of power that they are too afraid to lose for a cycle or two to regain their party, not understanding that the leeches and vampires will die out from lack of any base, or from lack of a credible base.
4
As Trump's popularity wanes, all the money in the world won't help him get re-elected (see: broke Biden campaign before Super Tuesday). I hope Bloomberg uses his funds to support many Democratic senatorial and House campaigns.
The final scenes in James Clavill's "King Rat" reminds me of the crooked Trump machine. I look forward to its collapse when his power is gone.
5
TRUMP: "I like this stuff. (CDC coronavirus work) I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for President."
Yes... let's encourage the Trump to apply for a position at the CDC instead of running for President!
67
@JM
And then the doctors and scientists knew they were finally in the presence of a true stable genius that knew all the big words, all the best words.
An so they bowed down, and kissed his feet, and wept for they were so small and insecure in the presence of such greatness.
And Trump took them by the hand, and lifted them up and said "It's not you fault for being so stupid", and they wept again for his understanding touched them.
And they all went out for hamburders and covefe.
25
@JM May I suggest the placebo group for the first vaccine test.
12
Trump didn't take over the GOP so much as he has the support of Tea party within the Republican party. Trump wanted lower taxes and regulations any way he could get them. Exploiting their hate for Obama with his birther nonsense worked like a charm with that Republican base. Each time Republican supporters claim, "Trump tells it like it is" is code for Trump is for white people. Of course, they're ignoring another component of that claim. Which is, Trump is for white people but it's rich, Republican white people he only concerns himself with. And as long as Trump continues in that vein, coupled with his victim chant of the media and Democrats are out to get him nonsense; many in his fan base will not change. At least, it will not change until those fans begin to feel the negative impacts of Trump's incompetence. Whether or not, that happens before it's too late for the country as whole is anyone's guess right now...
64
@American Independent If you're a journalist and just doing research by going to any Republican led website, your email address gets put on a list and suddenly there are emails from everyone from Mitch McConnell to Chris Christie to Rand Paul and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. They urge you to disparage the Democratic 'enemy' and donate, donate, donate toward putting a stop to the opposition. Eventually, after sending nothing, there will be strongly worded emails about letting your 'account' lapse and warning you to re-new. Re-new what, I have no idea but those emails still arrive and there's no 'unsubscribe' button.
6
I am not a Republican but have received several fundraising solicitations from the Trump crowd. Two were those fake census documents, one was from Melania (right), and the latest, just the other day, was a six-page rant from Trump. It was the most horrible piece of mail I've ever received and showed clearly why he is not fit to govern the country. Don't know quite what to do with it. I'd like to burn it, but maybe some DEM or reporter would make good use of it. Meanwhile, embarrassingly, my letter carrier must think I'm "one of those."
91
@shp
About 20 years ago I worked in the same office as a man who was the poster child for a fundamentalist, believed the woman should look only to her man and obey him in all things. While I don't talk politics in the office, I have been occasionally told my face does my talking...
I would come back to my desk and there would be articles left about abortion, etc. Then I started getting mail from far right organizations. And then all of the RNC surveys and requests for more money. Couldn't ever prove it but it looked like he had donated money to the RNC in my name. I was indignant, however...
I diligently filled the surveys out giving my version of the correct answers. Took about two years before they stopped. Will say that was a novel form of aggression.
30
@shp If you’ve voted, at least in Minnesota where it is the law (but I wouldn’t doubt it’s in play across the country esp “swing” states) your data went to the state party chairs, which according to this piece, goes to the national parties. This is the voter fraud we hear so much about, except that it’s fraud being done TO the voter. Seriously, why do we even bother?
9
@Val Haven't voted yet; not in a swing state. But I do note your voter fraud info. Still, if you haven't voted yet, please do!
7
Keep playing up the money made by surrogates. Trump hates competition, even from his own bilkers, milkers, double billing swindlers, and coat-tailing fleecers,
8
A word of advice to both parties: go lightly on the texts and the emails. When a voter's most frequent interaction with a campaign consists of deleting daily emails or skipping unwanted texts (which may not even go to the targeted person, given the prevalence of family plans), support wanes and resentment builds.
The money can stop flowing, too. Why respond to today's plea for support when you know you'll get another chance tomorrow and the day after that? And do you realize that we don't give a flying fig about reporting deadlines?
4
Shocking but why don’t republicans care? Power corrupts?
4
Future historians will put it down to two things: (1) that America's constitution and democratic institutions proved incapable of protecting it from the sleaziest, most corrupt, foreign government manipulated presidential campaign ever; and (2) that Republican sleazebags were aided and abetted by a large chunk of the American population that took leave of its senses.
But if the Trump travesty comes to an end in November, ironically it will not be because our courts or congress took decisive action or because Americans suddenly came to their senses of their own accord, but tragically because Trump's denial of COVID-19 will have finally convinced even the most backward among them that he is an unmittigated fool and a fraud who has never had anyone's interests at heart other than his own.
6
This is the story of America, especially the part where Parscale's resume is compared to Walsh-Shields, who he overtakes handily in terms of income and influence thanks to the power of being a white male who can fail ever upwards.
4
It only reflects the pathetic condition of the rudderless Republican party that with money influence and the intimidating right wing rabble rouser crowd at his command a rank outsider like Trump has not only established a full control over the GOP but made it cpmpletely subservient to his whims and dictates, rendering it completely numb sensed and docile party.
4
Campaigns and political organizations often exaggerate the technology advantage they have because it makes for great press. But the press has little real knowledge of how robust that technology is, or when it is being applied.
Donald Trump and his administration of liars and criminals is a great example of how a diabolical individual can help to deteriorate the fabric and foundation of our democracy. My only hope in witnessing this national nightmare , is that we will truly learn from it and never make the same horrible mistake again.
We now are suffering from two epidemics: the coronavirus and the dis-ease of Donald Trump....
let’s hope we can be rid of both of them soon enough.
7
The Times should do an article about the very persistent and highly personalized email direct fund raising the Trump campaign engages in. I've seen a lot of it, and it really begins to resemble elder abuse....
7
Well...we certain voters hire a corrupt and seemingly failed businessman to lead, this is exactly what they should have expected. Not being one to ever vote for conservative, especially a flat-out racist like Trump, it's exactly what I expected.
4
They say that the word gullible is not in the dictionary.
2
@Concerned
Viral fear might actually trump the Great believers this time. Trust may become distinct from belief, and extinct in the base if he continues to puff artificial confidence.
2
It's sad that electing public officials - our leaders - are less about character and policies than raising money and propaganda campaigns.
It's sad and a serious challenge to democracy.
Votes believe they are making wise choices when in fact they are responding to the same manipulative strategies used by companies to convince consumers they can only be happiy if they purchase the advertisers' products.
12
Once again, with all the hand wringing going on among democrats about what to do about Trump and his "Trumpublican" party, there STILL is a refusal on the part of many to understand the circumstances by which Trump got elected in the first place and corporate/establishment democrats are as much or more to blame than republicans themselves.
In its desire to amass money over winning elections, democrats chose to walk away from their long time base of supporters losing millions of them in the process. The NUMBER ONE issue among voters of all states in these primaries is health care followed up by climate change and working people's disconnect from the benefits of a growing economy and the only one who has taken up these issues "head on" is Bernie Sanders, every other candidate it is "tinkering around the edges lip service", nothing more.
Go ahead, elect Joe Biden as the democratic nominee and even if by chance he wins(which is doubtful) because his administration did not seriously deal and actually "fight" for these issues, there will be another Trump waiting in the wings in 2024 who this time will be much smarter and more capable.
3
The public does not yet comprehend the scale of Trump/Kushner theft from our treasury. Occasionally, an article reports the cost of president protection but I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg.
22
In 2016, I predicted that "an outsider would win". Most of my friends laughed at me, certain that Mrs. Clinton was a shoo - in. I wanted Sanders (an "outsider") but we got Trump.
This year< my prediction is that Trump will not be re-elected. In the wild ride that we see right now, I'm still sticking to it...
Who the next president will be, though....well my fervent hope is that it will be Bernie Sanders, on a platform that looks forward. The current situation (planet, inequality, climate refugees, rich-poor divide, healthcare, Big Oil) simply cannot be sustained.
4
"According to two people with knowledge of the matter, Parscale Strategy has also been used to make payments out of public view to Lara Trump, the wife of the president’s son Eric, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., who have been surrogates on the stump and also taken on broader advisory roles. Their presence makes for an odd dynamic between a campaign manager and a candidate’s family."
If I were donating to the GOP -- and I'm not -- I'd want to know how much of my contribution goes to the Trump family.
14
@Sharon Stout It won't be long until Trump just asks people to send him checks, sort of like those televangelists. He really reminds me of Elmer Gantry.
5
@Katrin
Too bad NY State shut down his Trump Foundation. He could have told people their contributions were tax deductible.
Trump reportedly paid his son's Scout dues with a $7 Trump Foundation check. Who does that?
2
This is a good argument for public financing of campaigns—limited campaign time (like 6 months), and everybody who qualifies as a candidate (that’s a policy decision and beyond my scope) spends the same, gets the same amount of TV time, and is on somewhat equal footing—incumbents included. It cuts out the obscene amounts of money and manipulation that dominates our political fundraising system today.
6
Everyone worries about the big fundraising advantage the Trump campaign has ... but we shouldn't be fooled. We should know that a lot of that money is going into the pockets of Trump friends or indirectly Trump himself. The money actually available to support the campaign may be far less (although Trump is doing a good job of getting the taxpayer to pick up the tab for a lot of his campaigning).
13
"According to two people with knowledge of the matter, Parscale Strategy has also been used to make payments out of public view to Lara Trump, the wife of the president’s son Eric, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., who have been surrogates on the stump and also taken on broader advisory roles. Their presence makes for an odd dynamic between a campaign manager and a candidate’s family."
Don't forget, the incumbent said while he was campaigning for the 2016 election that he'd profit from the race. It would be really interesting to see where all the ownership and payment threads of these operations end up.
8
Congress needs to unify and pass strick campaign finance reform laws that overrule the Citizen's United court decision. It was bad before the decision, but now it is totally out of control now with billionaires and corporations creating PACS and can donating with no limits. Shame on us, too, for not demanding this from our congresspersons.
10
One undiscussed factor is Trump’s unique policy positions on topics like tariffs, government spending and foreign policy.
Despite what folks at the National Review may say, small government conservatism was never really popular amongst the GOP rank and file. Most republicans don’t want to cut social security, want a less interventionist foreign policy, and favor protectionism. Even Reagan didn’t really cut government, though it grow more slowly under him.
Trump cleverly exploited this situation to victory.
2
There is nothing that Trump, his family or associates that would shock or surprise anyone. Their plan to constantly commit larceny in plain sight has numbed Americans. Trumps have two goals; make as much money off of their positions and hold on to power. The money that doesn’t go directly into pockets that does go to campaigns will only do so much. Mike Bloomberg proved it is great to have millions to spend but if it’s a bad product, people won’t buy it.
6
Let's not forget that Senate Republicans, with one phone call to the Speaker of the House, could end Trump's presidency. This disaster is not Trump's alone.
7
The US needs a limit on campaign funding. This is in effect in Germany, so there is a model and this to be researched and then a bill is needed on the federal level. Ms Pelosi needs to lead the way.
5
Alvin and Heidi Toffler predicted:
"A new civilization is emerging in our lives, and blind men everywhere are trying to suppress it. This new civilization brings with it new family styles; changed ways of working, and living; a new economy; new political conflicts; and beyond all this an altered consciousness as well...The dawn of this new civilization is the single most explosive fact of our lifetimes."
1
Now the autocrat really does have unlimited power. And the GOP is complicit in the government take over of the country and the rise of a dictator.
Now we know why the GOP remained in support of trump: it's ONLY about power, not about the Rule of Law or Democracy.
8
So, in our local judge’s primaries in this GOP controlled county where the primary is effectively the election, poll workers for the various candidates wore Trump hats to demonstrate their particular judicial candidate’s allegiance to the “party”.
4
Trump was never a Republican, he only ran on the Republican ticket. I told myself years ago that I would blindly vote straight ticket republican for the rest of my life because of my dissatisfaction with Democrats. I took a chance on Trump and was pleasantly surprised by all the accomplishments (and before you ask, yes I can name a few): Trump has appointed conservative SCOTUS' has put hundreds of federal conservatives judges to work, has started on the southern border wall, has taken my poorer friends in the inner city out of economic despair. Trump has brought jobs home and placed sanctions on China for stealing our intellectual property. Trump finally awarded Rush Limbaugh the Metal of Freedom and will finally give a vote to those in the Roe vs Wade arguments. I have been surprised by his willingness to fulfill campaign promises and I am leaning toward casting my vote to Trump again in 2020
1
@RS
"... has taken my poorer friends in the inner city out of economic despair."
How did he do that?
You are aware that Trump's Justice Department is backing GOP efforts to take out Obamacare -- and he has offered nothing to replace it?
That Trump is saying in his next term, he will cut Medicare and Social Security?
3
The GOP takeover not coincidentally parallels the new evangelist movements. Mega-Church leaders live in multimillion-dollar homes, earned by begging the last dollar from some poor old couple on TV. Trump cuts funds and jobs from red states while campaigning on a rust belt revival that shall never come. The common denominator, a certain segment of the population will gladly give up their right to think critically and have their decisions made for them. Be it the path to heaven or a return to past industrial might, both groups are committed to false promise. Ironically, they are intertwined, the two snake oil salesmen are shaking hands behind the wagons celebrating their success . Trapped by promise and baited with rapture and jingoistic platitudes, they are bound to serve their abusers.
5
The data-driven Republican propaganda machine plus voter suppression in key swing states could give Trump a victory in November in spite of the fact his base is no more than 42% of the population. The apparent Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden’s naïve belief he can work with the Republican Party once he defeats Trump, further weakens the Democratic Party effort. The Democratic Party is obsessed with Russian interference, missing the Republican war machine that is about to bear down on it.
unfortunately you're right!!!!
If the GOP is going to hand the reigns over to a guy who bankrupted numerous casinos, charities, marketing schemes, “university “, airlines, steaks, water, etc... I will relish their fall even more. I see no new ideas from republicans, let their party crash hard.
4
It’s astonishing that established Republicans allowed the Trumps to take over the RNC and merge its operations into new businesses benefitting the Trumps, and skirting campaign finance laws along the way. Republicans have handed Donald Trump the wherewithal to direct their candidacies and their every action, even when he is no longer president, because he now controls the money and the fund-raising mechanism they’ve all been forced to use. Cross Trump, ever, and you get no money. That isn’t a political party, it’s one person/family deciding who will be allowed to run for office.
12
"Mr. Parscale declined to comment in detail for this article. But he and his associates have said that private companies give them greater operational flexibility, given the constraints of campaign-finance laws."
What exactly does that mean -- and are donations being concealed from the public? Explain please, NYT.
8
Trump is going down.
He thought immigration was a threat. He builds a 30 foot high wall along the border...
But the invader is microscopic, maybe a nanometer in length...
It will decimate his economy, his stock market, his confidence, and .....(fill in your own scenario here)...
I know what my dream scenario is and it involves Walter Reed Army Hospital or Mar-a-Lago, whichever comes first.
5
Donald Trump was successful in taking over the Republican Party because of one reason: fear. The Republican Party leadership so cowers in abject fear of Mr. Trump that it is beyond disgusting. Anyone who challenges Donald Trump in the least is branded a loser, made fun of and cut loose by Mr. Trump. The remaining servile toadies, everyone of which has sold out their souls, their country and its interests, remain as court jesters to King Donald to collect votes, money and hold onto their offices and do nothing to better America. There is a stench of dishonor like never before hanging over America and it is directly attributable to what passes today for the Republican Party leadership.
11
One could say that the unofficial slogan of the current administration is "Never pass up an opportunity top make a buck". As I see it, every dollar sent to Laura Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle is one less dollar for advertising and voter organization, so keep those bucks flowing to the grifters.
9
The grand swindle.
Surprised?
Keep sending in your money folks! Step right up!
(The swamp is getting deeper and smellier).
8
Wow Democrats really need to wake up and stop fighting each other over trivial matters like campaigns that don't get enough support from one race/ethnicity. I guess we'll lose the 2020 election to a bunch of republicans who waste millions of dollars on campaigns, but at least the republicans seem more united than the democrats. Imagine if the founding fathers considered that they can balance powers of each branch but not the finance and money advantage of a party.
I'm confused with so much details, yet I want to understand. Is this a case where a flow chart could help draw the large picture?
1
Shades of 1933. Extremely terrifying.
4
Shades of LBJ about to quit.
It seemed entirely nutty for Republicans to so tightly hitch their wagon to Trump's star. It was bad for them before but now that the President has so plainly put the nation's health in danger, his transparent need to place his fragile ego above American's lives will imperil his party even more, and perhaps for years to come.
Republicans embraced their albatross, one so clearly at odds with so much of what makes this country great. It's not looking good for them.
4
Most people think of dictatorship in the context of poor nation and people being indiscriminately victimized (being robbed of their rights and wealth or getting killed for dissenting from the dictator).
However, the basic tenet of dictatorship is absence of (effectiveness of) law. The end results of lawlessness do not need to be visibly dire or upsetting. Based on this tenet, Trump and his cronies have blatantly centralized the power, resorted to corruption on all fronts and managed to get away with it despite having a (supposedly) mature and democratic judicial system in place.
Politicians and media who suggest coming threat of Trumpian autocracy are wrong. Dictatorship has already arrived in the US.
6
We no longer have a true political system where ideas are debated for the sole purpose of the common good. This is not even a corporate takeover to the advantage of the market place. What we are seeing is a resurgence of fascism by people whose lives are marked by self rightousness and a blindness to anyother way of thinking.
9
I've done a bit of European travel lately, to Berlin in December. Berliners I had come across apologized to me for hating our formerly respected country.
2
I am clueless to understand why over 40% of eligible votes support Trump, other than they must be clueless as well, thinking that since Trump stand's up to the elites they blame for their woes, maybe he can do something to help him.
But those who side with Trump simply because they hope to further enrich themselves prevail in the political underworld, constantly looking for loopholes that will allow them to bilk Americans of more money.
4
Why do we call it the Republican party anymore? It is the Trump party, and totally disconnected from traditional Republican ideology.
2
The Republican Party uses donor money to line the pocket of hanger-on types and functionaries, launders donor money through hidden and interlocking businesses, funnels money to businesses owned by the President and his family and minions, and the American public yawns.
The corruption is so obvious and so vast.
Are we really willing to put up with this crooked way of financing our election campaigns?
8
We've gone from, "Ask not..." to "Where's my check?"
Proves, once again, that Republicans will do absolutely anything for money and power, their only motivations and all that they stand for.
In their arrogance and greed they think that no-one's noticing. They're wrong. Get it while you can because, come November, you'll need the best lawyers money can buy.
4
It's the new mob come into town, even more ruthless than the Bush gang, and squeezing everyone harder to pay out to the Don. If there were any real justice, Trump, Jared, Brad et al would be tried and convicted of racketeering and do double digit time. But don't forget Trump really is just the culmination of 25 years of Republican declaration (Newt Gingrich) that their fight against Democrats was holy and patriotic and therefore without limits.
8
Surprised you didn't mention Parscale's appearance on 60 Minutes a while back. He explained in frightening detail how he engineered lightning quick advertising strategy which maximized Trump's reach into every hamlet of the American landscape....and he is doing it again. Watch out.
2
The GOP and it's leadership just love making money, don't they? Now they even make it from the political world by scamming donor's data, shilling like there's no tomorrow, and selling the data to the highest bidders.
When will the Republican party membership get their intelligence back?
2
Wealth redistribution GOP/Trump style: from the gullible and trusting to the Trump family and anyone willing to keep the money flowing to them.
10
This is fascinating, thanks for your reporting.
4
Brad Parscale... Seriously. Brad Parscale is like if Louis XVI had a social media manager. And what makes him truly insufferable is that he’d probably take pride in that analogy.
2
The title of this article should be "How Trump Took Over the Dregs of the Republican Party."
17
This article smells like 2016. Thanks for the news.
1
With events on their current trajectory, it’s entirely possible the GOP will get wiped out come November. In that case, the only people to benefit from Trump’s campaign will be Trump’s family.
Other Republicans might want to reflect on that point.
11
America's campaign finance system is a disgrace.
321
@JVG having the Campaign Finance committee hamstrung because this President refuses to nominate sufficient members so they could actually have a vote. So in capable of holding anyone to account
5
@JVG Blame Republicans, and the trolls they put on the Surpreme Court
10
@JVG
Complaining democrats like Sanders, Warren, Biden & Company should have learned that there is no real difference between billlionaire candidates and donors (like Bloomberg) and a well-oiled money machine in the hands of Jared Kushner and family. aimed at Joe Sixpack's wallet.
1
I lament the demise of the Grand Old Party. The country needs a GOP. Trump is not and never was a Republican. The party missed a missed to cleanse itself by failing to impeach. It could have been running a real Republican candidate. That failure revealed the fundamental shallowness and cowardice of sitting Republicans. They're joh meant more than their country and the outcome is an embarrassment to America.
178
This is what worries me about Bernie Sanders. He is not and never was a Democrat. I don't want to swing from one extreme to another
34
@Mebschn Moderates are as complicit in killing the planet as the far right. We need to swing far to the left to try to fix the damage we've caused. Capitalism will be the death of us.
7
@tony barone
In 1968, Richard Nixon's, while running on a peace platform, contacted the South Vietnamese government through back channels and got them to scuttle President Johnson's peace talks. Once elected, he escalated the war and continued it for 5 more years, killing 100s of thousands of innocent people.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan's campaign contacted the Iranian government and promised them weapons if they would hold American diplomats past the election. Once in office, the Reagan administration kept their promise (while also supplying Iraq), feeding the Iran-Iraq war, which killed millions.
At the same time they pushed through union-busting and tax policies that resulted in nearly all economic growth accruing to <1% of Americans.
Trump is a consummate Republican, pushing the exact same agenda the GOP has pursued for over half a century. Tell me why this country needs a GOP.
39
It'll be interesting to see how much they make between this grift and what they can steal from the American people.
I hope they glued the remotes to the nightstands before that family moved in.
18
These same people are reaping enormous profits from the US Treasury, including operating “nonprofits” which do huge business deals and pay no taxes. The Trumps, through their greed, paranoia and stupidity, have been duped, and are terrified to make any changes to their very successful and lucrative robbery of the American people. It will take a decade to sort through all of this and bring people to justice.
232
Ed - somehow I don’t picture the Trumps as being the dupes here. The dupes are the American people, particularly those who voted for this New American Mobster and his willing enablers in Congress.
There truly is “a sucker born every minute.”
“The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre.”
H. L. Mencken.
78
@Ed Pittsburgh
>It will take a decade
Good post, but "decade" is too optimistic.
31
@Ed Pittsburgh
Trump and his "Trumpublicans" have stacked the courts with conservative "Federalist Society" judges. The last time this happened, it took over 30 yrs.(late 1800's to mid 1930's) for things to change and it took FDR and a depression to change it.
It will take a President willing to fight and commit to passing legislation that will be of benefit to all. A corporate/establishment centrist moderate like Joe Biden is NOT one of them.
7
They are not doing a very good job. I am a Democrat and am energized to work harder than I ever have before to defeat the Republicans and Trump at the polls this November. Yet over the past three months I have been receiving all kinds of Republican literature in the mail. Wonder where my name came from.
172
@Leah Same here. Letter from reprehensible Newt Gingrich went back marked, bigly, “Return to Sender.”
40
@Leah I must admit that I also received an envelope from the Trump campaign, asking for money--I'm a registered Democrat. I sent it back with a hand-written note that contained more foul language than I usually use in a year. Probably dumb, but I couldn't help myself.
22
@Leah
Same here. Received something from "judicial watch," which, like all other purposely misnamed reactionary groups, has nothing to do with their title. They do no watching of the judiciary. They "claim" to be NON-partisan because "we have sued both repubicans and democrats" but every other sentence of their bogus literature is "liberal," "ultra liberal," "extreme liberal, "left," ultra left," "extreme left," "soros" "clinton clinton clinton......."
It's clear who they really are. Just another well-funded reactionary regressive group, claiming they're one thing when they're really another.
11
Excellent reporting. This article should be a wake-up call to all Democrats, if not all Americans about what a threat we're facing with Donald Trump and his administration.
There must be some kind of campaign funding legislation enacted in order to prevent the kind of manipulation we're seeing here on a massive scale.
But there's no doubt something like that will never come to pass as along as the G.O.P. and big money is controlling the show.
If anything, this represents a new chapter in the dismantling of our Democracy, and may very well be the end of our free and democratic society as we know it.
And quite frankly, that is frightening.
306
@N. Smith Frightening, indeed. The Citizens United decision prompted me to adapt unique job experience to draft just such a plan. Who knows, if enough politicians had a moral and patriotic epiphany, it could have a chance of passing. Legislators should be accountable to voters, not donors. www.thefairelectionsfund.org.
25
@N. Smith I have long thought every dollar used for politics should have an UPC code. Small donors are known however the big money is "dark" and probably used in an illegal manner.
11
@N. Smith A vote for any Democrat running for Senate is a vote against Mitch McConnell. Take note.
9
Imagine how much worse this would all be if Donald Trump had been an educated, focused, disciplined leader who put other educated, focused, disciplined people in powerful administrative roles. We would be living in some dystopian Handmaids Tale/Brave New World/The Jungle.
The only thing saving democracy is the humbling incompetence and self-centered greed of our president, his family, and the unqualified lackeys he’s installed to run things.
569
@Nuriya75 Ahhh, but the scary thing is that there are some 'educated' lackeys involved with revising the regulation of banks and tax laws. Not sure of the education of Steven Miller, but he is in charge of immigration laws..... I would imagine even DJT listens to educated people who pander to him to advance their own ideology.
65
@Nuriya75 - yes, but billionaires simply buy people with all that skills, as "Cambridge Analytica" in 2016. The Company is gone - the people are still working for him.
30
Case-in-point: Stephen Miller.
The xenophobic policies he’s written in have been terrifyingly effective.
21
We should not be surprised if it were revealed that Parscale & Co. did more than take hold of the voter roles. I suspect they knew exactly how many votes to turn in swing states to win the electoral vote. And they didn't do it by convincing infrequent voters to get up off their couch and go out and vote for Trump in 2016. My hunch from election night on was that Team P cast those votes FOR them. It was too neat, too fast, too simultaneous a victory to be a representation of a messy democracy. These people—Kushner, Parscale et al.—are not above anything to get and keep power, and to make a ton of money in the process. It will happen again.
17
"Still, the millions moving through opaque private businesses have left even the president perpetually concerned that Mr. Parscale and his team are making too much money, according to campaign and White House staff members."
I see the makings of a future headline. . .trump being ripped off by his own fundraising arm.
20
Yesterday we learned that Trump had spies infiltrating his opponents. Today we learn that Trump completely controls the Republican party. We're getting closer to a dictatorship...
22
The modern way to take power is to seize it. In the old days there were smoke-filled back rooms to choose the chosen before they were chosen by the People.
Now we have committees that are infiltrated and taken over by well-funded political operatives working for the status quo, also known as the deep state.
Please note that the status quo is not monolithic but can be configured to lean either right or left. The status quo is an extractive entity designed to take money from the People and send it primarily to the ideology in charge but it also sends a lesser amount of resources to the out-group as part of their gentlemen's agreement. Right and left ideologies of the status quo work together to trade off control.
The People choose between and vote on just that one person presented by their corporate party.
In the 2016 campaign Hillary took over the DNC to block Bernie. The DNC needed money, which Hillary gave them in return for their fealty and a money laundering operation.
Hillary gamed the $2,700 limit on individual contributions by having the DNC establish and administer that Hillary Victory Fund since contributions to a party's national committee are much higher than $2,700.
This allowed individuals to write checks for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund and the DNC, which then sent them to Hillary.
Read about it here:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774
6
More fleecing of Republican voters so that the rich and powerful can get more rich and more powerful, so that they can deny Republican voters a minimum wage raises and healthcare. Aided and abetted by their propaganda arm Fox News, Republican voters are happy all about it because, aren't they clever sticking it to the socialist Democrats! as they stick it in their own eyeballs.
16
Simple, he saw Hillary had sewed up the democrat nod as the entitled female nominee so he saw she was not addressing the issues of important to swing state voters and demagogue their issues.
It is not rocket science.
The lure of the demagogue is strong. When people need things like jobs, they can be easily fooled by people who demagogue the issue like Trump.
4
What Trump taught the Republican party is that fiscal responsibility, law and order and states rights is old stuff. The new wave is that bigotry, xenophobia and homophobia directed by digital data appeals to Trump's core constituency.
Trump has also shown that lying, continuous public misinformation also works. He and the Republican party seemed to have learned from the Nixon impeachment process and that lying to Congress doesn't work, but stonewalling and pressing the limitations of Congress really does.
Trump won the keys to the candy store and now all the rats are running to get their share of the candy. Trump has shown that crime does pay, in fact it's part of his family business. If the Democrats cannot win the White House and Senate this time, this country will be surely lost for generations.
21
Here's a question: what happens to Republican voters who quit the party, I wonder? The data's there to be used and abused. Somehow or other I got on a Republican donor list and I get stern messages now and then that I haven't yet sent my donation to Trump. Democratic messages don't have the same threatening tone.
I was worried about what the big data Republican operatives could do to me, their Democratic enemy; but maybe the voters at risk of being threatened and hurt somehow are faithless Republicans. Because Trump and the gang are thugs and proud of it.
8
Parscale is working successfully, making money and deceiving the Republican voters. Then behind all this organized money machine there is Russia working hard to make possible a second mandate for Trump.
At this point I wonder who owns this country: the People or the Trumps?
1
Good governance; not an issue.
Competent leadership; who cares.
It's the money that matters. If the Washington "swamp" means control of public business by special interests, this is a muck fest. Republicans are like the forest of human batteries in The Matrix, there to pony up the money stuffing the bulging wallets of people who manipulate and lie to them.
I hope all the hard working Americans contributing "Red" are OK with buying mansions and Ferraris for Trump's team. At last I have an option to kick in to Act Blue (or not) when I donate.
4
@Some Dude
A not for profit versus and for profit corporation. One is accountable and dollars are traceable and one is not accountable at all. Guess which one is not. For profit organizations are spared from oversight.
4
MoveOn.Org, Emily's List, ActBlue have been established to help support and fund democrats who care about women's issues, progressive and moderate agendas, and for getting out the vote reaching out to as many people as possible. For the most part, Democrat organizational groups have started as grassroots, so people feel a real sense of ownership on a number of important issues. I see the gluttony and self-serving of the GOP firms hired to do fundraising for Trump, but it doesn't stop there because we have the most ill-equipped, ignorant, uncaring president in the history of this country continually raking in big bucks. This money is all for him, or Kushner, for his kids, so much of it kept hidden from view, which makes one think he continues to cheat the American people on a very grand scale. The people heading the GOP fundraising and publicity for MAGA campaign have merged seamlessly into the trump machine, they are brass, work on the edge, legal, but only just. They lie and cheat in how they use FaceBook and other media but nothing seems to stop their well oiled machinery. Good gracious, get them out in November.
5
It’s always the Ferrari that gives it away.
9
@Mia
Ya gotta have a sense of humor too. Good on ya!
2
Good.
Let’s see how their money, hunger for power and lack of caring about *anyone* work against the upcoming Coronavirus and world financial meltdown!
No pain no gain. This one’s gonna hurt. Self inflicted.
6
Obviously the big achievers in today’s politics are the Murdoch and Zuckerberg propaganda dispensing empires.
Americans consume more poison from these wicked people than they do sugar.
8
By November, the way the current architecture is building due to this virus, the down ballot GOP will be running from Trump like he's contagious.
2
In many countries, this would be considered a criminal enterprise, full of graft and corruption, and prosecution would commence. In Trump's United States, with a toothless and neutered Justice Department, it's the "new normal".
November 2020 can't come soon enough.
13
The Walter Cronkite Republican notes that Senator Lindsey Graham got it right the first time.
2
The establishment of a kleptocracy.
Guarding and preserving our democratic republic is now the job of every American.
The GOP is at war with America.
Rise to the challenge!
3
The names say it all:
ActBlue
vs
WinRed.
The Rs will do anything (and are) to win, while the Ds believe there is some 'moral victory' to 'acting' like proper Democrats.
Until the Ds understand that the for the Trumpista's and the Putinista's, all that matters is winning, America and free-thinking people are doomed to division .... gaining the popular vote (when people manage to actually vote), but losing regularly where it matters, in the real world of power.
Corona is a fascinating subset.
When you read the R media, it is the same message, whatever it takes for the Rs to win, regardless of the public well-being. A few people die, no big deal as long as they can eventually figure how to blame Obama and the Ds and keep the Rs in power.
Seems democracy is over in the U.S.
Evil triumphs.
2
Well now we have the complete destruction of America with the Trump insanity, mark the drs words all are at risk.
Trump ignorance and his family is on stage to the entire world
My goodness how ignorant can one family be ?
The founding fathers never thought of such greedy people destroying the country . Who would of thought this?
2
No need to wonder why so many people jump over others to get on the trump train. Money falls off it in every direction. How else could that swine of a man attract “supporters?”
6
All Trump's men, all their venal, criminal, naked self-dealing and incompetence is about to get hit by two large trucks called:
Coronavirus
and
Economic Downturn
I don't care how much money they raise, the tidal wave of a public sick of Trump and the slime suit he wears will wash him and his unholy cabal out of power less than 8 months from now.
No stopping those trucks or the blame.
Here it comes.
3
Ms Shields picture shows her wearing a small cross. I wonder what Jesus would say to her? I doubt she would like what He had to say.
5
Thank you Antonin Scalia for Citizens United. I hope you're enjoying warm days.
18
@Etienne Be sure to thank Clarence Thomas, who 'neglected' to disclose that his wife received $600K in 'speaking and consulting fees' from the Kochs before that decision.
Did he recuse himself? No.
Was he impeached for corruption? No.
9
I can't read it all. I just get sick to my stomach.
10
"The Donald" always takes out money : (
2
“ Show Me The Money “. This entire bunch is sordid beyond belief. Campaign “ surrogates “ demanding their Check ?
Just another TrumpScam.
Sad.
9
Read the article…………..
It is the perfect description of a political coup……….
The Republican voters haven't clue as to what's happened, what's going on or what the Trump led Republican Party actually is today……….
Here's a chilling clue for the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" Republican faithful, the "base" ----
Welcome to the Germany of the 1930s…………..
29
Well what did you expect to surround this President, when one of his major goals in gaining office was to make money on the deal? A principal aim of Trump has always been to profit financially from his Presidential status, and now the entire Republican Party campaign apparatus seems to have been converted into a for-profit enterprise for the benefit of its hustling managers.
86
As Will Rodgers said “ we have the best politicians that money can buy”. Their national parties seem to be doing pretty well too. No wonder we can’t get campaign finance reform.
32
Enter Mike Bloomberg. If there is one person who can offset the Republican feeding trough, it is the former NYC Mayor who has publicly committed spending millions to completely update and re-charge the Democratic Party's fundraising and data science strategy.
Just consider the vast amounts of money mentioned in this article that the Republicans are spending on Trump's re-election campaign. They are tossing around so much cash that even Trump himself is alarmed. And wee thought he was draining the swamp.
If ever there was a situation which called for fighting fire with fire, it is in campaign finance & spending. Bloomberg has pledged to take this on, and if the DNC had any smarts (it doesn't), he'd be named 2020 Democratic Campaign Chair. Like yesterday.
34
@PaulB67
Sure, for now, but we can't keep going down this road.
2
@Some Dude: entirely agree. A Democratic-controlled Congress must pass new legislation overturning Citizens United and related laws. but to get to that point, we need to win this election, and we'd be foolish not to accept and use Bloomberg's help.
6
@PaulB67
I am thankful to Mr. Bloomberg for his money to help the Democrats. Eventually I would like Citizens United demolished and ALL big money out of politics but for now, a big thank you to Mike!!
2
Looting the government or any entity associated with government has always been the grifter's holy grail of goals. Trump has his education secretary in charge of getting government money to private religious schools. Her brother Erik Prince, who started Blackwater, the private military operator, coordinates what Trump would like to have--a "secret military."
71
This is great reporting and offers new insight on a terrifying trend: the GOP is being swallowed up by the very force they thought they could control. I do not want to call it Trumpism as it started before him with anti-establishment, hyperpartisan folks like Gingrich and will outlast Trump when some other AstroTurf, Fox News-sanctified actor takes command of an increasingly totalitarian apparatus of the party. It was already in control of Conservative media, then the White House, then the courts, then Congressional politics. Now it is gaining control of Republican election analytics. In their craven lust for power, the GOP have set in motion a dangerous engine.
62
Was Frankenstein equivalent to an engine?
1
Only six weeks ago Mitch missed his first clear opportunity to elevate Pence to President. If the Republican establishment was asleep, it probably just woke up this morning.
18
@Old Mate >> Das Ru
Pence would not do as good a job making money for them. He can't even go to lunch alone with a woman.
Laughing hard here. Its all about power seats and money. Always has been. Why else would most of them be pushing 80 or 90 and refuse to retire. Grassley and Feinstein lead this pack at age 87. Pelosi, 80 Waters 83 , Leahy,80 Schumer, McConnell,80 and many many others not far behind. This has to stop. Walter Cronkite was retired mandatory at age 65 in 1982 from CBS. Its crazy that they run unchallenged. Hopefully people will see that the way you drain this swamp it to run for office.
3
@This just in
Do you think after the new bear market started today that they will continue to overlook the pattern in his risk appetite?
1
Yet more evidence of why Democrats need all the funding they can get from any friendly (legal) source, such as billionaires of good conscience (Steyer,Bloomberg). Republicans will use all the dark money they can get to power their propaganda machine. We're not going to contend with this by only accepting small donations from people.
23
Very interesting article. We must remember, though, that none of this excuses the Republican Senators who bowed to Trump and voted to acquit him despite the overwhelming evidence of his autocratic and treasonous behavior. Say what you will about the machinery behind the scenes, enough of the evidence is all in plain sight. Elected officials who know right from wrong are the ultimate safeguard. When they put their personal interests (e.g., campaign dollars and personal financial well-being) ahead of the nation’s, they have failed us all.
Should our democracy collapse completely, it will be due primarily to their violation of their pledge to uphold the Constitution and their abdication of the responsibility to be decent human beings. McConnell, Collins, Alexander, Johnson, Gardner...these are the men and women who have failed the nation. That is how history will remember them.
59
@Eric C. Agreed & let's not forget Lindsey Graham on that list of those who have abdicated their responsibility to our Constitution and human decency.
5
@Eric C.
History is negotiable now. Republicans are operating on an entirely different set of "facts," and they're busy shedding the documentary evidence contradicting them.
2
I follow American politic since the1960s. I never thought that I will see one day a president having a total control over his party like Donald Trump. LBJ and Nixon, two strong presidents whom knew how to pressure their respective party to support their policies (remember the Johnson's treatment), still had to deal with dissents. The Republican Party of Donald Trump is the No Dissent Party. The party is now a cult, and if you do not adored the leader you are out of the cult party. But there is a good news, Joseph Staline was sending the dissenters of his party to the Gulag. Donald Trump just destroyed them with tweeter.
20
All other parties of the world now have to do the same. And clearly the conservatives have money and an advantage. Prepare for a dictatorial earth, where tyrants wage wars against each other, at least for the remainder of the 21st century.
3
The radical right is at war with democracy and will do anything to 'win'.
They have slipped the surly bonds of the republic to touch the face of Trumpian fraud and right-wing corruption and they're not coming back.
Democrats, independents and those few Republicans with a conscience better wake up and register and vote in historic numbers against these bulldozers of the republic.
Guess who needs taxpayer-funded, publicly funded campaign financing to eradicate the swamp of corruption ?
The United States of America.
November 3 2020.
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@Socrates
I would add that we need an ownership right of personal data. These dirt bags ought to have to pay people for the right to use their information.
10
Trump has shown some of us who are fiscal conservatives that we will have no choice but to switch political parties in the upcoming elections in order to protect our nation from a dictator, the very concern most of the Founding Fathers. They warned us of this problem possibly occurring and hence their need for the Second Amendment which, by the way, was written in order for the independent states to have protection against a possible monarch, excuse me, dictator in the White House who would work to control all of us and not what it is used for today.
30
First order of business for the new President must be to take steps to undo Citizens United.
43
It will take a huge pro Sanders Congressional majority to undo this GOP "for profit" --personal and corporate--political system.
Otherwise "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" will kick in. It's already started.
That's government as Kleptocracy--well beyond Aristocracy--all with the blessing of Trumpies.
Those Democrats jumping on the Biden Bandwagon say NO! to "Yes we can [stop the slide]" It just seems to side with Obama; but there's no hope..
Hope is just what's left in Pandora's Box after all the evils escape. True, Hope is pointless without the evils, but Hope is also pointless without a chance.
Marketing perverts not only the Constitution and all logic and evidence based forms of due process. Reason oozes into Persuasion. Truth oozes into myth.
4
@Michael Kubara
Vote blue, no matter who.
3
Assuming we survive to the next election and that it even happens, and assuming trump loses, there must be numerous investigations (minus obstruction), numerous criminal cases, and many, many convictions. No Nixon style pardoning this time! Not when was his administration has conducted its activities with such blatant and shameless profiteering. Let us hope to see this administration and its cronies dressed in orange jumpsuits and living in new “restrictive” accommodations.
26
@Paul Toensing Regardless of what it takes, trump will not lose. Trump's parasitic corruption and breathtaking evil have become too systemic, powerful and emboldened. Forty percent of Americans support him, not the Constitution.
3
This from the person who continuously tweets about how the Democrats have stolen the Presidency from Sen. Sanders.
8
RE: " give them greater operational flexibility, given the constraints of campaign-finance laws."
This, in a nutshell is the basis of Trump and Republican thinking. It is "How can I manipulate the system to my advantage? What can I get away with?"
It is never "what's the right thing to do?" or complying with the spirit of the law. In fact since so many laws are written by conservatives I believe they are written in a way to allow just exactly the kind end runs and manipulations that they would do.
RE: "The Trump family looms over the whole operation, starting with Mr. Kushner." "Parscale Strategy has also been used to make payments out of public view to Lara Trump, the wife of the president’s son Eric, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., "
"make payments out of public view" like a crime syndicate.
This sounds like the Trump Foundation all over again.
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There is nothing new or different being offered by Trump’s Make America Great campaign, or the people who support it. It’s 1930’s—1940’s fascism. His supporters may or may not know that because most Americans don’t really pay much attention to our country’s politics, and/or politicians, until a few months before an election. Then there are the others, the higher you go up the support chain, (think of it as a triangle), who know exactly what’s going on.
65
Kimberly Guilfoyle asking why her check is always late - classic.
105
America has never been ready to confront its fundamental proclivity toward authoritarianism. Until it does, the reasons for Trump's ascent will remain a mystery.
26
@Matt Proud "the reasons for Trump's ascent will remain a mystery."
So you've never seen Fox news? It's been on televison for over twenty years now.
55
@Matt Proud - Just as life would be impossible without chemicals, Trump would be impossible without money funneled in under the helpful hands of Citizens United.
15
News Corporation found an existing captive audience. America was ready and willing for them to fan the flames.
5
"Working under the aegis of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law..." how does he find the time , working on Middle East peace, selling weapons to the Saudis, streamlining the government , making real estate deals and avoiding paying tax? What we have here is the making of a new American role model, supplanting Washington, Lincoln, and FDR.
45
The Trump cohort and especially bone-saw loving Kushner are entangled in politics for one sole reason: personal enrichment. Altruism, service to country and the common good are incomprehensible to them.
389
...criminal behavior is so obvious. The GOP are corrupt beyond criminal, it's far closer to treason and war mongering.
283
Reading this article was like reading the plot line of The Wolf of Wall Street. I hated that movie for its unbridled aggrandizement of greed.
70
Of course Private Money now = Dark Money.
Of course this would be a weakness for the T/Trump/Tea party.
11
When I read this article the image that popped into my head was of a sea leviathan, dead on the ocean floor, being feasted upon by scavengers.
13
Greed knows no boundries.
105
Team Trump will use every crooked trick available to them. Witness another manipulated video -- this time of Joe Biden -- retweeted by Trump himself. Never even mind his horrendous policies... this level of behavior should have been disqualifying long ago.
103
If I were a Republican this would make me quite upset...
25
All these Republican instant millionaires fleecing the biggest con man of them all, Donald Trump. It seems to be ruffling his feathers a bit. And the one profiting the most seems to be the other real estate investment loser, Jared Kushner.
47
This fascist conspiracy is the fruit of Citizens United. The United States will degenerate into a banana republic ruled by dictators unless its legislators have the courage to require TOTAL transparency on political activity. Then Citizens United can be repealed by constitutional amendment. Given the control of the Senate by Mitch McConnell, who is quite happy with unaccountable corruption and the death of a democratic republic, i am not holding my breath.
American politics as operating today would make the generation that won WWII vomit. Swastikas as protest ; what has the USA come to?
239
I'm looking forward to Trump renaming the Republican Party as "Trump Party." The Trump Party Platform will be to eat Trump Steaks at Trump Hotels while drinking Trump Wine and electing Trump Minions.
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@DJ Kaminsky
Trump Oligarch Party.
"TOP" that would fit within trump's limited vocabulary.
10
Stop trying to identify a single cause or process that has put Trump is command of the GOP. His election was a textbook definition of a Black Swan event--where a series of variables perfectly aligned---and 77,000 votes later he is President. In effect, we are seeing another Black Swan lite event playing out right now, where a series of variables--a pandemic being one---are forming---the resurrection of Biden---to dislodge Trump from the Oval office.
49
It was also stolen
33
What an incredible maze of interlocking companies; thanks again to the NYTimes for some good journalism. Reading it twice, actually graphing it out (two sheets of legal paper and ran out of room)- it appears the Republican Party has been privatized. I had to chuckle a bit that the losers appear to be the small Republican donors- and the Koch machine- talk about strange bedfellows.
It’s always been a ‘team of users’, but this article attempts to chronicle it. What is probably more amazing is that nothing will be done to stop it. No campaign finance reforms, no incorporation reforms, no accountability in any form.
And you wonder why Senator Sanders looks better and better??!