Trump Begins Shakedown of Republican Candidates
Kick back scheme targets down ballot Republicans
According to the latest publicly available campaign fundraising reports, Donald Trump’s campaign is trailing President Joe Biden’s campaign by more than $100 million in cash on hand.
Trump, however, has apparently come up with a new strategy to help close that gap: kick backs from down ballot Republican candidates who use Trump’s name, image or likeness in their own advertising and fund raising appeals.
Trump wants at least 5% of any money raised by any Republican candidate or campaign from any advertisement that uses his name, image or likeness.
Trump’s campaign notified other Republican candidates of its demand on April 15. It made clear 5% is a floor., the bare minimum, and that Trump and campaign officials will be watching.
It’s a very odd - some would say desperate - development. Some would also say it kind of smacks of extortion.
Candidates for the U.S. House and Senate, gubernatorial and other down ballot offices - from both parties - for decades have been splashing the names and photos of their respective party’s presidential candidates on their campaign literature without paying anybody for the “right” to do so. It was part of running on the same ticket, of being on the same team, of creating coat tails, to help the party win elections.
That was back before Trump took over the Republican Party and made it all about him. What’s the saying? “There is no “Team” in Trump? That’s not the saying but it should to be.
No word so far on whether Republican candidates will have to pay more - or less - to use Trump’s criminal mug shot in their campaign literature.
Or whether that 5% minimum kickback will increase if Trump is convicted and the Republican candidate is able to use a photograph with Trump in his actual prison cell.
Who knows? I don’t. I’ve given up guessing how much lower that guy can go.
What is especially strange about Trump’s new money making scheme is that he is widely blamed for tanking Republican chances in at least the last four election cycles. Now he wants to hook up a siphon hose to the campaign cash gas tank of every Republican campaign and start pumping cash out of their bank accounts into his?
Granted he needs the money.
It’s common knowledge that Trump is funneling political funds to pay his massive legal bills. The hundreds of millions of dollars in fines he will eventually likely have to pay - really pay - aren’t going to pay themselves. He’s clearly not as rich as he says he is. He’s been reduced to selling Bibles for $59.99 and gold colored tennis shoes. His presidency, which turned into nearly a full time grift for himself and his family, is long gone. The loss of that grifting income has to hurt, too.
Biden is clearly kicking his butt in raising campaign funds.
But seriously.
Are Republicans really going to stand for this?
Are they really going to allow the man whose recklessness and corruption cost Republican victories in the past four election cycles to take money from down ballot candidates for the “privilege” of running on the same ticket with him, and putting that fact in their campaign advertisements?
The only thing like Trump’s latest corrupt “grift” I’ve ever seen was the corrupt Republican “Iowa Straw Poll” scam for Republican presidential candidates. It ran for about 35 years. The Iowa Republican Party used to run it each summer in Ames before the actual real Iowa Caucuses were held later that winter.
It was strictly a fundraiser, even though the Iowa Republican Party sold it as some kind of crystal ball that would predict the winner of the Republican Iowa Caucuses. It was no such thing. Don’t believe me? Ask President Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) who “won” the Republican Iowa Straw Poll (actually, “bought it” is more accurate) in 2011.
It started in 1979, and routinely raised a million dollars and more each year for the state Republican party. It was - pure and simple - an obscene shake down of Republican presidential candidates. It was a “pay to play” corrupt event where Republican candidates paid millions over the years to participate, fully knowing it was corrupt.
Iowa Republicans charged Republican presidential candidates tens of thousands of dollars - in an auction, no less - for the right to pitch a tent or put up a table outside Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State University campus to pass out campaign literature before people voted in the so-called “straw poll.”
It cost $25 - $30 a pop to get a ticket that allowed a person to vote in the “straw poll.”
Republican presidential campaigns routinely bought the ballots/tickets in bulk and handed them out to people who promised to vote for their candidate. Those people were often bussed in en masse, often from other states. God only knew who really put the money up to pay for their tickets/ballots.
Cheating was an open secret. Fraud - as in multiple voting - was merely winked at by Iowa Republican party officials who were only too happy to take the $25 -$30 it cost to vote.
All this from a party that wants us to believe it cares about election integriy.
It was a huge, corrupt embarrassment, but as we’ve learned since Trump arrived on the political scene, the Republican party is not a party that embarrasses easily.
Iowa Republicans embraced it. Republican presidential campaigns ponied up for years, no questions asked.
Finally, in 2015, a group of candidates had enough, said “To h*ll with it,” and announced they would not play the game any more. A bit later, Governor Terry Branstad, under whose nose the stinking mess had operated and festered for decades observed that he thought maybe it had “outlived its usefulness.”
It finally faded away shortly thereafter.
I’m old enough to remember when political parties raised money for campaigns, not the other way around.
The Iowa Straw Poll Republicans operated was a disgusting exception to that rule. It finally collapsed after years of committing political highway robbery on its own presidential candidates who inexplicably took decades to tell the Iowa Republican Party what they could do with their shakedown event and where they could put it. (Hint: the sun doesn’t shine there.)
Leave it to Donald Trump to resurrect a bad and corrupt idea - shaking down candidates for money to finance his own campaign (and legal bills, too, no doubt).
Will Republicans reject Trump’s self-serving, corrupt directive? Not likely. They are more likely to simply acquiesce, send him their money, and nominate him for president again.
Honest Abe Lincoln (whose death occurred exactly 159 years to the day when Trump’s 5% kick back letter was sent to Republican campaigns) would be so proud of his party these days, wouldn’t he?
That would be a hard no.
This column appears as part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative (IWC). The Collaborative is an amazing resource. IWC writers cover Iowa and subjects important to Iowa in an independent effort that seeks to fill the coverage gaps left by traditional news media due coverage cutbacks due to changing market forces.
All IWC columns are supported entirely by reader subscriptions. None of us accept paid advertising. Your paid subscription is the only source of revenue to support this effort.
Both paid and free subscriptions are offered. You can show your support for continued access to the wide range of news, analysis, commentary and opinion by subscribing. Please sample several IWC columns listed below, and subscribe to as many as you choose, free or paid.
Also feel free to share our columns on your own Substack and social media platforms to help others discover and support our work.
Thanks for reading, sharing and subscribing! We appreciate your support!
Here’s the list of who we are, and links to access our columns:
Just when you think this madman could not possibly go any lower......................he does. This is the business model he used for years. He sold his name. I hope the down ballot candidates do not fall for this, but I have no illusion that they will find a spine.
As for the straw poll?! I always thought it was a joke and the history lesson you laid out today shows that it was little more than that. It was a money making joke. One August day long ago I was standing in the boarding area at O'Hare and noticed that Eugene Robinson from WAPO was getting ready to board the plane for Des Moines so he could cover the "Straw Poll" and I thought someone needs to tell these journalists that they are paying way too much attention to this goat rodeo.
Thanks, Barry. I had forgotten about the straw poll. I loved your take on it—not exactly a proud moment in Iowa history.
It is not surprising that rich donors buy their way into Trump’s graces, but it astonishes me that regular voters with smaller donations would contribute to his grift.
Your voice is so important, and I am grateful for your work.