In Doug’s thread downstairs, valued commenter Scott linked an OpenSecrets analysis that suggests Donald Trump is bleeding the RNC dry. An excerpt:
Even as talk in political circles has focused on the Trump campaign’s apparent reliance on the Republican National Committee for much of its basic voter mobilization effort in November, reports filed with the FEC over the weekend show the RNC having arguably the worst fundraising July in at least four presidential cycles…
Removing these accounting adjustments and restricted funds leaves the RNC with less than $15 million in fully usable contributions received in July. The table below shows the breakdown of RNC receipts by category for each July from 2004 to 2016. In addition to across the board declines in sources of contributions compared to past presidential years, the RNC cash balance at the end of July was less than half of its comparable balance in the last three presidential campaigns.
How much RNC money has flowed into Trump’s pockets via facility rentals, etc.? It kinda looks like Trump is screwing the RNC, just as he’s scammed virtually every other human being or organization foolish enough to fall for his bullshit or put faith in his alleged business acumen.
To paraphrase a wag in the OpenSecrets comment thread, if Trump manages to roger the RNC like so many hapless Trump U hopefuls — if he sucks every nickel out of that odious collection of craven cowards and drives up Republican seat turnover margins — he might accidentally live out the motto on his ill-fitting, stupid-looking hat.
HinTN
That’s all well and good but don’t mean diddley if we don’t work our trails off to GOTV and manifest a majority in the House for the first two years.
I got my letter from Nancy and sent my $50 to the DCCC, with a note telling them I damn well expect them to use it where it needs using to make sure she’s Speaker one more time.
MattF
And note, in passing, that the Clinton campaign collected $143 MILLION in August. A lot of that is Dem party money– campaign cash on hand is $68 MILLION.
Corner Stone
But wait! We have been assured by a New York City Financial Services Expert that HRC screwed up big time by focusing on fundraising in August! All is lost! Woe is me! Woe!
HinTN
@Corner Stone: Just another Villager.
Hunter Gathers
If there is one positive of this tire fire of an election, it’s that we’ll get an exact number of how much of the country is vulnerable to outright scams. I’m putting it at about 45%. His scams are about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face, but rich and poor alike are running over each other to give him their money. By this point it should be obvious to anyone with more than 2 functioning brain cells that giving him money is dumb thing to do. But they do it anyway, since he’ll put whoever is slighting them in their place (black people, Hispanics, women who won’t fuck them, the neighbor with a better job, that dog that won’t shut up).
They’re giving money to a cartoon in a human suit who can’t find an American bank who will loan him money.
MattF
@Hunter Gathers: Speaking (somewhat OT) of scams, I’m still getting threatening fake IRS messages left on my landline– I’ve reported it to TIGTA, one can hope they’ll shut down the reply phone#. That said, how can anyone fall for a scam that demands you send them payment in an iTunes gift credit? Mind boggles.
dmsilev
@Hunter Gathers: Look on the bright side. After the election, Trump will continue to scam these people and will blow it all on gold leaf and stuffed lions, leaving less money available for other scammers who might be at least vaguely interested in spending it on political ads and the like.
LAO
@MattF: I’m getting those calls too! It’s crazy. As a general rule, the IRS will never call to inform you of an issue with your return/ failure to pay taxes. That’s always done by letter.
Iowa Old Lady
@MattF: I got a couple of those, but they stopped when I just ignored them. Maybe you look more gullible. :-)
MattF
@Iowa Old Lady: They’d tapered off for a while, then I got four calls in one day, so I submitted the official complaint. Enough is enough.
lollipopguild
@Corner Stone: Your new name is WOEISME?
lollipopguild
@Hunter Gathers: “cartoon in a human suit” Yes.
debbie
@MattF:
I had a few a while ago and they’ve started up again. Agent Steve Martin must have run out of gift cards.
Van Buren
@Iowa Old Lady: We went away for a week and there were 5 “this is your final notice” messages on our phone when we returned.
Corner Stone
@lollipopguild: It’s inspired by the vampire baby from the Twilight series.
Ken
@Hunter Gathers:
I have to disagree with you there, and the numbers Betty posted show it. The rich aren’t opening their checkbooks as much this time around. I suspect that’s because they read the FEC reports, and spotted the (ahem) strong correlation between funds raised, and the rental price of offices at Trump Towers.
petesh
Trump’s not doing well in the vital Koch segment of the electorate. Anyone know how he’s doing in the Adelson quarter?
Ken
@Corner Stone: Any day now, those trucks full of UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH will show up at Trump campaign headquarters.
(Whatever happened to that guy?)
Yutsano
@MattF: @LAO: ‘TIGTA is trying to get them to stop but it’s becoming overwhelming. It’s not helping that a lot of the sources for the calls are coming from countries less than friendly to the IRS. The only suggestion I can make is report it every time. And bug Congress to fund them because they get the Treasury axe also.
MattF
@petesh: Last I heard Adelson is still uncommitted. I’m guessing that Shel is concerned that his hard-earned bucks will end up lining Donald’s pockets.
Turgidson
@MattF:
Adelson’s on board for the Trumpocalypse, pretty sure.
lollipopguild
@Ken: Speaking of guys-what ever happened to that guy who promised us that Trump was going to turn his Twitter feed into a flamethrower that trump would use on Hitler/Stalin Clinton?
Corner Stone
@Ken:
He finally saw the error of his ways, repented and settled down with an honest job.
He’s now a personal assistant to that Sham-Wow info-ad pitchman.
Doug R
@Yutsano: It would help if phone number spoofing were illegal. And if phone companies cared to invest in technology to do something about it.
Oldgold
Today Trump objectified Clonton by derisively commenting on her appearance.
“Does she look presidential, fellas? Give me a break.”
“Fellas?” Sexist much?
Oldgold
Today Trump objectified Clinton by derisively commenting on her appearance.
“Does she look presidential, fellas? Give me a break.”
“Fellas?” Sexist much?
Kay
They asked a bad question and they allowed Trump to answer it imprecisely. They didn’t make it clear what “that” refers to- it could mean the donation or it could mean Trump University.
Under the Clinton Rules, Bondi now has to release any communication with Donald Trump Inc. regarding this donation. It’s already all muddled up. You don’t let him refer to “that”. What? The donation or the investigation?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Thanks, BC!
@MattF: We’ve gotten half a dozen of them as answering machine messages at home. They’re laughable. The area codes of the messages don’t make any sense to be from an IRS office, for one thing.
At work, I’ve been getting calls that start with a long pause, then a bunch of boiler-room like noise, then a foreign voice asking to speak to the “company owner”. It’s happened at least 3 times. I’m not sure what that scam is, but it’s clearly something shady. They never leave a message.
It’s the new spam – first was e-mail, then web comments, now phone calls. I suppose we’ll have them on our cars and medical equipment next…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I feel like I’ve been retrained now to never answer the phone. Too bad about polling companies not getting any responses these days. In any event, thank FSM for CallerID.
Arclite
Meh, there will always be rich fucks that
a. Hate teh poors
b. Hate teh blahs
c. Feel that they alone earned their 100s of millions of dollars and deserve every penny, and Republicans are going to lower their taxes.
The RNC will be funded again as long as private money is allowed in politics.
Let’s have all elections be publicly funded, then we’ll get real laws that actually benefit people.
Wally Ballou
It’s being reported that Phyllis Schlafly has died.
I know it’s good form to only speak kindly of the recently deceased, so let me just say that it’s a shame she couldn’t have remained with us a while longer. Say, long enough to see the first female POTUS get sworn in on 1/20/17.
prob50
As a general rule, the IRS will never call to inform you of an issue with your return/ failure to pay taxes. That’s always done by letter.
Kay
No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t because they asked him what he expected to get in return, which is a terrible question unless they were expecting a full confession, and then they let him say he never spoke to Bondi about “that”. What? The donation or the investigation into Trump University?
I swear to God, it’s hopeless. What kind of a question is that? They thought he’d say “I gave her the money to quash the investigation”?
hovercraft
@Oldgold:
His campaign manager has already sent out a tweet with a clip of Hillary’s allergy attack this afternoon, saying that she’s allergic to the press. Classy operation they’re running over there. I thought Kellyanne was supposed to be a moderating influence.
Sigh.
Mai.naem.mobile
@Van Buren: My BIL is kind of the treasurer at our temple and they got a call saying their electricity was going to be disconnected for non payment. My BIL knowing full well it was a scam played with the guy,asking for the amount,the Western Union info etc etc put the guy on a hold and then told the guy he had just paid the bill to somebody else who had called two days before,via Western Union. He acted all confused as to why this guy was calling, did the company have their communication channels mixed up and told the guy to call him back when he figured it out. Of course he didn’t get a call back.
hovercraft
@Wally Ballou:
I think of her as being in the same category as Scalia, she’s responsible for the suffering of millions. She was instrumental in the defeat of the ERA.
hovercraft
@efgoldman:
Snort, I really did LOL.
Wally Ballou
@efgoldman: I’m thinking this would also be acceptable.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@efgoldman: Somehow I knew that was what was on the other side of that link before even clicking on it. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
mapaghimagisk
Its only bleeding the RNC dry if Trump loses. I intend to make sure he loses.
lollipopguild
@Wally Ballou: I see you had to include The Lullaby League.
Capri
I get calls from person impersonating a state trooper asking for money for their charity. They call you by your first name and have the same on the-muscle tone one might expect from an actual state trooper if he suspected you of having crystal meth in your trunk. The real state troopers actually put out a press release saying that they don’t raise money over the phone there are so many scammers.
Randy Khan
@Doug R:
It’s against the FCC’s rules, but the long distance companies don’t really have the tools to do with it. The FCC actually has been working on it for a while, but in the age of IP-based services, it’s harder than it might seem.
Eric U.
@MattF: someone called the other day asking for my wife and wouldn’t say why she was calling. I hung up and then realized it might be a Clinton volunteer. The Clinton pros have all identified why they were calling, but maybe a volunteer wouldn’t. Hope I didn’t scare them too much, but since we only get scam calls or calls from Clinton, it’s to be expected. Dunno how come we never get any calls from the democrats for me, it’s starting to hurt my feelings a little
Sam
@MattF: I don’t get the IRS calls, but I do get the periodic “we’re calling about your ‘credit card’ balance” calls.
Of course, they say ‘credit card’ rather than the name of my actual cc, and aside from the fact that I pay my balance off in full every month, I use mint and various apps/alerts to (possibly obsessively) track all of my activity, so I know exactly what’s going on with my cards. I just laugh and say ‘I’m not a sucker’ and hang up. Then I block the number in my phone.
redshirt
@efgoldman: You don’t have ANY credit cards? I respect the principle, but that must make it hard to do things these days. I take it you never shop online?
Pogonip
@Hunter Gathers: “…that dog that won’t shut up…”
Not only is Thurston ruining Cole’s dinners, he’s driving Cole’s neighbors to contribute to Trump. He’s a Republican stealth dog, I tell ya!
Pogonip
@redshirt: Once you establish a business relationship with Amazon they will let you pay out of your checking account. I think it took me 3 or 4 orders.
WaterGirl
@redshirt: They also take debit cards.
Vor
Check out Nomorerobo.com. I still get a lot of robo calls but I never answer unless it rings at least twice. Nomorerobo kills the robo calls after the first ring.
The Lodger
@efgoldman: We have a very large cylindrical gong by our front door. Putting the phone inside it and doing a couple of sharp rings might suffice.
Old Broad in California
@MattF: I got a phone call from someone saying I had failed to appear for Jury Duty and there was a warrant out for my arrest. I figured it was BS, but another person around here fell for it and wound up buying, and giving to the scammers, $5,000 in Office Depot and supermarket gift cards to “avoid getting arrested”. Who falls for these???
LiberalTarian
Wow, right?
Buffalo Rude
@Hunter Gathers:
BOOM, as some are want to say, goes the dynamite!
JR in WV
I love those “I’m calling from Microsoft Security because we’ve detected a virus cluster on your computer!” calls. They tell me that they will walk me through fixing the infections, all I have to do is follow their directions.
I spent 30 years working with software, not a systems admin, but still you have to know your way around. Then when I retired, I quit using Microsoft tools of any kind. None. No windows, no office, nothing.
So I’m not vulnerable to the scam in any way. They’ll ask me to click, and I say OK. They ask if there’s a firewall, well, yes and no. It’s on a server I’m connected to, not on this box. Etc. Usually I can keep them on the phone asking me stupid questions for a while, and then I confess that I don’t run MS anymore, once I retired and didn’t have to support Windows anymore I started using Unix.
No money in them from me… same for the IRS… give them a bunch of made-up numbers. Waste their time. Laugh at them… mention my brother with the CIA.
NJ Maine Coon Slave
@Corner Stone: HRC has got the fundraising locked up. Maybe I’m a softie but Every other email usually has me sending a few bucks her way. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Oh and t-shirts. Gotta have the t-shirts.
Aleta
@NJ Maine Coon Slave: The Maine Coon should get the credit for softening you.
ETA The M Coon here made me say that.
glory b
@JR in WV: My mom fell for the “virus I your computer ” thing.
She said a window opened up saying that there was a virus that was currently taking all of her credit card and email information and that she should call them immediately. Someone with an Indian accent then walked her through the “fix” and charged her something like $119.00.
Since she uses the computer only for communicating with her friends and relatives on facebook and has no credit card info on the computer, I told her she should have said that she was good, nothing to get here, but at least it wasn’t much (Why yes, she is pretty old).
I’m staying tuned for further scams. I’m thinking that they may think if they got her once, she’s an easy mark.
sam
@Old Broad in California: you know, I thought my parents were savvier than that, and they probably wouldn’t fall for a gift card scam, but they TOTALLY fell for the ‘you need to upgrade your computer software’ scam.
My dad had, like, an 8-year old Dell laptop that was still chugging along with, like, windows 95, at the time without (obviously) any service plan. when I heard about it, I nearly took all of my parents’ computer equipment and threw it in the fireplace. Instead, I forced my dad to buy a new laptop and start from scratch, and we drilled holes in the old laptop for good measure so that no one could access the data on it again. I also made him migrate things like quickbooks from the antiquated desktop software to quickbooks online, so that he wasn’t reliant on a specific computer anymore.
Of course, this is a man who still insists on using a taped together blackberry. When he finally condescended to allow me to set up a gmail account recently, I tried to add it to his antique, and gmail wouldn’t allow us to install it on his phone, because “the device does not contain modern security protocols”. Yeah.