4/4/21 Trump's Campaign Snookered Donors for Almost $125 Million

In case there are lingering doubts that Donald Trump is a scammer, consider the scheme that Trump's campaign used to get a de facto no-interest loan from its donors leading into the 2020 election. It was reported on Saturday in the New York Times.

Online sites are popular for campaign donations. Most of the time, the sites ask donors to check a box if they want to "opt in" to making monthly donations. But the Trump campaign decided in Spring 2020 to make that question an "opt out." If you weren't paying attention, you'd be on the hook for recurring payments until you put a stop to them yourself.

Not everyone does pay attention. One 63-year-old man in Kansas City, with terminal cancer and living on just $1,000 a month, heard Rush Limbaugh make a plea for Trump contributions. He made a generous $500 donation. Then, over the next month, his account was billed again and again until his bank account was frozen. He found out when his rent check bounced. He'd been taken for a total of $3,000.

The man was in hospice care the whole time.

As time went on, the verbiage for the automatic opt-in would get longer and twistier and harder to understand, to the point that even veteran political operatives fell for the scheme. Some donors were convinced their identities had been stolen, and contacted their banks.

Next, another opt-in appeared that automatically doubled the donation. Then another opt-in was for an automatic contribution on Trump's birthday on June 14. Another was an invitation to join the president's MVP Club for $100. Then, to become a part of a "cash blitz" for $100. Late in the campaign, the opt-in for monthly donations was changed to weekly donations. The latter opt-in was what caught the Kansas City man.

The Trump campaign had to refund almost $123 million in donations given via the private "WinRed" fundraising system. That's a stratospheric total for the election business, and more than 10 percent of all the money donated to Trump. In comparison, Biden's campaign had to refund about $21 million. But Biden's refunds were steady through the year, while Trump's escalated with the increasing use of opt-ins.

The campaign had used that money for an interest-free loan just when it needed money the most.

Those donors probably still voted for him!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/03/us/politics/trump-donations.html?fbclid=IwAR2gjhGYPdrEkJY5Ov6KHCHAXi3nxjHcLdTS_lYsUsZCo6fF33xNApbwo7M
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/trump-campaign-fundraising-tricks-refunds-winred.html?fbclid=IwAR0Wx1gyuyaZEvG31g7LcYkT4vO4sDB_wGXOCWCrJQDR6eCxWMkw61lsFK8
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-campaign-scam-new-york-times_n_6068ce06c5b68872efe74771?fbclid=IwAR0dx3QYIkE7QtUuaZv3PlTUGlm9TWzZnj9eKn8ni9cKbm-pzAC1xb0yoUo