Add this to the file on how Donald Trump doomed his own presidential bid: The billionaire candidate who promised to self-fund his campaign is now stiffing it instead in the crucial closing weeks of the race.
The Republican nominee has forked over a measly $33,000 so far in October, leaving him roughly $44 million shy of his pledge to donate $100 million to his effort by Election Day. That, despite Trump’s campaign promising in fundraising appeals to match to provide a double or triple match to donations from others. Maybe most strikingly, Trump’s personal giving this month amounted to a fraction of the $87,000 that Hillary Clinton contributed to her campaign from her own pocket.
The Trump campaign said Friday the candidate is writing his operation a check for $10 million today. But facing a worse than two-to-one cash disadvantage against Clinton in the final days of a contest she is on track to win, the message to would-be Trump donors from the latest set of federal disclosures is painfully clear: Trump himself recognizes the losing bet, and he’s voting with his wallet. They’d be foolhardy to ignore him.
And they aren’t. As t he New York Times reports this morning, the GOP’s big-fish benefactors have been directing their millions down ballot in an effort to salvage Congressional Republicans at risk of wiping out in a rout by Clinton. In fairness, those donors can read as well as anyone the polling that shows Trump’s gossamer-thin path to victory narrowing. And if Trump’s vanity—which might compel him to spend more in hopes of avoiding a humiliation, even if victory is out of reach—can’t overwhelm his instinct to economize with his own wealth, asking others to give in his place verges on an insult.