A picture may be worth a thousand words, but is selfie with Donald Trump worth $15,000?
Trump took a break from asking opponents in Congress to pay $5.7 billion for a southern border wall to ask his supporters at the actual southern border to pay $15,000 for a “Trump Victory Photo Opportunity” before his El Paso rally Monday.
Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey tweeted an image of the invitation constituents received about 2020 re-election fundraising event.
Not on the president’s schedule but appears he is also doing some fundraising in Texas tonight. $15K for a photo, per invite. Pic.twitter.com/bPzTO7WVXM
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 11, 2019
While $15,000 is a high price tag for a photo in which you better not be blinking, the cost makes more sense when it’s put in context of other fundraising events for election campaigns.
In September, Trump charged donors $35,000 per couple for a fundraising dinner at his hotel and $70,000 per couple for dinner and a photo.
Invite to Trump’s fundraiser tonight at his hotel: pic.twitter.com/HJJ74ttOhJ
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 12, 2018
And even Barack Obama charged upwards of $71,000 for special fundraising packages in Hollywood during the 2012 campaign, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
While Trump and his supporters may be fans of photo ops, they proved less welcoming of photographers at the rally. One attendant allegedly attacked a BBC News cameraman after having been “whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night,” BBC Washington news editor Eleanor Montague tweeted.
Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night #TrumpElPasopic.twitter.com/Oiw8osPms3
— Eleanor Montague (@EleanorMontague) February 12, 2019
Trump reportedly contacted the BBC to make sure that the cameraman was okay.