The Myth of Donald Trump’s Self-Funded Presidential Campaign Is Officially Dead

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:59 pm

Don't Miss Sarah Jones's Essay On Kristi Noem Titled Predatory Is The Point On The Daily.

One thing that has appealed to Republican primary voters and helped Donald Trump win the GOP nomination is the fiction that the spray-tanned billionaire’s campaign was “self-funded.”

Trump has never been shy when it comes to boasting about it:

Unfortunately, his claim has always been misleading at best and a complete lie at worst.

A large majority of the cash used to fund Trump’s candidacy was money he loaned to his campaign, meaning he can recover it later. Not to mention the fact that almost $3 million of his campaign expenditures went to companies owned by or connected to Trump.

“It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it,” the former reality show host told Fortune in 2000. 

In many ways, Trump has actually been able to realize his dream of using a White House run to turn a profit. He certainly hasn’t been losing money in a selfless attempt to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. 

Still, many of his supporters take him at his word and believe the self-funding fantasy is evidence that Trump will never be beholden to any interest other than the American people.

Of course, that’s nonsense because Trump has never been interested in the well-being of anybody but himself and his own interests – his 2016 self-promotion campaign has done nothing to change that – but the self-funding lie is one that will finally die in his upcoming general election battle against Hillary Clinton.

Through the fall campaign, Trump now says he will use what he has so often called the “corrupt” campaign finance system to raise up to $1 billion for himself and the Republican establishment he incessantly berated since announcing his presidential bid.

According to a New York Times report out Friday, billionaire business magnate and big GOP donor Sheldon Adelson also plans to shell out more money to help elect Trump – over $100 million – than he has for any Republican campaign in the past.

Even though it was a dubious claim from the start, Trump will no longer be able to pretend he is using his own bank account to fund his presidential campaign. And, as it turns out, Trump may even use some of the cash raised during his upcoming general election contest to pay back any of the money he did happen to spend during primary season – what a sweet deal that is.

When all is said and done in 2016, there’s a good chance that Donald Trump – a man whose campaign was successful in large part because of the self-funding lie – may end up not spending a single dime of his own money.

Self-funded? Don’t kid yourself.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.