Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:25 pm
Instead of using campaign money to get out the vote or help his fellow Republicans, Donald Trump spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign cash on copies of his own book that he then made royalties off of.
Donald Trump used small donors’ money to buy nearly $300,000 worth of books from the publisher of his Art of the Deal last month, continuing a pattern of plowing campaign money back into his own businesses.
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The Oct. 15 Federal Election Commission filing for Trump Make America Great Again Committee does not specify which books in particular were purchased, but the committee’s own website suggests it was Trump’s 1987 business bestseller.
The scam worked like this. Trump had the campaign buy the books at a higher cost than the standard bulk publishing deal. For every book that the campaign bought, Trump was owed a royalty. It is estimated that the campaign’s book purchase generated $70,000 in royalties for Trump.
The book themselves were then signed and offered back to contributors for a $184 donation to the campaign, which means that Trump managed to make money off of books that he didn’t buy while depriving the Republican Party of resources that it desperately needs on the ground.
The campaign has been nothing more than a giant Trump money making scheme. As the nominee, Donald Trump has sucked the Republican Party dry but has guaranteed himself a profit out of running for president.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association