Donald Trump’s political operation is reeling after spending around $60 million on legal fees pertaining to the four criminal indictments and various ongoing civil lawsuits against him.

Disclosures indicate that Trump’s campaign and the various political action committees supporting it blew through tens of millions of dollars in 2023, leaving him cash-strapped heading into 2024.

Save America PAC, Trump’s primary PAC heading into his likely rematch with President Joe Biden, once had over $100 million in the bank. Now, it has just a little over $5 million left after spending over $25 million on legal bills in the second half of last year alone.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    13510 months ago

    And Trump’s donations have sucked all the air out of the room for all GOP candidates, state parties, etc. They’re throwing the 2024 war chest down the endless hole of Trump’s legal problems. Isn’t he supposed to be a billionaire?

      • themeatbridge
        link
        fedilink
        4310 months ago

        Looking forward to seeing exactly what that real estate is actually worth when he’s forced to divest and pay the judgements against him.

        • ares35
          link
          fedilink
          25
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          probably half underwater, loaded down with debt; and the rest, likely falling apart in need of significant renovations.

          who am i kidding? it’s likely all loaded down with debt.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            210 months ago

            Does Deutchbank debt count as actual debt? I always figured with all the money laundering, that if he had to sell any of his actual properties (which are mostly shitty golf courses at this point), that the Russian moon would be charging him by the kneecap.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          610 months ago

          It’s the worst time to sell as well, with high interest rates and nobody wanting to be associated with anything Trump.

          • ditty
            link
            fedilink
            510 months ago

            The New York properties will definitely sell if it comes to that, no problem. 3 desirable towers of luxury apartments in NYC would be worth a ton.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              310 months ago

              Even if they have to gut the whole damned thing, the superstructure alone is probably worth the money.

          • Logi
            link
            fedilink
            1010 months ago

            Sure. But only a portion of that loss equal to the tax rate. I don’t know what that rate is, but it it’s 30% then he’s eating 70% of the loss.

            People keep throwing these accounting rules around as if they make losses not matter at all. They do.

              • squiblet
                link
                fedilink
                210 months ago

                If engeron fines him 300-400 million he’s fucked.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  310 months ago

                  How has Trump always survived his other fiascos? Ans, Putin. The only question is which oligarch will buy his building at 20X what it is worth, then sell it back to him, under market value.

        • Uranium3006
          link
          fedilink
          310 months ago

          How much is office space? That’s not worth a lot anymore. If he’s lucky he owns a lot to apartments

      • Optional
        link
        fedilink
        2810 months ago

        He’s a billion dollars in debt.

        Pinhead fucknuts think that means he’s a billionaire. He’s got a billion dollars less than nothing.

        Relevant: he’s a convicted fraud.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1510 months ago

          Funny how you can live like a king if you’re $1 billion in debt, but if you just have no money, you’re just going to be homeless.

          • tmyakal
            link
            fedilink
            410 months ago

            I have a problem if I owe the bank a thousand dollars. The bank has a problem if I owe them a million dollars.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              610 months ago

              It needs to be a lot more than ‘just’ a million to make a bank really sweat and act abnormal; at that level you’re just a criminal they pursue.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1710 months ago

        A Newsweek article says he has $2.6B networth with $426M in cash and liquid assets. However, that very article is about the trial where he inflated his assets, so the basis for that may be completely wrong.

        That trial could put him under penalty of $370M. The Carroll lawsuit is $83.3M. Even if we take his liquid assets above as a given, he’d be wiped out, and his real estate is worth a fraction of what he claims.

        Trump needs to be in jail, but he’d also be Al Capone running his empire from a cell if he had to. Kick him in the money. That hurts him personally.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      4810 months ago

      Yeah, as literally every developer in NY said for years. Even before his presidential run:

      “How do you make $1M in real estate?”

      A: Give Trump $100M.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      2210 months ago

      Trump’s supposed wealth was always mostly marketing. Being a billionaire was literally his brand image.

    • squiblet
      link
      fedilink
      1010 months ago

      It’s a lot like how Elron Musk theoretically is worth billions, but still feels the need to run funny schemes on doge coin. He can’t sell substantial amounts and get cash without reducing the Tesla share price and thus his overall net worth even more than what he took out.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        310 months ago

        Not wholy true, he might not be able to sell his stocks but he can take out loans against them for money.

        It’s the Buy, Borrow, Die Strategy, and how they avoid taxes as well. He’s not poor he doesn’t need to grift and he has all the liquid money he could ever need for a thousand life times…

        • squiblet
          link
          fedilink
          110 months ago

          Elton still does feel the need to do shit like pump Dogecoin though. Maybe it’s just for the thrill of scamming people.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    81
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    He’s not strapped for cash. He sold U.S. secrets to the Saudis for $2 Billion. Jared Kushner is holding his money for him. He won’t actually be broke until we go after that pot of stolen gold.

  • Billiam
    link
    fedilink
    6110 months ago

    Maybe that’s because his PAC is blowing millions getting its ass kicked in Ukraine?

    • squiblet
      link
      fedilink
      1610 months ago

      He had the RNC paying them for a while. Supposedly what he’s doing now is okay because his website says that’s where the money is going.

      • @And009
        link
        English
        510 months ago

        If he’s not hiding anything and the donators are fine with it… Doesn’t seem illegal

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          410 months ago

          The problem is how transparent they are being. If you get an email saying “TRUMP NEEDS YOUR HELP TAKING ON THE WOKE MOB” and there’s a big donate button that brings you to donate to “SAVE AMERICA PAC” and it just so happens that they’re spending 90% of their money on his legal defense, how well informed were you?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            310 months ago

            When he gets elected and either pardons himself or never leaves the White House until his death, none of this matters to him a single bit.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              310 months ago

              Spending $50 million on legal fees instead of building out campaign infrastructure and paying for ads reduces the odds he gets elected though.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            310 months ago

            the math gets complicated when you realize the initial value for ‘informed’ was imaginary.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1410 months ago

      Way to many things about campaigning and financing are not illegal, and that needs to get fixed.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        910 months ago

        Oh, yeah, that’d be great, but corporations are people. Except in terms of wage theft, unsafe working conditions, or dangerous products. There’s nobody to put in jail for those, nothing we can do, sorry!

  • partial_accumen
    link
    fedilink
    3210 months ago

    He’s gonna need to sell a whole lot more digital trading cards to refill the coffers. I wonder how many times he can do that scam and still have it work.

    • The Pantser
      link
      fedilink
      1910 months ago

      Forever because his supporters are mindless drones that do as he demands. Much like those mega churches both are cults.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        810 months ago

        I wonder if churches are seeing a loss in their profitsdonations and might turn against their orange God.

        • squiblet
          link
          fedilink
          310 months ago

          State Republican organizations have recently been having financial problems in part because people donate directly to Trump vs them.

        • Uranium3006
          link
          fedilink
          310 months ago

          Long term they’re screwed without a fascist takeover so they’re probably fine with it

    • ares35
      link
      fedilink
      610 months ago

      “vlad, ol buddy, o pal-o-mine… i need some money.”

      “me too,” replies the russian. “nyet!”

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    31
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    No worries, he’ll release some more NFT trading cards for $2-300 a pop and he’ll sell a shit ton of them because his followers are fucking dumbshits. Bitch and moan about the economy but then buy his crap.

  • slingstone
    link
    fedilink
    2810 months ago

    How is it legal for him to use funds raised for a political campaign on his personal legal fees? Isn’t this a kind of fraud or something?

    • citrusface
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Legally - Trump can’t use the super PAC funds at all. The super PAC decides what it does with the money. The PAC chose to pay the legal fees… However - we all know behind closed doors there is plenty of communication about what that money is used for…

      At least that is my understanding of super pacs

      Edit: it’s not a super PAC sorry, just a PAC. I’m not a Pac-Man so I got confused. Wakka wakka.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1910 months ago

    They blew the entire war chest on legal fees and he still can’t afford to pay his lawyers.

    It would have been a lot cheaper to just, you know, not incite an insurrection and defraud investors and sexually abuse women.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1810 months ago

    Hurr hurr hurr hurr…

    As with any war, strategy takes a back seat to logistics, and logistics take a back seat to financing.

    Can’t win a war with out money for lunchables for the crayon eaters (love you). Go after the sources of funding and the game gets real, real quick.

    A butchered quote from my favorite book on strategy:

    The worst is to go after their fortresess, and the next worse to go after their soldiers in the field.

    Beyond that it is better to go after their ability to organize, their logistics. Better even, to go after their alliances and finances.

    Best of all is to win in the field of their ideas themselves.

    People pay Trump because of a parasocial relationship where they believe they are having some effect. If they see that money as being lit on fire for Trumps failed court proceedings, this is an oppurtunity to drive a wedge between Trump and what he needs so much to keep his, likely absurd, burn rate going. Go after his relationships.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
      link
      fedilink
      1510 months ago

      Best of all is to win in the field of their ideas themselves.

      “A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place.” - Gul Dukat

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1410 months ago

    He literally could not afford to not run for President, no matter what effects that has upon the nation (especially if he wins).

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1810 months ago

      It’s funny, if he never decided to run for president, he could have kept scamming people and assaulting women until he died and no one would have really cared.

      Now he’s in a position where he has to run again, because it’s the only thing that can save him from the consequences of the first time he ran.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        510 months ago

        This is why I think the “rich white people never face consequences” crowd have it wrong. They tend not to face consequences because they have lawyers to find loopholes in the first place, and then they make sure to keep it all out of the public eye, and then if they do get noticed, they listen to those lawyers and don’t do things to perjure themselves.

        Trump failed at every one of those.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        I know what you mean - in many ways he’s a victim himself, even though he’s also a cause, both of his own suffering, as well as ours. But it’s the system that is screwed up, not (just) him.