From the beginning, Donald Trump set himself apart from other candidates by promising to fund his own campaign, and by implication – be his own man, because – as he bragged “I’m really rich!” Trump has consistently trashed the other candidates, saying: “All of that money that’s going to Hillary, and Jeb, and Scott, and Marco and all of them — the people that are putting up that money, it’s like puppets.”
As unpopular as evolution is in right-wing circles, it must be admitted that Trump is evolving from a self-sufficient candidate into one who is happy to take donations, although it is challenging to pin him down to admit it. Trump recently took home $100,000 from an evening at the home of Charles and Seryl Kushner, his daughter’s in-laws, where guests were told donations would be going to Trump’s superPAC ‘Make America Great Again’ and to a second group; one that can collect “Unlimited donations without ever naming it’s donors.” Is this the kind of transparency Trump has been ranting about? Recently an informal $100 a plate ‘meet and greet’ for roughly 2,000 people in Massachusetts raised questions about Trump’s vow to fund himself and be beholden to no one.
On Face the Nation Sunday, Trump evaded Don Lemon’s questions, but told a heart-warming tale of ‘nice letters’ and donations such as one of $7.23, and others in the ten and twenty dollar range, as representative of the kind of donations he receives. Puhlease!
Will Trump’s base turn on him when they learn he was as transparent as mud? They have forgiven him for being cold on the all-important religion issue, which leads me to believe that unless he develops an empathy for immigrants – from the southern border, it’s likely they’ll stick with him!