Trump uses courtroom 'soap opera' to drive up 'sympathy, support' and cash: top donor
Donald Trump's ongoing legal drama has been his most effective fundraising tool, and new data shows his hush money trial could drive up even more small-dollar donations.
The data based on campaign finance filing from the GOP payment processor WinRed shows Trump drew substantially more small-dollar donations in the first quarter of this year on days with new legal developments, which his joint fundraising committee has explicitly referenced in fundraising pitches — nearly a third of which include the phrase "witch hunt," reported Politico.
“What most campaigns have to do is create their own news, and get people to care about their campaign when it’s not in the news,” said GOP digital strategist Eric Wilson. “Trump is going to benefit from wall-to-wall coverage on all the cable networks and live tweets from the courtroom about what’s going on during the trial.”
The messaging appears to be most effective when Trump faces new legal threats, such as on March 22 when New York Attorney General Letitia James took the first steps toward seizing his assets in the civil fraud judgment against him.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 15: Former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the courtroom after a break during the start of jury selection for his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City. Former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images)
“It’s a little bit of a soap opera,” said one donor Politico reported was closely connected with fundraising attempts. “They get results, because they message the play-by-play. ‘I’m in the courtroom. I’m out of the courtroom. The judge is not going to let me go to Barron’s graduation. He’s leaving Trump Tower. He’s out on the FDR.’"
“The more all of that is on the TV, the higher his polls go, the more money comes in, the more sympathy and support,” the donor added.
Trump advisers concede that he'll likely have less cash than President Joe Biden, who maintains a massive advantage over the GOP presumptive nominee, but they see his criminal trial and other looming court dates as a fundraising tool — even if there are early signs that some smaller donors are already "tapped out."
“The amount he raises is going to be proportionate to the amount of attention he gets in a given day,” said Wilson, the GOP strategist who also runs the nonprofit runs the Center for Campaign Innovation.