{"id":5123,"date":"2015-10-16T17:33:33","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T17:33:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-10-16T17:33:33","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T17:33:33","slug":"what_the_fundraising_numbers_tell_us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2015\/10\/16\/what_the_fundraising_numbers_tell_us\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Fundraising Numbers Tell Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, let\u2019s go to this donation story, because this, folks, is also a teachable moment. Let me first assure with you some news stories and headlines about this. The New York Times is literally outraged over what they have learned. Story is by Eric Lichtblau. The headline: “Donations to Donald Trump\u2019s Campaign Outpace Self-Funding<\/a>.” The story begins this way: “For months, Donald J. Trump has highlighted his credentials as a politician who was financing his own campaign for president. No longer.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Trump revealed in a filing Thursday to the Federal Election Commission that the vast majority of the money he raised and spent this summer as he rose to the top of national polls came not from his own coffers, as it had in the spring, but from about $3.7 million in what he called ‘unsolicited contributions.\u2019 Some 74,000 donors pitched in an average of about $50 to help his campaign, he reported,” and they are livid. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re livid because they think Trump lied to them. They think Trump\u2019s out there saying, “Hey, I\u2019m not gonna take money from anybody! I\u2019m not gonna be beholden to anybody. I\u2019m a rich guy. I have $10 billion, maybe more. Who can count? It\u2019s the best $10 billion anybody ever had. My billions are better than anybody else\u2019s billions, and I got more than anybody else and I\u2019m spending mine. I\u2019m not spending anybody else\u2019s.” <\/p>\n

Then they learn that people have been donating, and they think Trump has lied, they think they got Trump, they think they can expose Trump here as a phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n\u2019 roller who has misled people. But instead what old Eric Lichtblau and the New York Times are inadvertently proving here is Trump\u2019s case. Trump\u2019s claim has always been he\u2019s not going to sell himself to big donors, like Hillary and so many other candidates do. The people sending Trump money, 50 bucks? <\/line><\/p>\n

They\u2019re not expecting special favors from a Trump administration. They know that 50 bucks isn\u2019t get them Trump loyalty on anything. When Trump says the money\u2019s unsolicited, that\u2019s what really ticks them off. People are voluntarily sending Trump money when he doesn\u2019t need it. All the other candidates need it. They don\u2019t have their own money. Trump does, and people are still sending him money, and that just ticks them off. From many standpoints, it isn\u2019t fair.<\/p>\n

You know, in a socialist world, a guy that\u2019s got $10 billion ought to be giving his money away. People ought not be sending him money. It isn\u2019t fair. Trump\u2019s got enough. He shouldn\u2019t be getting money. They shouldn\u2019t be sending him money. It\u2019s not fair, it\u2019s not fair. And then it just ticks them off besides all that that there are people so supportive of Trump that they would send him money even when he doesn\u2019t ask for it. That scares them. <\/p>\n

These are people, don\u2019t forget, who think Trump\u2019s still gonna bomb out. These are people still hoping, still praying, still telling themselves that Trump has peaked or will soon and is going to fade. That Trump isn\u2019t in it to win, that he\u2019s not for real. “Some kind of trick is being played. He doesn\u2019t intend to go all the way,” and yet every day there\u2019s new evidence that they\u2019re wrong about that, and they\u2019re having trouble coming to grips with it. Mr. Lichtblau of the New York Times then writes:<\/p>\n

“Mr. Trump himself contributed only about $100,000 in in-kind contributions, including rent space that he donated and payroll expenses that he covered. That represented a huge drop from the spring, when Mr. Trump donated about $1.9 million to his campaign, financing the bulk of it himself.” You know, it\u2019s funny. I don\u2019t remember hearing any of that, do you? I don\u2019t remember anybody in the Drive-By Media reporting that Trump spent nearly $2 million on his campaign in the spring? You know, and I try to keep up with the news. <\/line><\/p>\n

My show prep knows no boundaries. I\u2019ll go wherever this is news. And I didn\u2019t see this. So he spent his own money like he said he was gonna do. He lent himself money, lent his campaign money. Here\u2019s the story from the National Journal, which publishes The Hotline: “Donald Trump\u2019s Donors, Not His Bank Account, Fueled His Magic Summer.” The headline is just seething with rage. You can see it. You can feel it when you read. “Donald Trump\u2019s Donors, Not His Bank Account, Fueled His Magic Summer — The candidate spent just $100,000 of his own money in the campaign.” <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the story begins. “The man who claims $10 billion in wealth barely spent any of his own money on his front-running presidential race this summer, as tens of thousands of Americans pitched in with $3.8 million — enough to cover nearly all his expenses. Some 2,200 donors gave at least $200 to Donald Trump\u2019s campaign over the three-month period, totaling more than $1 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The campaign said an additional 72,000 donors combined to give Trump $2.8 million, or an average $38.73 each.” <\/p>\n

Folks, one of the ways to look at this is, Trump accepts small donations. He did not ask for them. He didn\u2019t solicit them. He didn\u2019t spend a whole lot of money. Look at Trump\u2019s campaign, $2 million. How much money has Jeb Bush spent on ad buys so far? The number I saw was $11 million so far and it hasn\u2019t moved Jeb in the polls much at all, not significantly. So Trump, small donations, didn\u2019t spend a whole lot of money, growing his lead for the most part in almost all states and nationally. <\/p>\n

Now, it helps that he gets a lot of free media. Don\u2019t misunderstand. He engenders a lot of free media but that\u2019s because the media love televising Trump. Trump equals ratings, and so they enjoy it. I don\u2019t know how many millions Jeb has spent. I\u2019m confused on the number, but it hasn\u2019t moved him off of fifth place for the most part. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you what else. This is another really robust or glaring indication that Trump is just not your average, ordinary candidate that everybody has come to expect or has been forced into liking. This is all genuine. Every dollar donated to Trump comes from enthusiasm. There isn\u2019t any mandatory, obligatory giving. These are people that want Trump elected and they\u2019re willing to put their 38 to $50 to work in that effort. The important thing is he\u2019s not soliciting it. <\/p>\n

Hollywood Reporter: “Donald Trump Has Spent Less Than $2 million of His Own Money on GOP Campaign<\/a>.” They\u2019re all just seething here. Trump was supposed to have been gone by now. Trump was supposed to have embarrassed himself or humiliated himself. He was some way supposed to have been sent packing by now. He certainly wasn\u2019t gonna be able to secure a lead like this without spending any money. These people are all from inside the Beltway, including the media people, and the way you get anywhere in politics, you have to buy your way there. <\/p>\n

You have to raise money. You have to spend that money on ads. The donors get their take and their pick of you whenever they donate to you, and none of that is happening with Trump. It\u2019s all outside the formula and they\u2019re having trouble coming to grips with it. From the Washington Post, a little quote: “Bush raised $13.4 million from July to September and started October with just $10.3 million on hand after spending about 11 and a half million, or 86% of the total over the quarter.” Yeah, I know it was around 11 million he\u2019d spent. <\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s expand this and let\u2019s include the Democrats because the fund-raising here is indicative of something. I have the list of money that has been donated to all the candidates, both parties. And folks, among other things, throw out what it says about Trump, as we discussed. You know, yesterday I was once again expressing my total incredulity and astonishment at how the Republican Party remains stubbornly opposed to making a connection with its own base and trying to grow its political fortunes. <\/p>\n

The whole thing that the establishment still thinks it\u2019s independents that determine who wins elections, and that\u2019s who you\u2019ve gotta pay attention to, and that\u2019s who you\u2019ve gotta focus on, and in the process they ignore their own base and in some cases inside the Beltway even demonize their own base. Now, when you look at this list, Bernie Sanders, he has raised the second largest amount of money. The two leading fundraisers here, or the two leading candidates who have raised the most money, had the most donated to them, are Hillary and Bernie Sanders. <\/p>\n

Hillary has raised almost $30 million, and 17% of it is from donors of $200 or less. Essentially the vast majority of Hillary\u2019s donors are the standard, ordinary big moneyed people. Next is Bernie Sanders at $26 million. And the percentage of that $26 million raised from donors of $200 or less is 77%. If you combine the money raised by Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, you come out with close to $56 million. I\u2019m gonna tell you what that spells. That spells ass whooping on Election Day if the Republican Party does not nominate a conservative. Because when you go through the rest of this, you will find all of this money on the Republican side, Chris Christie, $4 million; Jeb Bush, $13 million; Kasich, $4 million; Fiorina, $6 million. <\/line><\/p>\n

The establishment candidates here are getting a lot of money, but nowhere near what the Democrats are getting. The anti-establishment Republican candidates, Ben Carson, $20 million. He\u2019s the third largest fundraiser. Ted Cruz, $12 million. Jeb Bush is in there at 13. The point is the Democrats are raising a lot of money. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the Democrat candidates, either at Hillary or Bernie Sanders. It cannot be denied. We cannot assume that everybody voting for one of those two is an idiot and a member of a minority or whatever. They are fully energized, particularly the Sanders people. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Look. Let me summarize this for you without numbers because the numbers just confuse. In this list of donations so far, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, the three of them, not only have they raised less than Ben Carson whose total is $20.7 million, Jeb, Christie, and Graham, those three combined have raised less than Carson. And all of it is coming from a few big donors. There are not a lot of people represented in the money given to Jeb, Christie, and Graham. Cruz has raised a lot of money, $12 million, and half of it is coming from donors under 200 grand. So there are a lot of people behind Ted Cruz, a lot of supporters. Kasich, $4 million, most of it from big-money donors, not a whole lot of people there. <\/p>\n