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PAYING TRIBUTE: HERE’S HOW DONALD TRUMP PROFITS FROM THE GOP CANDIDATES HE
ENDORSES

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December 20, 2023

News Analysis
May 24, 2022


PAYING TRIBUTE: HERE’S HOW DONALD TRUMP PROFITS FROM THE GOP CANDIDATES HE
ENDORSES

by Vinnie Longobardo
0

Like an all-powerful potentate demanding pecuniary tribute from his vassals,
Donald Trump has figured out a way to extract riches from the Republican
political candidates who flock to Mar-a-Lago seeking his benediction and his
endorsement of their runs for office — despite recent evidence that such
endorsement is no guarantee of success in GOP primaries, much less the general
election.

An examination of federal and local campaign finance records reveals that Trump
personally benefited from the coffers of seven different Republican candidates
whom he endorsed in GOP primaries today and whose political campaigns spent a
combined total of over $400,000 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

For example, CNBC reports that:

> “Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign has spent
> almost $200,000 so far during the 2022 election cycle at the exclusive resort
> in Palm Beach, Florida: a payment of just over $135,000 in December and
> another of roughly $65,000 in April, according to Federal Election Commission
> filings.”

Walker is not the only Georgia GOP hopeful endorsed by Trump to kick back
campaign dollars to his political patron.



Former Senator David Perdue — the candidate that Trump chose to endorse over
incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp who refused to endorse the
Twice-impeached ex-president’s election lies — has already spent over $20,000 at
Mar-a-Lago in May, state campaign finance disclosures reveal.

With Perdue badly trailing Kemp in opinion polls, the former Georgia Senator
must be wondering if perhaps he should have upped his spending at Trump’s West
Palm Beach, Florida resort to get more effective support from the supposed GOP
kingmaker.

Another Republican candidate spending lavishly at Mar-a-Lago is Rep. Jody Hice
(R-GA) — who is running to replace incumbent Georgia Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger, the man to whom Trump infamously asked to “find 11,780 votes” —
and whose campaign spent over $38,000 in February at the resort property.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “spent over $45,000 of his campaign funds
between November and December at Mar-a-Lago, according to campaign finance
records,” CNBC reports.





Other Trump-endorsed GOP hopefuls paying tribute to their benefactor through
their campaign funds include former Trump White House press secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA); and former Georgia state
Rep. Vernon Jones.

> “Candidates and causes across the nation are being funded by the unprecedented
> amount of money being raised at Trump properties. In Republican politics
> today, there’s only two seasons that matter: Mar-A-Lago season and Bedminster
> season, because it’s where candidates, organizations, and donors want to be,”
> Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told CNBC.

Yes, Republicans can apparently raise beaucoups bucks at Mar-a-Lago, but only
with a costly expenditure — which many people liken to a kickback to the former
president – on catering and lodging services at the resort wholly-owned by their
endorser.

Given that Trump’s policies would push America into a class-stratified
modern-day feudal society, such a blatant patronage system should perhaps not be
unexpected.  It’s a shame, however, how many Republican politicians have decided
to participate in it for their own ambitions.



Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.  



Original reporting by Brian Schwartz at CNBC.


Tags: Brad Raffensperger, Brian Kemp, david perdue, donald trump, FEC, Federal
Election Commission, Herschel Walker, Jody Hice, ken paxton, Mar-a-Lago,
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Taylor Budowich, Vernon Jones

VINNIE LONGOBARDO

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV,
mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international
media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.

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