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Can Trump close before he drowns in legal debt?
Conn Carroll
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President Donald Trump may now be sitting on a historic lead in early polling, but that lead is shrinking, he’s burning through campaign cash to pay his legal bills, and half of his supporters are willing to consider a new candidate.
Just last year, Trump’s Save America PAC told the Federal Election Commission it had $105 million cash on hand. Now it is down to under $4 million.
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The Save America PAC is so desperate for money, it had to ask another pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., for a $60 million refund of a donation that was supposed to go toward ads for the former president.
Instead, it ended up going where almost all of Trump’s money goes these days: legal bills stemming from his apparent inability not to confess to federal crimes on tape.
No wonder Trump is so desperate to get Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to drop out before the Iowa caucus. DeSantis is burning through cash too, but at least that money is being spent investing in a political organization that can compete in the crucial early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Republican primary voters, even those supporting Trump, say they want to see all the candidates debate before they make up their minds. But they may not get that chance. Trump has not yet committed to any of the Republican debates yet.
DeSantis is going to have to perform well to close the gap between him and Trump both in the early primary states and nationally. But if DeSantis does do well onstage, and the gap between him and Trump closes, Trump will be forced out of Mar-a-Lago and on to a debate stage at the very moment that his campaign will be broke due to never-ending legal bills.
Given the choice, any candidate would love to be up by 30 percentage points over their closest rival in a primary contest. But admitting to federal crimes on tape can have a way of equalizing a contest, and Trump’s incompetence may finally catch up to him.