Trump demands supporters send more money because he's short on cash

Donald Trump begged supporters Friday to send him more money, warning that his campaign is way behind its fundraising targets.

“We need to make sure we have the resources to combat their LIES, which is why I’m coming to you now with a critical request,” Trump said in his email solicitation. “We’re well behind our September pace so we need you to step up RIGHT NOW but we also need to break a fundraising record on Debate Day to beat Joe Biden.”

The request comes at a tough time for Trump’s campaign. Though Trump has raised a historic amount of money — about $1.3 billion as of early September — it squandered a massive cash advantage on some questionable spending.

According to a New York Times report earlier this month, over the past five months, Team Trump blew its nearly $200 million cash advantage on things including $156,000 for planes to pull pro-Trump banners, nearly $110,000 for magnetic cell phone pouches to keep people from recording Trump at his fundraising events, and over $1 million on Trump ads in the deep blue Washington, D.C., media market.

Those ads were reportedly designed entirely to reassure Trump, a frequent D.C. television viewer, of his reelection chances.

Trump’s free-spending campaign so far has not translated to a polling lead. He has trailed Biden in nearly every national poll and is behind in the vast majority of surveys of key swing states.

Meanwhile, Biden set a record with his August fundraising, outraising Trump by a 3 to 1 margin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Biden had more cash on hand overall at the beginning of September than Trump.

Trump’s latest solicitation also claims that all donations will magically be octupled. “WE’VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!” the ad reads. “If you step up in the NEXT HOUR, BOTH of your gifts will be 700%-MATCHED!”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how this is possible, given Federal Election Commission contribution restrictions.

The campaign sent another email — hours earlier — from Donald Trump Jr., claiming that any donations would receive an 800% match.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.