The Penny Pinching Billionaire

In August I pointed to Trump's cheapness as a barrier to his presidential ambitions.  More recently, we witnessed and discussed the role an under financed ground game played in his loss in Iowa.  The esteemed blogger for PoliticalWire, has reached the same conclusion.

Trump Risks Little of His Own Money

February 6, 2016By Taegan Goddard6 Comments

Donald Trump “once boasted that he could someday be the only person to turn a profit running for president. He may be closer than anyone realizes,” the New York Times reports.

“What remains is a quintessentially Trumpian endeavor that blurs the line between campaigning and brand-building and complicates Mr. Trump’s claims that he is funding his own White House campaign. About three-quarters of Mr. Trump’s total campaign spending has either gone to reimburse his own businesses or has been covered by funds from grass-roots donors… Virtually all of the money Mr. Trump himself has put into the campaign was lent, rather than donated outright, meaning that he could potentially sell enough hats and T-shirts to pay himself back down the road.”