Fred Malek: Trump needs to pony up $500m of his OWN money to get big donors on board

[randomname]

[libertythor]

I wonder why this was never required of the Bushes, Romneys, or Kennedys?

[randomname]

In 1992, businessman Ross Perot spent a whopping $64 million (about $107 million in 2015 dollars) of his own money running as an Independent. The following election, Perot again campaigned for the White House; that cycle, however, he only chipped in $8.2 million (about $12.4 million in 2015 dollars).

Mitt Romney spent $44.7 million on his failed primary run in the 2008. Seemingly learning from that lesson, he only gave around $52,000 to his campaign in 2012.

Steve Forbes spent $37.4 million (about $56 million in 2015 dollars) on his failed 1996 presidential bid. The very next election, he personally poured in $38.7 million (about $53 million in 2015 dollars) — with the same result.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton gave her campaign $13.2 million of her own money before losing to Barack Obama.

One of Romney's opponents in the 2012 GOP primary, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, notably proclaimed that he would not self-fund his bid for the presidency. But he quickly changed his tune, pouring in $5.4 million of his own money into the ultimately unsuccessful attempt.

Rudy Giuliani contributed $1.1 million to his 2008 presidential run.

Already in the 2016 cycle, Jeb Bush has given his own campaign $388,000. Bush actually deposited this money before he was a declared candidate, using the funds for "testing the waters activities."

Herman Cain spent $275,000 from his own bank account in the 2012 primary.

[juleswin]

This is just stupid, the way Trump has been using the mainstream media and social media without having to pony up big dollars for commercials have been working spectacularly for him. Why would it be any different in the general elections?

The point of money in politics is to get your message and name out but Trump has done well in both categories by just spending a small fraction of the amount non celebrity politicians would have needed to achieve the same level of success. I am not a fan of Trump at all, but he would be an idiot to abandon his strategy now.

[libertythor]

Even Ross Perot barely cracked 100 million in today's dollars.

[69360]

But then everyone would find out that Trump doesn't have that kind of money and isn't a billionaire.

[CPUd]

He would have to sell some properties to come up with that kind of money. He accidentally said so himself in an interview a few weeks ago.

[luctor-et-emergo]

He would have to sell some properties to come up with that kind of money. He accidentally said so himself in an interview a few weeks ago.

Most vastly wealthy people would have to liquidate some assets in order to actually have such an amount of cash. Keeping more cash than you actually need is a waste, assets can bring in dividends/profits. Cash loses value due to inflation. So it's not strange at all.

[RonPaulMall]

Most vastly wealthy people would have to liquidate some assets in order to actually have such an amount of cash. Keeping more cash than you actually need is a waste, assets can bring in dividends/profits. Cash loses value due to inflation. So it's not strange at all.

And Trump is far more constrained than the average wealthy person because nearly all his wealth is tied up in iliquid assets. He's not like a tech billionaire who can just sell some stock and immediately pocket a cool 500 million anytime he wants.

[osan]

I wonder why this was never required of the Bushes, Romneys, or Kennedys?

SSSSSHHHHHHH...

[luctor-et-emergo]

I'd just like to add that this is a non-issue.

People can decide to give money, people can be of the opinion that Trump needs to put up 500 million dollar of his own money... It's all ok. We'll see what happens.