Trump 2020 Fundraiser At Trump Hotel Charging $100,000 Per Person
Admission to President Donald Trump’s fundraiser to be held at Trump Hotel Wednesday night costs $100, 000, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Attendees will donate the $100,000 sum to Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee for the Republican National Committee, and Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
President Trump is personally hosting the roundtable event, after which he will deliver remarks behind closed doors. Those who would rather not donate $100,000 to Trump Victory can pay $70,000 per couple to attend a photo opportunity with Trump, or pay $35,000 to attend a dinner with the president.
As the Wall Street Journal noted, Trump’s decision to host the fundraiser at his Washington, D.C., hotel comes as no surprise, considering the fact that the president is known to host similar events at his own properties. This has attracted the attention, and scrutiny, of ethics officials.
In the 2018 election cycle, President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign spent $1 million at Trump-owned properties. However, although Mr. Trump has retained ownership of his company, he has placed his assets into a trust managed by Eric and Donald Jr., his two adult sons.
In June this year, as the Business Insider reported, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics David Pool warned that President Trump’s business deals “raise serious concern.”
Pool’s remarks were a response to Congress Democrats, who had requested an ethics investigation. Pool also said that Trump is exempt from the conflict-of-interest laws.
“Under the Constitution, the primary authority to oversee the President’s ethics rests with Congress and ultimately, with the American people,” he wrote.
Trump is attending a fundraiser at the Trump hotel in DC tonight that costs $100,000 *per person.* pic.twitter.com/nL6tT2W3eX
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) September 12, 2018
Gala fundraisers only the wealthiest can attend are commonplace in Washington, but much of Donald Trump’s rhetoric is — directly and indirectly — aimed at the American working class. From “Drain the Swamp,” over tariffs, to “jobs, jobs, jobs,” Donald Trump’s rhetoric portrays him as an outsider, an underdog, fighting against the elite, and for the average American worker.
The Washington Post recently observed that President Trump appears torn between desperately wanting to be part of the elite, being constantly rejected by the elite, and remaining faithful to his base.
“I’m smarter than they are, I have many much more beautiful homes than they do, I have a better apartment at the top of Fifth Avenue. Why the hell are they the elite, tell me? You are the elite,” the president said at an August rally, Vox reported.
As the New York Times noted, Donald Trump spent a little more than half of what Hillary Clinton did in 2016 and won. But if it is to judge by tonight’s gala fundraiser at the Trump hotel, the president may be gearing up for a spending spree.
