Donald Trump’s 2020 Fundraising Is ‘A Real Warning Sign For Democrats,’ Says Molly Ball
On CNN’s Newsroom Thursday, the network’s political analyst Molly Ball touched on Donald Trump‘s campaign fundraising not long after it announced an impressive $46 million haul in the fourth quarter of 2019, Breitbart reports. Ball noted that this fundraising would give Trump “essentially unlimited resources” and change the landscape of the playing field for both him and his opponents.
“This is an asset he didn’t really have in 2016,” Ball said. “Yes, he was raising money online but not like this. And he really ran sort of a shoestring campaign, didn’t even run a lot of television ads.”
“It’s going to be a whole different ball game for Donald Trump and for his opponents in 2020 because he’s going to have essentially unlimited resources at his disposal.”
Ball noted that Trump has a head start on the eventual Democratic nominee with more time to build a network of support across the United States. According to Ball, this is going to be “very difficult for Democrats to match,” noting that the cash on hand Trump is gaining as the Democratic primary continues is a “real warning sign for Democrats” that Trump is going to be “tough competition.”
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale credited the impeachment probe into Trump as the reason for the impressive fundraising haul, Politico reports. According to Parscale, the president’s campaign “only got bigger and stronger” thanks to impeachment, echoing Republicans that suggest Democrats are helping Trump in 2020 with their fixation on removing the president from office.
Notably, Trump’s fourth-quarter campaign haul doesn’t include money raised by the Republican National Committee (RNC), which has yet to release its fourth-quarter numbers. Regardless, the RNC reportedly has seven times the cash on hand as the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In addition to small-dollar donations, Trump has been raising money through exclusive fundraising events for major donors. One such event is taking place on January 17 and includes a $250,000 price tag per couple.
"To me the most important thing about the fundraising numbers is that it is people. If you're going to defeat Donald Trump you're going to have to defeat him with people power" @fshakir pic.twitter.com/sHPHJwfQmZ
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) January 2, 2020
While Trump’s potential 2020 rivals are using their funding in hopes of becoming the nominee, some are nevertheless still putting up impressive numbers. Politico reports that Bernie Sanders raised $34.5 million in the fourth quarter, and Pete Buttigieg raised $24.7 million. Andrew Yang raised over $16.5 million, while Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren say they too have raised over $16.5 million but have not released details. Both Sanders and Yang are unique in that they raised the majority of their totals via small donors.
Comparatively, Barack Obama earned $42 million during the fourth quarter of 2011 during his successful reelection campaign.
