The law of unintended consequences is hitting Democrats yet again, as it looks like former President Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial is doing wonders for his campaign coffers.
During an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley discussed Trump’s campaign strategy in New York and elsewhere and said that “every day that President Trump has been in court, he’s been getting a million dollars or more in small-dollar donations that are coming in online.”
Dana Perino started the interview by asking if the GOP is “putting resources in to try to win New York.”
Whatley responded, noting that the former president is “playing offense” while trying to win support in New York and New Jersey. “I think that what we’re doing is, we’re opening up the map,” the RNC chair explained. “President Biden right now is playing defense all across the country, and President Trump is playing offense all across the country.”
He added: “These are opportunities that he has to connect with everyday Americans.”
The conversation later turned to President Joe Biden’s age and cognitive difficulties, referring to recent reports about Team Biden’s efforts to mask his apparent frailty. Whatley noted that the president’s team “has a really hard time right now” when it comes to deciding whether or not they should protect the president from the media.
“President Biden’s team has a really hard time right now because they either are going to shield him from the press or they are going to allow him to interact with the press. When he does, it never goes well. This is a guy who does not show well on TV. He is going to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. We’re already running events with Donald Trump out there before the guy even gets out of bed. The contrast could not be bigger. They really do have a quandary. Are they going to shield him and hide him, or are they going to actually trot him out there and try and let him show the American people what’s really happening?”
Perino then brought up fundraising and how Democrats are “getting a ton of donations.” She asked if Republicans had a way to counter this. Whatley responded that Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial has inspired more people to donate to the former president’s campaign.
Yeah, look, we know that the Democrats are going to have a ton of money. They always have a ton of money. That is absolutely not a surprise. What we’ve seen, though, is that every day that President Trump has been in court, he’s been getting a million dollars or more in small-dollar donations that are coming in online…Joe Biden’s team has a lead because they’ve been in the White House for four years. We have been making up ground very fast, and we will absolutely have the resources that we need to be able to get our message out to the American voters.
A recent report indicated that Biden has pulled ahead of Trump in small-dollar fundraising. However, as the former president’s trial continues and the other efforts to weaponize the system against him come more to the forefront, it would not be surprising to see Trump make up ground.
