When the monster you created turns on you

Just in the past few weeks, Trump declared at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the “only” way to give to Trump-aligned candidates was through Save America, his leadership political action committee, circumventing the party campaign arms devoted to electing Republicans. He has criticized the party for how it spends donor money, and his attorneys have sent cease-and-desist letters to GOP committees demanding they stop using his name in fundraising appeals.

In case his message wasn’t clear enough, Trump followed up this week by proclaiming that “no more money” should be given to “RINOS” — Republicans in Name Only. On Tuesday, he said in another statement that sending cash to his PAC would be "doing it right."

The offensive underscores Trump’s determination to maintain his hold over the GOP, even out of the White House. By urging givers to route [...] money through his political vehicle, the former president is attempting to monopolize the Republican Party donor base — and bend the GOP to his will by depriving it of cash.

  Politico

Hard to have any sympathy for the GOP.

“Everyone else is cashing in on his popularity with the base, and he wants to control that money. Trump wants to have influence, and one of the greatest ways to have influence is to control the cash,” said Mike DuHaime, a former Republican National Committee political director.

Trump wants to line his pockets and destroy people who don't bow down. That's what Trump wants. Tim O'Brien, the biographer who spent months with Trump and probably knows him better than anyone, says Trump only has two modes: self-aggrandizement and self-protection. I think that's probably right.

The RNC, which has the closest connection to Trump of any official party committee, has rejected the cease-and-desist demand, arguing that since Trump is a public figure it has every right to fundraise off his name.

Which is why he's telling people to give their money to his PAC instead.

Tony Fabrizio, the chief pollster on Trump’s 2020 campaign, recently conducted a survey of more than 1,200 GOP voters which concluded that a majority believed the party should “continue to be led by Trump.”

“This data suggests that any party committee leader that wants to play chicken with Trump very likely would end up as political roadkill,” Fabrizio said.

[...]

Top Republicans say they are determined to extinguish whatever tensions exist between the former president and the party’s campaign apparatus and stress that they have been working to get Trump focused on defeating Democrats rather than exacting revenge on fellow Republicans.

Good luck with that. He's not interested in doing anything that isn't either self-aggrandizing or self-protecting. He doesn't see any "fellow" Republicans. He sees worshippers and enemies.

[I]t’s not the first time that there’s been tension between Trump and party leaders over fundraising. Top Senate Republican officials complained ahead of the 2020 election that the former president wasn’t doing enough to financially help them. Trump also frustrated party officials by sending out fundraising appeals focused on the January Georgia runoff elections, which directed proceeds toward Trump’s PAC rather than the GOP candidates, who were narrowly defeated.

[...]

During a Tuesday appearance on Newsmax, [Ronna] McDaniel dismissed talk of tensions with Trump, calling him “the most supportive president of the RNC, I think, in history. The things that he did when I was chair while he was in the White House, and the things he continues to do to support the party — we've never seen anything like it.”

Way to suck up, Ronna. Maybe he'll choose you as his running mate in 2024.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.