Trump 2.0 - Destroy the opposition

 

UPDATE 08:44 pm:

What a striking development. Donald Trump pocketed millions of dollars in unlawful payments from foreign governments during his first term, his Administration shut down a probe into whether his campaign received an illegal and urgent $10 million bribe from Egypt, and foreign nationals are spending millions on Trump-owned cryptocurrencies right now in apparent hopes of buying their way out of federal criminal investigations through undisclosed payments. The Trump Administration has also systematically dismantled crime-fighting efforts at the Department of Justice aimed at foreign corruption of our politics and actually announced its indifference to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

So it’s rich indeed for Americans to read now that Trump has launched a big initiative to ‘crack down on foreign influence’ in American politics with one purpose—crippling the fundraising platform of his political opponents.

Today’s presidential decree targeting the campaign infrastructure of the Democratic party with precisely zero evidence of wrongdoing is the kind of edict you’d expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic. This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding.

If Donald Trump wants to reverse foreign corruption of our politics, why doesn’t he return the tens of millions of dollars in illegal foreign payments he has pocketed in violation of what he calls the ‘phony Emoluments Clause’ and the billions of dollars his family has brought back from the homicidal Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia?

It’s not too late for my Republican colleagues—who once pretended to care about the political weaponization of government and even stood up an entire committee purporting to investigate it—to call out this blatantly partisan assault on American political freedom.

  Democrats Judiciary Committee

As if.

UPDATE 04/25/2025:

UPDATE 04/28/2025:

There will be no graceful losers in the GOP

Lindsey is still whining. And threatening investigation now.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has seen a tsunami of Democratic small-dollar donations flood the South Carolina Senate race, says the sources of the massive amounts of money flowing through ActBlue and other groups need to be reviewed by policymakers.

Graham says that Congress has little idea who’s behind the huge inflows of money that have given his opponent, Jaime Harrison, and other Democratic challengers a major fundraising advantage over GOP incumbents in the final weeks of the campaign.

[...]

[His Democratic challenger Jaime] Harrison raised an astounding $57 million in the third quarter.

Graham, by contrast, raised $28 million in the third quarter.

[...]

“Where’s all this money coming from ActBlue coming from? How easy would it be to just have a bunch of pre-paid credit cards?” he asked The Hill.

  The Hill

Wanker.

And the way the GOP runs these days, I'd use that as a reason to check whether they're passing out pre-paid credit cards.

“Some of these shadowy figures out there running ads, is there any foreign influence afoot?” Graham asked

See what I mean?

ActBlue funneled a stunning $1.5 billion in small-dollar contributions to Democratic candidates and allied groups in the third quarter of 2020. It helped rake in $500 million in the two weeks after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Senate Republicans quickly vowed to fast-track the confirmation proceedings for President Trump’s nominee to replace her, conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett, angering the left.

I've donated small amounts through ActBlue several times this year to several Democratic campaigns. It's the first time I've ever contributed to a campaign.

An ActBlue spokesperson said the claim that ActBlue does not report contributions under $200 is false.

The spokesperson said ActBlue reports every contribution, including those under $200, and that every federal donation made on ActBlue, including donations of only $1, can be verified on the FEC’s website.

A review of Harrison’s campaign fundraising report filed with the FEC shows that he reports contributions as small as $5 from ActBlue, but the data on file doesn’t reveal the name or address of the individual making the gift as would be reported for a donation above $200.

ActBlue, which reported collecting $2.4 billion in contributions from Jan. 1, 2019, through Aug. 31, is due to file its October monthly report with the FEC this week. Those reports will provide the names, hometowns and employers of donors who give contributions more than $1 and reveal to which candidates the gifts are earmarked.

[...]

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), whose Democratic opponent raised nearly twice as much as him in the third quarter, is also suspicious of ActBlue.

He says a probe into the group’s vast small-donor networks to ascertain their legitimacy would be “worthwhile.”

[...]

Democratic candidate M.J. Hegar raised $14 million in the third quarter compared to Cornyn’s haul of $7.2 million.

[...]

One key Republican who does not appear interested in exploring new regulations on small-dollar fundraising networks such as ActBlue is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a longtime opponent of campaign finance reform.

[...]

“As you know, I’ve been in the forefront for 25 years of fending off efforts by the government to restrict campaign contribution because it is the only way that normal citizens get to participate, other than voting.”

That's rich, Mitch. Thanks for being concerned about us "normal citizens." We're not stupid. we know why you don't want anyone to start looking at campaign finance reforms.

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