Why are they pinching pennies?

Money concerns are very real for President Trump’s campaign — an unusual predicament for a sitting president, and one that worries veteran Republican operatives, with Trump so far behind in swing states as the race climaxes.

Why it matters: The campaign’s view is that Trump will get his message out, and he depends less on paid media than normal politicians. But the number of states Trump has to worry about has actually grown, and Joe Biden’s massive August fundraising haul has given his campaign a lift as early voting begins.

The New York Times leads today’s paper with a big Labor Day scene-setter with several intriguing references to money problems for Trump:“The light television spending and advertising blackouts in some key states have mystified allies,” The Times reports.

Trump is expected to increase television spending next week, but several Republicans said that Bill Stepien, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager since July, was taking a cautious approach after the former leadership spent huge sums on television and digital ads earlier this year, to no discernible effect.”

Last Monday, AP’s Brian Slodysko reported that the Trump campaign had pulled most TV ads over the previous week, ceding the airwaves to Biden, who was outspending Trump by more than 10 to 1.

Trump and the Republicans have raised a boatload of money. What have they spent it on? Is it all one big grift? (Don’t answer that …)

That’s as of July. I don’t think they’ve reported their haul for August. The Biden campaign raised a record shattering 365 million so maybe Trump’s hands feel small so they aren’t reporting it. (Or they’re trying to find a way to make it look like he collected more.)

I read somewhere that they are spending 10 million a week on (deceptive) facebook ads. Maybe that’s one place where the money has gone. But it’s September. People are already starting to vote in some places. This makes no sense.

This New York Times article mentioned above delves deeply into the current thinking in the two campaigns. Whether it’s real or spin in always hard to know but It’s interesting nonetheless. The Trump campaign has completely given up on the popular vote, which makes sense since he is highly unlikely to win it. So they are gaming out otheir strategy based upon winning the electoral college without it, which it really should be emphasized is a new thing. Not that campaigns didn’t always game out the electoral college and aim for that victory, but to hope for an inside straight like 2000 and 2016 is new. The GOP has clearly settled comfortably into the idea that they can rule this country from their cramped, racist , white minority and that’s just fine.

The undemocratic chickens in our system have come home to roost.

Published with permission of Hullabaloo