The Donald Trump Score Card

Dark money groups donate money to Super PACs legally provided that election spending is not their 'primary function'.


PACs, Super PACs and More: Your Guide to Key Election Spending Vehicles

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"3. Secret Spending/Dark Money Groups

Secret spending groups, sometimes referred to as dark money groups, are most often nonprofit organizations that claim tax exempt status under Sections 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. These groups can accept unlimited contributions and are not required to publicly disclose their donors. 

Under federal tax law, these groups are permitted to spend on elections, including by making independent expenditures and contributions to super PACs, but election spending cannot be their “primary purpose,” which has often been interpreted to mean that it cannot take up 50% or more of their spending throughout the year.

In recent years, spending by these groups has increased dramatically, prompting heightened scrutiny and an increase in the groups’ financing their election spending through donations to super PACs rather than directly spending on independent expenditures.

In some cases, a super PAC has received the vast majority of its funding from one or more of these money groups, leaving voters with no clue where the super PAC’s money actually came from.

This fosters a political culture of secret influence by wealthy individuals and special interests.

Even if super PACs publicly disclose their contributions and expenditures, as campaign finance laws require, funneling super PAC donations through these groups enables the true sources of election spending to remain secret, undermining voters’ right to know who is spending vast amounts of money to rig the system in their favor."

 

$108,000 of PAC money spent on Melania's hair.


Trump PAC paid Melania’s stylist $108,000 as a ‘consultant’

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"Donald Trump’s super PAC Save America paid former first lady Melania Trump’s stylist $108,000 as a “consultant”, amid disclosures showing that the group spent $40m on legal fees during the first half of this year.

The stylist, Hervé Pierre Braillard, was paid the six-figure sum for “strategy consulting” up until June 2023, disclosures to the Federal Election Commission show."

 

What will become of the rats that jumped the sinking Trump ship after the 2020 election.


As Trump’s popularity soars again, the family who ditched him now face a dilemma

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"It was all over for Donald Trump. He had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden – the first time that a sitting president had been defeated since George HW Bush was ousted by Bill Clinton in 1992. And with that toppling of a self-styled monarch came the collapse of his court as those loyal to him – or, more accurately, to the power he held – fled the sinking ship.

Chief among them: his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka, both canny figures who appear to thrive on transactional relationships. If Trump was no longer of any use to them, they had no reason to stick around.

But now the impossible might be happening. Could Trump have a second term after all? It’s a nightmare scenario for many in the United States and beyond. But for some of his family members, it’s a murky dilemma.

Should they keep their distance? After all, Trump is still embroiled in multiple lawsuits. Or should they return to the fold in case the king wins back his throne?"

 

Speaking of pastors:


Pastor from Ohio convicted on felony counts for rioting at Capitol.

Ohio pastor who incited mob convicted in Jan. 6 case | wusa9.com

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"WASHINGTON — A federal judge convicted an Ohio pastor of two felony counts Monday for his role in the Capitol riot, saying prosecutors had more than proven he’d come to D.C. intending to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election."

 

Capitol rioter sentenced to six days in prison.


Jan. 6 Capitol Riot: Hoffman Estates Man Gets 6-Day Prison Sentence

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"WASHINGTON — Just over three years since the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a Hoffman Estates man was sentenced Tuesday to six days in prison, along with 24 months of probation. Tyng Jing Yang will also need to pay $3,000 in restitution and fines, according to the United States Attorney's Office."

 

The creep of Christian supremacy into American mainstream politics.


Mike Johnson Is Mainstreaming the Spirituality that Gave Us the Capitol Riot

 

Giuliani owes $40,000 in golf club membership fees.


Rudy Giuliani ‘owes $40,000’ in golf club membership fees

 

The federal appeals court issued a similar lengthy, scathing explanation of its ruling against Aileen Cannon for stalling the documents case on behalf of Trump and trying to justify it by saying that she thought it was so important because Trump's reputation was at stake.

Cannon is still on Trump's side but using a stealth mode this time.

She's been polite to Trump's legal team but scolded Smith's team for going over a 250-word abstract limit. She said if it happens again she won't even read the filing.

 

Polling numbers starting to irk Trump.

Cheung parroted his usual childish, rehearsed, stock statements.


Trump Advisers Warn Him: A Criminal Conviction Could Be a ‘Disaster’

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"Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, tells Rolling Stone: “These Crooked Joe Biden-directed Witch Hunts, assisted by fake news mainstream media, are just desperate attempts at election interference meant to try and disenfranchise voters because President Trump is dominating in the polls. This is all vile politics by President Trump’s enemies because they will do everything in their power, including weaponizing lawfare, to stop the presumptive Republican nominee for president and next president of the United States.”"

 

'None of the above' beats Haley in the Nevada GOP primary which doesn't award any delegates. The NV caucus awards delegates.

NV will probably declare Haley the winner because a person with a name must be the winner.


Haley Outvoted in Nevada Primary by ‘None of These Candidates,’ Without Trump on the Ballot

"Critics of the dual primary-caucus system in Nevada, including those in Ms. Haley’s camp, have suggested that the state Republican Party set it up to benefit Mr. Trump, which the party has denied. Michael McDonald, the state party chair, was one of the people indicted in the fake elector scheme to overturn President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” Betsy Ankney, Ms. Haley’s campaign manager, said on Tuesday. “We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump.”"

 

The chairman on the state GOP party of Nevada was indicted in Trump's fake elector scheme.

He's also one of the people who formulated the dual caucus-primary arrangement in NV that the Haley campaign team says is rigged in favor of Trump.


Nevada Charges Republican Party Leaders in 2020 Fake Elector Scheme

 

Ronna McDaniel may step down from RNC chair after SC primary.

The RNC has been plagued with lackluster funding efforts.


Ronna McDaniel, RNC Chairwoman, to Step Down Amid Pressure From Trump Allies

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"Trump has plans to replace her with Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, who has been a backer of Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. According to sources who discussed the matter with Trump, Whatley is “a stop the steal guy,” per the Times. If McDaniel steps down, a new election must take place before Whatley can take up her post."

 

70 year old woman from TX arrested for rioting at Capitol.


Highlands woman, 70, accused of taking part in Jan. 6 riot at U.S. Capitol

 

State Department security official, Alstrup, arrested over Capitol riot.


State Department security officer arrested over January 6 Capitol riot

 

Remarks by former Trump attorney Ty Cobb.


Ex-White House lawyer Ty Cobb warns Biden could be ‘in danger of retribution’ if Trump wins election

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"A hree-judge panel upheld a lower court ruling Tuesday that deemed Trump is not immune from criminal prosecution, blocking his efforts to toss his election interference federal case.

Trump said in a post that the ruling was “Nation-destroying” and said it can’t be allowed to stand.

“If not overturned, as it should be, this decision would terribly injure not only the Presidency, but the Life, Breath, and Success of our Country,” Trump said.

“A President will be afraid to act for fear of the opposite Party’s Vicious Retribution after leaving Office,” his post continued, adding that he knows from personal experience.

Cobb, who served in the Trump administration, said the 44 presidents who preceded Trump “did not waste a second debating whether they should commit an intentional criminal act.” He added that he doesn’t “buy” Trump’s argument.

The lawyer said Trump claimed that the Supreme Court took away his immunity, which he dismissed, and said, “Nobody since Nixon has believed that presidents are above criminal process.”

“So I think everything he said today, his rhetoric of his base, red meat, none of it’s true,” he said."

 

Walls closing in on Trump.

The scathing response by the appeals court makes it less likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case.


Experts: The Walls Are Closing in Fast on Trump After Immunity Ruling

 

Trump supporter, Weeks, arrested for assaulting police officers at Capitol riot.

He reported told officers he was going to 'shove it up your ass'.


Trump supporter arrested for assaulting officers on Jan. 6

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"At one point inside, he allegedly reached through a shattered window of a door, gestured at an officer, and yelled, “I’m gonna shove it up your a —! I’m gonna shove that up your a —, you fat f —! I’m gonna f — you up!”

Weeks then moved around the door frame and struck a Metropolitan Police Department officer before officers shot him with pepper spray, authorities said. He left and went to the Senate Wing Door. There, he stood in front of a man kicking a barricaded window and called out, “We need volunteers to keep pushing!”"

 

In 2016 Trump said nothing can be learned from his tax return.


Trump says his tax rate is 'none of your business'

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“I really don’t, and I’ll tell you why,” he said. “You don’t learn anything from a tax return. I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world. Nobody knows more about taxes. You can learn very little from a tax return.” He also said he doesn’t believe voters have much interest in the issue.

 

Trump reportedly threw a temper tantrum because his legal team offered Kaplan lunch during a deposition.


Roberta Kaplan says Trump threw papers across table at Mar-a-Lago deposition because his legal team agreed to feed her lunch | CNN Politics

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"Attorney Roberta Kaplan said former President Donald Trump threw papers across a table and stormed off during a deposition at Mar-a-Lago after learning that his legal team had agreed to provide her lunch.

Kaplan, who has represented clients in high-profile cases against Trump, including E. Jean Carroll, said on an episode of the “George Conway Explains it All (to Sarah Longwell)” podcast recorded Thursday that she rejected the former president’s request that they work through a lunch break because he believed the deposition was “a waste of my time.”

 

Trump loses attempt to have federal judge declare a mistrial in the Carroll case.


Trump motion for mistrial in E. Jean Carroll case is denied