As a person who has donated to political causes in the past I receive numerous solicitations, mostly from the Republican Party of which I have been a member since Reagan. Here’s on that’s pretty typical of what I’ve been receiving since November 3rd:

Trump email 1
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Trump email 2
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This is a scam, and in more ways than donating to a politician is USUALLY a scam. This takes it to crooked televangelist levels.

First of all, it claims massive voter fraud which no governing body (not even from the Trump administration) has been able to provide evidence for. Secondly, it claims that your donation will be multiplied a thousand fold:

Please contribute $45 or MORE in the NEXT HOUR and you can increase your impact by 1000%. >>

CONTRIBUTE $45 = $495

Except that there’s no explanation where that other money is coming from OR any explanation for why a thousand times 45 would only be $495 instead of $45,000. In a very literal sense, there’s a lot about this that just doesn’t add up.

But the most concerning part of this grift is the nature of Mr. Trump’s latest fundraising effort. It’s called the “Save America” PAC and it’s different than most party committees and campaigns. With a so-called “leadership PAC” there are far less stringent rules on what the donations can be used for.

For a $45 donations some of that COULD go to Trump’s legal battle against reality. Or, it could go to pay for Mr. Trump’s personal expenses. It could be used to pay himself or his children a million dollars a year in salary. It could even be used for another common expenditure in Trumpland: hush money.

If I had an elderly or in some-other-way enfeebled relative, I would be really upset to find out they were sending some portion of their meager finances to a rich TV preacher who traveled on a private jet and had multiple mansions. This is even worse. This is a self-proclaimed billionaire who is attempting to chisel money out of people who are probably NOT billionaires. A televangelist might motivate people by threatening hellfire and damnation. The Trump PAC is threatening “socialism, antifa and more”.

Here’s more reporting on this from various news sources (all of which, I am sure, someone who would fall for this scam would consider “fake news”).

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