How Do You Make a Buck Running for President? Ask Donald Trump.

Back in 2000, Trump gave an interview to Fortune Magazine in which he said that he might end up as the first person who ever made money running for President. This is when he was playing around with Jesse Ventura, with the two of them talking about forming a ticket on something called the Reform Party, which ended up lasting about as long as the United States Football League — another one of Trump’s bright ideas.

Trump repeated his comments about making money from a Presidential campaign in 2016, which is why he copyrighted the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ and made a buck on every MAGA shirt, flag, hats, and bumper sticker that you still see occasionally although the MAGA brand has become somewhat tarnished by the events surrounding January 6th.

Yesterday’s Select Committee hearing made it clear that not only did Trump continue to promote his brand and stick money in his pocket through four years of his administration, but the reason he continues to rant about election ‘fraud’ is because this narrative has become part and parcel of Trump’s efforts to maintain a cash flow again.

Turns out that Trump raised $250 million after the election allegedly to pay the costs of getting the results investigated and overturned. Donors were asked to send money to something called the ‘Victory Fund,’ which maybe didn’t exist, and monies paid out from this cash haul went to individuals who played no role in Trump’s attempts to undo the 2020 election results.