Trump Insists His Campaign’s Multimillion-Dollar Donor Scheme Was Totally Legit

Over the weekend, The New York Times exposed a Trump campaign scam so simple and perfectly Trumpian that it’s actually a wonder the ex-president hasn’t (1) had the scheme trademarked (2) taken to Fox News to brag about what a genius he is for so thoroughly swindling his base. As Shane Goldmacher reports, Donald Trump’s campaign ripped off supporters for tens of millions of dollars by making it so that when they donated money, the default option authorized the campaign to transfer the pledged amount from people’s bank accounts not once but every single week. Later, the campaign introduced a second prechecked box that doubled a person’s contribution and was thus known internally as a “money bomb.” In order for people to have noticed this, they would have had to wade through “lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.”

Among the many individuals who were bilked out of money they literally couldn‘t afford to part with was Stacy Blatt, who was living in hospice care and surviving on less than $1,000 a month. Blatt donated $500 intended as a single contribution and within 30 days discovered that the Trump campaign had withdrawn $3,000 from his account, leading his utility and rent payments to bounce. And Blatt, who died in February, obviously wasn’t the only one:

The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists—retirees, military veterans, nurses, and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars. “Bandits!” said Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old Californian, who made a $990 online donation to Mr. Trump in early September via WinRed [the company that processed the campaign’s online donations]. It recurred seven more times—adding up to almost $8,000. “I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.”

The sheer magnitude of the money involved is staggering for politics. In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors. All campaigns make refunds for various reasons, including to people who give more than the legal limit. But the sum the Trump operation refunded dwarfed that of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign and his equivalent Democratic committees, which made 37,000 online refunds totaling $5.6 million in that time. The recurring donations swelled Mr. Trump’s treasury in September and October, just as his finances were deteriorating.

Oh, and the scheme didn’t stop after Trump lost the election. According to the Times, his campaign “continued the weekly withdrawals through prechecked boxes all the way through December 14 as he raised tens of millions of dollars for his new political action committee, Save America.” (Incidentally, Trump’s legal defense fund was its own kind of dishonest ploy, with the money going to the Save America super PAC, which he can tap to pay for all kinds of personal expenses.)

While marketers have used deceptive practices like prechecked boxes for years, experts say the scale upon which the Trump campaign duped people and was forced to issue refunds was unprecedented. “It’s unfair, it’s unethical, and it’s inappropriate,” Ira Rheingold, the executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, told the Times. “It should be in textbooks of what you shouldn’t do,” said Harry Brignull, a UX designer who came up with the phrase “dark patterns” for manipulative digital-marketing practices.

Of course, ask Donald Trump, a.k.a. the 21 century’s leading con man, and he did absolutely nothing wrong. In a statement released Monday, he insisted that “many people were so enthusiastic that they gave over and over, and in certain cases where they gave too much, we would promptly refund their contributions.” As New York notes, if his supporters had actually wanted to give over and over and over again, the campaign “wouldn’t have needed to automatically enroll them in a weekly donation scheme and bury the opt-out box beneath an ever-lengthening sequence of text.”

Still, the most disturbing part of this story is not that the 45th president of the United States fleeced his own supporters for tens of millions of dollars, but that they are still happy to buy his bullshit. Ron Wilson, for instance, only meant to contribute $200, but the campaign withdrew roughly $2,300. Wilson, though, blames WinRed, not Trump. “Predatory!” Wilson said of the company, adding: “I’m 100 percent loyal to Donald Trump.”

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Matt Gaetz refuses to resign over allegations he paid for sex, slept with a minor

In an op-ed published on Monday, the Florida congressman denied the accusations against him, insisted he will not be stepping down, and claimed that people want to hurt him because he’s bravely shined a light on how Washington works:

Folks won’t be surprised that bizarre claims are being made about me shortly after I decided to take on the most powerful institutions in the Beltway: the establishment; the FBI; the Biden Justice Department; the Cheney political dynasty; even the Justice Department under Trump.

You’ll see more “drip, drip, drip” of leaks into the media from the corrupt Justice Department and others. When you do, ask yourself why. They aren’t coming for me—they are coming for you. I’m just in the way.

Of course, in reality, the Justice Department is investigating Gaetz—and not the American people—because he is the one who allegedly slept with a 17-year-old and transported her across state lines. He’s also the one who reportedly not only paid women for sex but provided them with receipts.

Mitch McConnell tells corporate America to shut up about voter suppression if they know what’s good for them

The Senate minority leader has issued some vague threats about what might happen to naughty little corporations who fail to keep their traps shut. Per Reuters:

Mitch McConnell lashed out at corporate America on Monday, warning CEOs to stay out of the debate over a new voting law in Georgia that has been criticized as restricting votes among minorities and the poor. In a sign of a growing rift in the decades-old alliance between the conservative party and U.S. corporations, McConnell said: “My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics. Don’t pick sides in these big fights.” McConnell warned companies there could be risks for turning on the party, but he did not elaborate. “Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order,” McConnell told a news conference in his home state of Kentucky.

Big business ties with Republicans began fraying under former President Donald Trump’s leadership and the party’s focus on voting restrictions has soured businesses embracing diversity as key to their work force and customer base. Major Georgia employers Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines have spoken out against the law signed by Governor Brian Kemp, and Major League Baseball pulled the 2021 All-Star Game out of the state over the law strengthening identification requirements for absentee ballots and making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in line.

“I found it completely discouraging to find a bunch of corporate CEOs getting in the middle of politics,” McConnell said. Of course, he’s perfectly happy for corporate CEOs to get in the middle of politics when they’re lining his pockets, but strangely the Senate minority leader didn’t get into that particular discrepancy.

Stephen Miller is offended anyone would characterize family-separation policy as anything other than high-minded and honorable

Trump is having trouble sticking to his (Diet) Coke ban

Elsewhere!

A record 4 million people in U.S. received a vaccine on Saturday (Washington Post)

Fauci warns against relaxing public health measures as summer approaches (CNBC)

U.S. regulators find Amazon illegally fired activist employees (NYP)

Chauvin “Absolutely” Violated Policy, Minneapolis Police Chief Says (NYT)

Mark Zuckerberg’s cellphone number goes online after massive Facebook hack (NYP)

BlackRock Breaks Wall Street Ranks With Planned Racial Audit (Bloomberg)

Arkansas governor vetoes ban on youth transgender care (Politico)

Brazil has become South America’s superspreader event (Washington Post)

Top Democrats Float Alternative to Biden’s Corporate-Tax Plan (Bloomberg)

Pooches brave the waves at Dog Surfing Championships in Florida (UPI)

“Angriest octopus” lashes out at man on Australia beach (Reuters)

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