In this year’s U.S. presidential election, which predicted a return match between the two current and former presidents, Democratic President Joe Biden is ahead of Republican former President Donald Trump in terms of financial power. The New York Times (NYT) and other American media reported on the 17th that President Biden’s camp, together with the Democratic Party, raised more than $53 million (about 70 billion won) in campaign funds in February.
Accordingly, President Biden and the Democratic Party currently have $155 million (approximately 200 billion won) in cash. It was an increase of about $25 million from $130 million as of the end of January. On the other hand, former President Trump, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) held $40 million (about 53 billion won) as of the end of January.
Trump’s team has not yet disclosed the amount raised in February. “The fact that we have $155 million in cash is just a tremendous competitive advantage,” said Biden campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. “We are concentrating our efforts on six to seven states that will determine victory or defeat,” he said. The Biden campaign has determined that donations have increased since President Biden began focusing his message on former President Trump, starting with his speech on the 3rd anniversary of the Capitol riots (January 6) early this year.
President Biden will campaign with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in New York City on the 28th, and this event is expected to be of great help in raising campaign funds. The NYT observed that although money is less important in the presidential election, which is of great interest to voters, than in other elections, this presidential election is a very close race, so all variables have become important, and the Democratic Party can turn the race to its advantage based on its financial superiority.
On the other hand, former President Trump is under great financial pressure as he spends a significant portion of the funds raised on legal fees. Former President Trump was not only indicted four times on criminal charges for 88 charges, including overturning the presidential election and leaking confidential documents (the original number was 91, but a Georgia court dismissed three charges), and he recently lost two civil lawsuits in succession. He deposited $91.6 million in a deposit with the court to appeal the court’s decision to pay defamation damages to a sexual harassment victim. He also lost a trial on suspicion of asset-inflating fraud and must deposit $454 million to appeal.
The NYT estimated that the ‘Save America’ PAC, a political fundraising group that paid for Trump’s legal fees, will run out of funds by the summer if the current spending rate continues. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s PAC spent more than $55 million on legal fees last year. The NYT reported that former President Trump was hosting large Republican donors for dinner as many as three times a week at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Trump’s team did not immediately ask for funds from the invited guests at the dinner, but they are hoping that this courtship will lead to political and financial support in the future. It was reported that former President Trump recently took control of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and appointed his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chairman to strengthen the RNC’s fundraising ability.
Trump’s team announced large-scale layoffs in some RNC departments and plans to move all the Republican Party’s fundraising staff to its campaign headquarters in Florida by the end of the month. He also plans to cut costs by reducing the number of campaigns since he has confirmed his candidacy for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
Trump’s side even recently created Trump products such as the ‘Trump Golden Sneakers’ (selling price of $399) and the black ‘Maga Hat’ (a hat with Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’, selling price of $50) to his supporters. We focus on selling and raising donations.