Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, he’ll presumably abandon his commitment to (sort of) self-funding his campaign.
Donald Trump says he will "mostly likely" fundraise in the general election https://t.co/4FR2JHpiMh pic.twitter.com/177tj6e2HW
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 4, 2016
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Unfortunately for Trump, a lot of wealthy Republican donors are unlikely to open their wallets for the most unpopular major party nominee in recent memory—unless he significantly changes his tone. (And because he’s Donald Trump, he probably won’t.)
“There’s a significant segment of large donors, and the donor community at large, that would need to see a fundamentally different approach to raise money, or give money, to Trump,” longtime GOP fundraiser Fred Malek told the Washington Examiner.
Republicans donors who loathe Trump and don’t believe he has a chance of beating Hillary Clinton in a general election are likely to focus their efforts on Senate and House races in order to prevent a crushing Democratic sweep in November.
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Perhaps the best Trump can hope for is that deep-pocketed Republicans will simply sit on the sidelines instead of actively backing his opponent.
Some #NeverTrump types are now leaving the GOP and even backing Hillary Clinton https://t.co/EvIjuyW0Y1 pic.twitter.com/LOWCEBRGjm
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) May 4, 2016
William Oberndorf, a major Republican donor based in San Francisco who donated almost a million dollars to a super-PAC aimed at stopping Trump, told Bloomberg on Tuesday: “I will be voting for Hillary Clinton.”
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