Ted Cruz might be marshaling a shadow campaign to “protect” the Republican platform from Donald Trump, but in order to threaten it, Trump will have to decide what his platform will be first.
In the past week, Donald Trump has made significant changes to his policy positions, drawing down on his commitment to prevent all Muslims from migrating to the United States (he’s pretty negotiable there, it was just a suggestion, he’ll appoint a commission), and he’ll probably raise taxes on the wealthy (he can afford it).
And while he spent the first half of his campaign happily self-financing (at least, sort of), he’ll be hosting his first big-money fundraiser later this month.
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According to the Washington Post, Trump’s team is embarking on an ambitious plan to raise a billion dollars, starting with a Los Angeles fundraiser, leading into a swath of 50 or so smaller fundraisers over the course of the summer. Trump has also entered into a joint fundraising agreement with the RNC which, like Hillary’s agreement with the DNC, allows donors to write much larger checks, provided they earmark at least some of the money for down-ticket races (it’s how Clinton managed to command $350K+ for her George Clooney dinner).
Obviously, a Trump fundraiser, while is unlikely to draw in the same sort of Hollywood A-listers (though Heat Street sources do say that Trump is the preferred candidate among Hollywood conservatives), would be similarly swanky. The first fete will be hosted by Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., a longtime associate of Trump’s who served in the Reagan administration and commands an investment empire, like the Donald himself.
Trump has a long way to go, though, if he plans on making his uber-high financing benchmark. By June of 2012, Mitt Romney was already closing in on $100 million, and $1 billion is twice what Romney raised over the course of his entire presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton, of course, is amassing funds by the thousands, thanks to a series of Wall Street fundraisers.
