Donald Trump whines constantly about not being able to campaign around the country because he’s stuck in a New York courtroom facing trial on felony charges. Court is only convened four days a week and he has his own plane so he could certainly be out every weekend if he chose to. He did hold a couple of rallies last week in Wisconsin and Michigan since court was only in session for three days but on his days off he’s usually playing golf at and angrily tweeting rather than glad-handing the MAGA crowd out on the stump. And he’s holding a lot of fundraisers at his Mar-a-Lago beach club.
This past weekend, rather than heading out to Arizona or even next door to Pennsylvania, Trump was back in Florida regaling 400 wealthy donors at a $40,000 a ticket with an extended whine about his legal problems and the stolen election of 2020, among other MAGA greatest hits. He also said that the Biden administration is “the Gestapo” and called Special Prosecutor Jack Smith a fucking asshole. He was obviously enjoying himself.
The event was wrapped around an annual Republican retreat conveniently held in Palm Beach (the center of the GOP universe now) where his campaign managers and pollsters gave a presentation to the wealthy supporters explaining why Trump is a shoo-in in November. According to the NY Times, the presenters reported that there are really only three swing states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, with the others that everyone else usually puts on that list — Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina — already in the bag for Trump. They even went so far as to add Minnesota and Virginia as pickups. None of this comports with any known reality in the public polling which currently shows an extremely tight race in the six most important swing states. But this was really a pitch for money so they have to sound optimistic.
Trump’s team also reported that they raised $76 million in April but we’ll have to wait for the FEC reports later to see if that’s correct. Since that would presumably include the $50 million he allegedly raised in one night, it would mean the rest of his fundraising is still pretty anemic. So these big money fundraisers are more important than ever. It’s possible they really have bled their base dry with eight years of constant haranguing for money. (This week they even begged for donations for the $9,000 fines imposed by the judge in his NY criminal trial for breaking the gag order.)
The big event of the weekend was the big money Mar-a-Lago luncheon which brought in a long list of Vice Presidential contenders who Trump paraded before the assembled donors as if it was his Miss Universe pageant. Luckily they were all spared a swimsuit competition but I’m quite sure the group would have been happy to oblige if Trump had demanded it. It seems there is no limit to what they will do to curry favor with their Dear Leader.
Axios reported that Trump called each of them up on the stage one by one:
That comment about Byron Donald and “diversité” is something else.
He also gave a big shout-out to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson who was in attendance, which must have Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene fuming. One wonders if she’s really going to go through with her threat to call for the motion to depose Johnson this week as promised since her leader has praised him so fulsomely. If she had any hope to be on the VP list, her hopes were dashed this weekend. It appears she wasn’t invited.
Five of the hopefuls went on Sunday shows to display their sycophancy skills for the Big Man and we all know how important that is to him. The most stunning performance came from Kristi Noem, Gov of S. Dakota, who had left the luncheon early and didn’t make it up on stage with the others. Still trying to spin her way out of the mess she made with her new book’s tale about shooting her puppy and a blatant lie about meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un it was a disaster.
She later posted that it was all fake news. You can see for yourself it was not.
Meanwhile, S. Carolina Sen. Tim Scott repeatedly refused to say if he would accept the results of the election if Trump lost, insisting that Trump was going to win (one way or another.)
The billionaire N. Dakota Gov. Doug Burgham continued to practice his Mike Pence imitation but ended up sounding like Mitt Romney when he took umbrage at the term “wealthy donors”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio continued his self-abasement crusade by piggy-backing on Trump’s outrageous comments about Democrats wanting to “abort” babies after they’re born and demanding that non-citizens who protest in America be deported.
Elise Stefanik stridently defended Donald Trump. Of all the groveling wannabes on the Sunday Trump suck-up tour, her defense was probably the most aggressive and he does like that.
I thought Noem was the likely choice until the doggie debacle. Now I think Scott is probably the front runner. He’s got the Penceian adoration act down pat and I think Trump would really enjoy having a Black Senator from South Carolina in that subservient position. Why Scott, an accomplished man and important elected official in his own right, would want to do that is truly mystifying.
Trump really let down his hair at this luncheon obviously feeling very comfortable with the wealthy donors who were there to give him lots of money. In fact, aside from his usual rants about how nobody knows the trouble he’s seen, he couldn’t stop talking about it
The Washington Post reported that in he complained about having to take selfies with donors and said he wouldn’t do it unless they give him more cash. He said that a wedding would get preference over the donors because they were paying more per person. He also “bragged about his golf game extensively, citing tournaments at his own clubs that he ostensibly won” and claimed that Mar-a-Lago is the center of the universe. You might think that these wealthy individuals would be a little bit put off by this inane braggadocio but apparently they love his narcissism and pathological lying as much as the MAGA faithful at his rallies.
Hobnobbing with rich people begging to give him large sums of money must have been a soothing balm to the once and possibly future president. But it couldn’t last. This morning he is back in that dingy, cold courtroom in New York facing criminal charges and he’s being treated like he’s just another citizen no better and no worse. On days like this it must feel as if Mar-a-Lago is a million miles away. Maybe that’s why he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep during the testimony. He wants to retreat to his fantasy world where he’s more important that everyone in the room and nothing bad can touch him. The gritty reality of having to face accountability for his reckless criminality is just too much for him to bear.