Donald Trump’s bait and switch

| 12:01 pm EDT August 4, 2021
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It sometimes feels like we will never be free of former “president” Donald Trump and his destructive ways. His current destruction is being perpetrated against his supporters, which is their own fault, but it is still not good. Trump has always been a conman. He conned his way into office, and he continues to con people out of money. The Guardian covered how Trump’s pacs are bilking followers out of money for his personal use.

Trump and his ex-administration officials have been busily raising money, using his election lie to secure donations from his base. Interestingly, not one dime has been spent on any audits, fraud investigations, or anything having to do with his lies. Paul Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation for Common Cause, calls Trump’s action a “bait-and-switch.” Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that he needs their help to challenge the election results but to date, he has not used any of his ill-gotten gains to do so. Politico similarly reported that he is not using the $102 million he has raised on audits or to support Republican candidates in the midterms, which is part of what he pledged to do with the money. Instead, these funds are being used to pay aides and advisors, travel expenses, and “fundraising outreach,” which helps him make more money.

Politico reported that Trump has also spent more than $8 million in legal fees to multiple law firms and attorneys in his attempts to change the results of a fair election that he lost. He also used some of the funding for his second impeachment defense. Politico also pointed out that Trump has made one donation to an outside group: He contributed $1 million to America First Policy Institute, which is made up of a group of his former aides. As usual, everything is about Trump, and his followers are daft, creating the perfect storm for fraud.

Adav Noti, a former associate general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, said that Trump has pulled yet another scam on his followers. “He asked them to give money so he could contest the election results, but then he spent their contributions to pay off unrelated debt.” This is typical Trump behavior. How he dupes these people into believing one word that comes out of his mouth is puzzling. Noti further remarked: “If a regular charity—or an individual who didn’t happen to be president of the United States—had raised tens of millions of dollars through that sort of deception, they would face a serious risk of prosecution.” This brings us to the question that begs to be answered: When is anyone or any entity going to do something about this man? He has been duping people for years, yet he is still walking around free.

The law of averages says that Trump cannot possibly continue his unlawful behavior and remain unscathed. We can hope that it will eventually come into play, and we will never have to hear about another ruthless money scheme from Donald Trump or anything else for that matter.