(Washington) “They want to put me in prison for 187 years”, “I need to know you’re on my side!” »: Since his conviction, Donald Trump has been filling his coffers with calls for donations in a tone that has fired up his supporters for his fight against Joe Biden.
On Thursday, Donald Trump voters began receiving the first emails after a jury found the Republican guilty of paying a porn star.
“I am a political prisoner! », “Joe Biden should be sorry for attacking us! “, he said in a message, with a photo of him raising his fist. Before getting his “patriots” to donate $20, $47, $100 or $3,300 to the White House campaign.
A few hours later, the first text.
“They want to send me to prison, they want me dead,” he says of the Democrats, who he accuses, without evidence, of arranging his investigations.
And to promise his voters: “I will never surrender!” »
53 million in 24 hours
The effect of these messages is dizzying.
The second-term Republican nominee raised more than $53 million in online donations alone in the 24 hours after the verdict in New York, according to Donald Trump’s campaign team.
The avalanche of texts and emails hasn’t stopped since. And the donations keep pouring in.
Photo courtesy of Steven Hirsch, Reuters
Since his conviction in the Stormy Daniels case, Donald Trump has called on his supporters to donate to his campaign.
Donald Trump has put his legal problems at the center of his fight against the Democratic president since his first impeachment last spring.
This strategy pays off by convincing them that their champion is the victim of a witch hunt.
“If I could, I would give more”
Betsy Showers, a trucker from Iowa, says she sent “100 dollars” to the former president a few weeks ago.
“If I could, I would have given more,” he told AFP.
This fifty-year-old, who admits to sometimes experiencing difficult decisions of the month, why is it so important to contribute to the New York billionaire’s campaign?
“I want him to have a war chest” to defeat Democrats and “all their lies,” this Republican promises Donald Trump’s legal problems are “newly discovered.”
Barometer
In American electoral life, money, far from being an obstacle, gives pride to the side that accumulates the most. It’s an essential twist: 2024 promises to be the most expensive election cycle in the country’s history.
So Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been on this hunt for dollars for months, regularly sharing press releases praising their financial status.
“Donation competition is a good barometer for measuring the strength of a candidate’s most loyal supporters,” says Jeff Milio, a University of Missouri professor and expert on election financing.
“This is why we’re seeing an increase in fundraising among Trump supporters in reaction to the trial verdict: they’re angry and expressing it by donating,” he explains to AFP.
These crazy sums are used to finance candidates’ travel, pay their committees, commission surveys or, and above all, pay for TV ads.
But according to Jeff Milio, they won’t be enough to fundamentally change the fight between the two men, which could play out by a few tens of thousands of votes.
“The race will be very close,” says the economist. “The money spent on campaign spending between now and November won’t change that.” »
