Trump, allies crank up political operation again
Former president tries to tighten grip on GOP, its donors
Donald Trump and his allies are scheduling events and raising money for initiatives intended to make the former president a central player in the midterm elections, and possibly to set the stage for another run for the White House.
He and groups allied with him are planning policy summits, more rallies and an elaborate forum next month at his Mar-a-Lago resort for candidates he has endorsed and donors who give as much as $125,000 per person to a pro-Trump super PAC.
The efforts seem intended to reinforce the former president’s grip on the Republican Party and its donors amid questions about whether Trump will seek the party’s nomination again or settle into a role as a kingmaker.
Taken together, the pro-Trump groups form a sort of shadow political party that could help start another presidential campaign and, if that were successful, shape his administration.
They include Trump’s own PACs, which amassed more than $100 million by last summer, employ an overlapping roster of former top officials from his administration and have signaled that they intend to embrace policies and candidates supported by Trump.
The groups have also helped reinforce his properties as a center of Republican power, holding events at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump has welcomed to the clubs a stream of Republicans seeking his political blessing, issuing nearly 100 endorsements to aligned candidates, including challengers to GOP incumbents who voted for Trump’s impeachment or supported the certification of his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The candidate forum at Mar-a-Lago is being planned for Feb. 23 by a super PAC run by some of Trump’s closest allies called Make America Great Again, Again! Inc., according to an email to donors from Roy Bailey, a Texas businessman and Republican fundraiser.
“There will be an all-day candidate forum with backto-back speeches from the endorsed candidates and familiar faces in the Trump orbit,” wrote Bailey, who was a leading fundraiser for Trump’s campaigns and inaugural committee, then registered to lobby his administration. “We want those who attend to leave thinking that it was the best political event they have ever attended.”
Donors who raise $375,000 will be invited to a private dinner with Trump.
Bailey noted that the PAC’s national finance director was Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is dating Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., and that its board included Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who advised Trump during his first impeachment; Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acting head of national intelligence; and Matthew Whitaker, who was acting attorney general.
The forum is for federal candidates endorsed by Trump. It is not clear how many of them intend to attend. But some, including Harriet Hageman, who is mounting a primary challenge against Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of Trump’s harshest Republican
critics, and Kelly Tshibaka, who is running in the primary against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have been asked to hold the date, according to a person familiar with the planning who was not authorized to discuss it.
Still, Trump’s political activities have generated some grumbling within his circle of supporters.
One donor who had supported Trump’s campaigns said he was leery about donating to Make America Great Again,
Again! because of concerns that the money would be wasted. Citing events at the former president’s properties, the donor, who insisted on anonymity to avoid antagonizing Trump and his allies, said he declined invitations to the February candidate forum and to a $125,000-a-plate fundraising dinner with Trump held by the super PAC last month at Mar-a-Lago.
Other donors and party leaders worry about the damage that could be done by Trump’s backing
of primary challenges to Republicans who pushed back against his false claims that the election was stolen.
Trump’s team also has continued fundraising voraciously online for various PACs that he directly controls, compiling a war chest of more than $100 million last summer, and his team has continued financing campaign-style rallies. He has plans for one in Arizona this month and more to follow, according to a person familiar with the matter.