FIVE THINGS THAT HAVE THE DONALD BLUSTERING

1 CAMPAIGN FINANCES IN DISARRAY

Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that he is struggling to rally fellow Republicans as new fundraising reports show him badly lagging Hillary Clinton in campaign cash. Trump’s campaign started June with US$1.3 million on hand, compared with US$42 million for Clinton. Trump’s dismal fundraising numbers were released after the Republican candidate fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in an attempt to restart his struggling White House bid.

“I’m not looking to spend a billion dollars. I need support from the Republicans,” Trump said. “In some respects I get more support from the Democrats than the Republicans.”

2 FAKE CONSERVATIVENESS

The Washington Post reported that a campaign to stop Trump from becoming the Republican nominee has the support of nearly 400 delegates to the GOP’s convention next month, according to organizers. While organizers concede their plan could worsen internal party strife, they believe they are responding to deep-rooted concerns among conservatives about Trump. “Short term, yes, there’s going to be chaos,” said Kendal Unruh, a co-founder of the group, Free the Delegates. “Long term this saves the party and we win the election.”

Unruh and other GOP delegates from Colorado hatched the idea of trying to stop Trump by introducing a rule change: Instead of binding delegates to the results of the caucuses and primaries — as many party leaders insist they are — the convention’s 2,472 delegates should instead be able to vote their conscience.

3 PAYING HIMSELF TO RUN FOR GOP

Federal finance reports detail that Trump’s campaign likes to keep it in the family. Through the end of May, Trump’s campaign had plunged at least US$6.2 million back into Trump corporate products and services. That’s about 10 per cent of his total campaign expenditures. Trump reported in documents filed in May that his revenue had increased by roughly US$190 million over the previous 17 months. Some of that appears to be directly traced to his campaign: ❚ ❚ TAG Air Inc., the holding company for his airplane, had US$ 3.7 million in revenue in the most recent reporting period — an amount that came largely from the campaign. ❚ ❚ Trump Ice LLC, the bottled water firm, brought in profit of more than US$413,000, up from US$280,000. ❚ ❚ The c ampaign r e paid Trump about US$ 350,000 for renting campaign space in his own building and to cover the salaries of some of the Trump Organization employees he’d moved to his campaign staff. ❚ ❚ The campaign has paid about US$520,000 to Trump Tower Commercial LLC and the Trump Corp. for rent and utilities. The campaign also paid US$423,000 to Trump’s private Mar- a- Lago Club for rent and catering and an additional US$ 135,000 in rent and utilities to Trump Restaurants LLC.

4 OFFENDING LATINOS EVERYWHERE

A Scottish man raised a Mexican flag near Trump’s golf course near Aberdeen, Scotland. “The point of the flag is to show solidarity with the Mexicans and every other group that Trump has decried, derided, insulted, and tried to marginalize,” David Milne, a local resident, said.

Among Trump’s comments on Mexicans: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. . . . They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists — and some, I assume are good people.”

5 OUTSTAFFED BY HILLARY CLINTON

Trump has a staff of around 70 people — compared with nearly 700 for Hillary Clinton — suggesting only the barest effort toward preparing to contest swing states this fall. In a first for a major-party nominee, Trump has suggested he will leave the crucial task of field organizing in swing states to the Republican National Committee, which typically relies on the party’s nominee to help fund, direct and staff national Republican political efforts. His decision threatens to leave the party with significant shortfalls of manpower.

The Trump campaign has not aired a TV ad since he effectively secured the nomination in May and has not booked any advertising for the summer or fall. Clinton and her allies spent nearly US$26 million on advertising in June alone, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, pummeling Trump over his temperament, his statements and his mocking of a disabled reporter.