With the midterm races officially beginning this week, a big question hanging over the Republican Party is how Trump will allocate his giant stash of super PAC money. As of July 31, MAGA Inc. had more than $400 million on hand, larger than the cash reserves of any of the major party committees.
But he’s barely spent any of it yet. Why not?
Is he waiting to see where his stash can do the most good for Republicans during the peak campaign season?
I doubt it. He’s already missed the chance to lock in airtime at lower advance rates and define candidates before attitudes harden.
Is he using the stash as a means of silencing criticism in the Republican ranks or holding back support until a candidate lavishes praise on him?
Also doubtful. Republican candidates who believe they need to criticize his war or his economic policies to stay viable won’t restrain themselves because of his possible campaign cash.
Maybe he’s conserving the money to discipline Republican candidates in the 2028 primaries and general election, when he’ll use the stash to penalize disloyalty and reward loyalty?
Possibly, but he’s already practically a lame duck.
Is he conserving the cash to pass it on to his chosen presidential successor — Vance or Rubio or a third selection as yet unknown?
Probably not. That’s a long way off.
None of these theories holds water because they don’t figure in Trump’s towering malignant narcissism.
I think he’ll be putting the money behind his favorite politician — the person he most admires, who represents everything he believes in, who he considers the single most important and talented living person in the entire flaming firmament of the known universe.
Himself.
He’s going to use his campaign cash to make himself look good, or at least far better than he looks now. Multiple public and private polls show Trump’s approval rating now mired in the mid-30 percent range — at or near historic lows for a president facing a midterm election.
So he’ll launch a campaign to regain the adulation he’s lost, to recast himself as the hero he believes he is, to reclaim the mantle of savior to which he thinks he’s entitled.
In other words, it will be a campaign to promote, glorify, and exalt Donald J. Trump.
The nonprofit arm of Trump’s political operation, Securing American Greatness, has already spent about $1 million on its first midterm ads set to air nationwide, featuring video clips of Trump talking about tax breaks in his domestic spending legislation and lower prices for eggs and prescription drugs.
In early August, according to The Atlantic, Trump told advisers they should follow the same strategy as the Democrats — making the election all about him.
But as Karl Rove, who was senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for George W. Bush, notes in The Wall Street Journal, given how unpopular Trump is, making the election even more about him only helps the Democrats.
Trump also plans to travel all over the country to hold rallies like he did during his presidential elections. Fox News’s senior White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, reports hearing “whispers of a ton of Trump travel in October, possibly as much as a Trump rally a day” in competitive states and districts.
It begins this week when Trump hosts an unprecedented midterm party convention in Dallas, centering on his accomplishments. From there, he’ll head all over America, campaigning like mad — for himself.
Rove warns: “Trump is never disciplined. He’ll have no script, saying whatever comes to mind. His crazy comments will dominate the news, locally and nationally. Republican candidates will constantly have to fend off questions about whether they agree with his latest insult or half-baked idea. The narrative won’t be on anything positive about them or the GOP.”
Presumably this is why some battleground Republicans told Trump’s staff that they’d prefer he not visit their districts ahead of November, according to Republican operatives involved in the conversations, as reported by Politico. Meanwhile, Republican pollsters have told candidates in tight races to limit their references to him.
Rove and other Republican functionaries are urging Trump to “act more presidential” by using his vast super PAC funds to support Republican candidates rather than finance a campaign about himself.
But they’re yelling into the wind of Trump’s ballroom-sized ego.
Such is Trump’s epic narcissism that he’ll dedicate the next two months to promoting himself rather than Republican candidates. Then he’ll treat a Republican defeat on November 3 not as a repudiation but as a compliment — saying they lost because he wasn’t on the ticket.
As almost everyone in the world knows by now, Trump cares only about himself. That’s been his MO forever.
Bad news for Republicans in the midterms, good news for Democrats, a continuing catastrophe for America.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/