Facebook has banned former president Donald Trump from posting on its platform, and he is barred by law from using his current fundraising to finance another campaign for the White House.
But Trump has found a way around both barriers as he rebuilds his political operation to clear the way for a potential 2024 presidential campaign.
His primary political action committee, Save America, has been spending more than $100,000 a week this month on Facebook ads, according to the company, many of which seek donations with deceptive claims about corruption in the last election and public support for the belief that “Trump is the true president.”
Facebook allows the ads because Trump is not posting them personally through his suspended account and the ads do not speak in Trump’s “voice,” according to a company spokeswoman.
The money raised can be used to finance his current political operation — his staff, his rallies, his travel — until he announces another campaign. At that point, he would have to start fresh with a new account, but with a significant advantage: Advisers may rent back the updated list of donors that Save America has collected to give him a head start. And advisers say he could transfer the money to another outside group that buttresses his bid.
The gambit is one of several ways Trump is blowing up the traditional path for a president after leaving office, reaping millions for his political efforts in the process. Rather than shrink from the scene to focus on the blueprints of a presidential library or philanthropy, he is attempting to build one of the largest operations in American politics by continuing many of the tactics that dominated his two presidential campaigns.
Just how much Trump is raising and spending remains a matter of some speculation, as the groups he now operates are only required to report their donations to the Federal Election Commission twice a year. At the end of July, the last reporting date, the three principal fundraising operations he was using declared more than $100 million in cash on hand.
Through an aggressive push of text messages, emails, events and ads, advisers say, Trump has consistently been raising more than $1 million per week, with totals often nearing $2 million.
The fundraising haul puts his political operation, which has so far reported giving little to other candidates or causes, among the largest in the country, dwarfing organizations set up to raise money nationwide. The National Republican Senatorial Committee declared less than $30 million in cash at the end of September and the National Republican Congressional Committee had $65 million in cash at the same point.
He had spent little of his funds before midsummer, though advisers say he has increased spending and donations to other candidates since then. A coterie of political advisers, including two experts on Iowa, have been added to the payroll.
For decades, potential presidential candidates have set up groups that can raise and spend money to support such an operation. But no president since Herbert Hoover has tried to run again after losing a reelection effort.
“What is different with Trump is the sheer amount of money raised and the often-misleading way he has raised that money,” said Brendan Fischer, the director of federal reform at the Campaign Finance Legal Center.
“They aren’t paying for audits — they want others to pay for it,” said one Republican official who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. “He is just raising money to have a big slush fund.”
Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for the former president said Trump’s organization exists to “identify and support” candidates who are “committed to saving America by putting America First.”
“Save America will continue to serve as the primary political vehicle of President Donald J. Trump,” he wrote, “and deliver an unprecedented level of success across the country on his behalf of the MAGA movement.”
Much of Trump’s digital apparatus is still handled by former campaign manager Brad Parscale and former campaign digital director Gary Coby, who is also doing work for the Republican senate committee.
Trump, 75, has participated by calling donors and holding events, including golf tournaments, to raise money. The volume of fundraising pitches, which often hit supporters by email and text multiple times a day, has sometimes annoyed Trump, who has heard complaints from friends, according to an adviser. But he also likes the result: more money to show other Republicans he remains the most formidable presidential candidate, advisers said.
Those committees are Save America PAC; a fundraising effort that handles much of the outreach, called Save America Joint Fundraising Committee; and a smaller group that was created out of the remains of Trump’s 2020 campaign, called the Make America Great Again PAC. The latter is focused primarily on winding down spending for the last campaign, advisers said.
Trump also is supporting another political nonprofit, which was recently rebranded Make American Great Again, Again!, that can accept unlimited donations from wealthy individuals.
That committee, in its previous incarnation under a different name, reported $5.6 million in cash at the end of July. He has announced plans for a for-profit social media network and video streaming service in early 2022.
