Usually, when someone who alleges to be a millionaire invites you to his home, you wouldn’t expect him to charge you for the privilege of playing golf or eating bad buffet omelets.
But Mar-A-Lago isn’t your average millionaire’s pad, and if you’re making the pilgrimage to Palm Beach to be anointed by the Great MAGA King Baby, you best pack your checkbook along with your tennis whites, because not only isn’t freedom free at MAGA-Lago, but neither is his endorsement.
[Photo by Davidoff Studios/Getty Images]Some might think that Trump is endorsing the worst possible candidates just because they’re trying to dismantle the American voting system from within, and that’s totally true. But it also seems he’s not going to say the nice things unless you pay up bigly. CNBC reports that the campaigns of SEVEN Republican candidates endorsed by Trump spent over $400,000 combined at Mar-a-Lago.
Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign spent almost $200,000 at Mar-a-Lago, according to FEC filings.
Trump’s pick for Georgia governor, former Sen. David Perdue (who lost in his primary to incumbent Governor Brian Kemp), spent $20,000 from his campaign coffers at Mar-a-Lago in May, according to state campaign finance disclosures.
Republican SoS candidate Tina Peters spent campaign cash on her junket to Mar-a-Lago to watch the premiere of 2000 Mules.
“In Republican politics today, there’s only two seasons that matter: Mar-A-Lago season and Bedminster season, because it’s where candidates, organizations, and donors want to be,” Trump’s spokesman Taylor Budowich told CNBC in a text message. Budowich also said that “candidates and causes across the nation are being funded by the unprecedented amount of money being raised at Trump properties.” Budowich had no comment on whether Trump prefers Duck Season or Rabbit Season while he was at it.
The corruption is obvious. Candidates spend money at Mar-a-Lago. They become Trump favorites and get endorsements.
The graft remains the same but the location has changed from the Trump DC Hotel (RIP) to his private Florida club.
— Resist hateful GOP policies (@hateGOP) May 24, 2022
Payola is illegal, but this is Trump we’re talking about, so of course there’s no such thing as any consequences for yet another infraction of the law while he grifts people he pretends to like. Maybe someday they’ll all realize Trump was just using them as human ATMs, but probably not.
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