In a column for the Bulwark, Sam Stein revealed that the Trump campaign is spending extra money in Florida so that the candidate can see his own campaign ads.
Donald Trump may live in West Palm Beach, Florida, but he isn't popular there, having lost the town by 13% in 2020. So some eyebrows were raised yesterday when it was revealed that the campaign is buying ad space in the area.
Polls in Florida are tightening and House and Senate seats could be at risk, but Trump is still widely favored to win the state. And after digging into the news, Stein found that the ad buys were more about Trump's ego than anything else. He wrote:
"The South Florida expense is likely to have no impact on the course of the election. Palm Beach County is a Democratic stronghold in a Republican state that Trump has little chance of losing. But Trump’s staff is at some risk of incurring his wrath if he — and his Palm Beach pals — don’t see his ads at Mar-a-Lago, a factor that insiders say compelled the purchase."
The piece continued with a source from the Trump team explaining, "This is more about keeping the donors happy than the principal. There’s a lot of donors in Palm Beach. If spending $50k gets us $5 million, that’s good ROI. If it makes the boss happy, too, then good."
You can read the report in its entirety here