Furious GOP donors stew over Trump
Whitman, a major GOP giver who ran for California governor in 2010, compared Trump to historical demagogues like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and wanted to know how the speaker could get behind him.
.. This week, Trump slashed his original fundraising expectations, saying he no longer believed he needed to raise $1 billion. Some of his top fundraisers think he’ll struggle to top $300 million, a figure that’s less than a third of what Romney raised in 2012
.. And while they may be reluctant to admit it, some are starting to think about the next presidential election — in 2020. Among those making the trek to Utah this week were Ryan, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — all of whom were seen here as potential future White House contenders. All were mobbed.
.. One option, he said, is for Trump to accept public financing. Under federal election laws, that would allow him to receive a lump sum of government funds while capping how much he’d be able to spend.
.. The prospect of a controversial billionaire accepting taxpayer funding would be one of the more bizarre twists of the 2016 campaign. But for a struggling Trump, it might be worth pursuing — especially with rising doubts about whether he can fill his coffers.