Speaker 1: Donald Trump is financially destroying the Republican Party. That's
where we start today. You know, Michelle Cottle wrote a very interesting op ed in The New York
Times called Trump is financially ruining the Republican Party. To which I say yes. And that
that's probably great news, actually. So this is something we've been talking about for a while,
and I will link to the piece because I think Michelle does a very good job in sort of
outlining it. The Republican Party should really think very carefully about the financial risks of
associating and aligning too closely with Donald Trump, because his involvement in the party so
far has been a disaster electorally. But it's also led to a really difficult financial situation for
the Republican Party, particularly as Trump has now taken over the Republican National Committee.
And there are campaign finance issues. There are issues relating to the allocation of donations,
issues related to the ethics and honesty of people donating to the RNC, presumably
to help elect Republicans around the country and ultimately to have that money funneled
in to Donald Trump's legal fees. And Trump does have a history, at the end of the day,
of financially ruining businesses of different kinds. If you look at Trump, the businessman
we've said before, there's the allure of Trump, the reputation of Trump, the idea of Trump. And
then there's the reality, which is that he may have done better financially simply by investing
all the money he got from his family and his dad in the S&P 550 years ago and letting it ride,
or however many years ago it was. And there are all of the failed ventures. There's the vodka,
there's the steaks, there's the casinos that went bankrupt, there's the university, which ended up
being a total scam, leading corporate bankruptcies of all kinds associated and attached to Trump. And
so when you take that background and connect it to political fundraising and campaigning,
you start to see that it is a very risky business venture for the Republican Party and the RNC
to align itself with a guy who often leaves financial devastation all around him. He always
comes out somehow. Okay. And we can talk about the different ways in which that's the case. But
we are now starting to see this directly affect the Republican Party in a bunch of different
ways. We've already talked about the fundraising numbers. Biden is dramatically out fundraising.
Trump doubled his fundraising, had double the cash on hand, raised more in one event Biden did than
Trump raised in all of February, at one point had $100 million more on hand than the Donald
Trump. So the fundraising the money in isn't going very well. And this is already starting to affect
Trump's ability to campaign. And Trump's reliance on big money donors who are increasingly hesitant
to support him, may also end up being a pretty significant problem. Now, Michelle Cottle in the
op ed is sort of telling Republicans, hey, this is going on. She says, hey, Republican Party,
pay attention. You're being herded toward potential financial ruin. The red flags are
smacking you in the face. Wake up and smell the grift. The problem is, there isn't really
anyone left in charge to actually tell about the fact that this is what's happening financially,
because the RNC has now been taken over by Lara Trump and another Trump loyalist. They have said
the money that comes in is for Trump. We're going to pay his legal fees. Trump's legal bills are
already reportedly exceeding $100 million, and it may get even crazier as the criminal trials start.
There is a fundraising agreement which allows for the prioritization of legal bill payments over
party committee allocations, which is something that we've never seen before. And this is also
part of the problematic Republican strategy. There are financial problems facing a bunch of
Republican state parties where Republicans in some of the less crazy red states are saying,
look, they clearly are going to they're going with Trump again. He's already clinched the nomination,
just has to be crowned at the convention, but he's already clinched the nomination. At the state
level, there's a lot of magnetite people that are involved. What am I donating for? So I'm not going
to donate. And that's causing problems not only for Trump's national fundraising and the RNC,
but also for state level Republican parties. There are leadership disputes in many states.
Do they want a Maga or a non MAGA state party? This is happening in Arizona. This is happening
in Michigan. This is happening in Georgia. States that could be they were crucial states in 2020 and
could be crucial again. And then look at what's happening even when with national leadership where
you've got the they ousted speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy brought in MAGA Mike Johnson. But
you already have Marjorie Taylor Greene and some other Republicans saying, I don't know that I want
this guy to be speaker of the House either, which further depresses and hurts fundraising. Now,
on the other side. You look at what's happening on the Democratic, side and on the Democratic Party,
even though there are claims that there's no energy whatsoever behind Joe Biden,
you see insane fundraising numbers for Joe Biden doubling Trump, sometimes tripling Trump,
way more cash on hand. You see, while Trump and the Republicans are firing staffers,
as I previously told you, and closing down election offices, you see Biden opening election
offices and hiring people in different parts of the country. There are no leadership challenges
happening right now on the Democratic side. There is quite a wide tent, even though I know that
there are many who say no. The Democratic Party is divided. Look at what's happening on Israel,
Gaza, for example. Yeah, there are disagreements, but for the most part, the party is really united
compared to what you're seeing on the Republican side, which is that a full nearly 40% of primary
voters voted for someone other than Donald Trump. And yet Trump is still the nominee.
And now a lot of those 40% are saying, I might stay home. I might go from Haley to Biden. I
don't know what I'm going to do. So this is a reminder that the now eight, eight years,
the roughly eight year, Trumpian takeover of the Republican Party has lost the many elections,
is now putting them in potential financial ruin. And they don't seem to have even the most minor
ability to get out of this. So there's a couple of outcomes here. The first is very unlikely. Somehow
the Republican Party realizes Trump's a disaster. They get rid of Trump as a candidate. They get
rid of trumpists from the RNC. But it seems both too late for that, and that there really isn't a
majority of Republicans that actually want to do that. So then we get to the most ideal outcome
for us on the left, which is they run the party into the ground. They lose the house in 2024.
They continue not having the Senate. Joe Biden gets reelected in 2024. It's the end of Trump's
political career. And hopefully, hopefully, MAGA Trumpism is just destroyed, the last vestiges of
which maybe just become normal Republicans. Or maybe they go away altogether. And then we start
2028, in a situation where the Democrats will be putting up a new candidate, because Biden will
be term limited and Republicans will have to come up with something other than MAGA, Trumpism, and
maybe we have a new awakening in America. That's the most optimistic perspective. The alternative
is unfortunately very ugly, which is that this insane fundraising scheme and selection of Trump
once again leads to four more years of Trump in the Oval Office. And then in 2028, whoever is
the heir apparent to MAGA Trumpism. Maybe it's Don junior, maybe it's Eric Trump, maybe it's Marjorie
Taylor Greene. I don't know. These are all very scary names. Try to take over and MAGA Trumpism
continues. So for me, the stakes are clear. And part of it is I welcome the financial disaster
that is the Republican Party. Its thanks to Trump, but it's potentially a good thing for the left.
Let's make sure we don't squander this opportunity in 2024, because it really is feeling like an
inflection point, and that's a point I'm going to continue to make as we get closer to November.