Donald Trump now has a $100 million weapon to wield against US democracy.
The defeated and disgraced ex-President’s huge war chest, nearly all amassed within six months of leaving office, was built on his ravenous calls for cash from supporters bought into his delusional lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
It is the latest sign, along with trips to win his favor by GOP candidates and his party’s incessant efforts to wipe the history of his crimes against the Constitution, that Trump’s threat to basic political freedoms is far from over.
It takes little imagination to know what Trump will do with his funds, which are likely to grow significantly in the months ahead. Barely a day goes by without him spinning more outrageous lies about election fraud. Last week’s new revelations about his efforts to pressure the Department of Justice over the election he lost and more disturbing details of the January 6 attack that emerged in the House select committee’s first hearing clarified the history of Trump’s bid to destroy the US political system.
It is now clear that first in Georgia, and then by trying to wield presidential power to force the Justice Department to declare the election soiled by fraud where none existed, the ex-President sought to incite a coup to stay in office. When that failed, he called a mob to Washington, incited it with false claims of voter fraud, and then it invaded Congress, obliterating a peaceful transfer of power.
