Former President Donald Trump continues to bring in the bucks for the Republican National Committee.
Politico, in a story posted on Thursday, noted that Trump is the GOP's "cash cow."
"There was this pregnant pause around the impeachment and Jan. 6 riot, that was 'Trump was toxic and Trump doesn't want us to use his name,'" said GOP fundraiser Dan Eberhart. "But we've now reverted back to the past five years, where Trump is the biggest name in Republican politics. He's the best name at bringing in money and we need to lean into that."
Not long after the Jan. 6 violent protest at the Capitol, the Republican National Committee began sending out fundraising emails decrying Trump's impeachment. The RNC has now sent out 97 emails mentioning Trump after not sending out a single message immediately after the attack, Politico noted.
The RNC emails were not all about fundraising, the outlet noted. Some were about increasing engagement.
Trump is featured prominently in the emails, but he has not been listed as a signatory on any of them. And the RNC has experimented with messages from a variety of different lawmakers at different moments, according to Politico.
In March, the RNC sent out an email under Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott's name touting a chance to meet Trump.
"The party raises money in different ways," a top Republican fundraiser told Politico. "When you're talking about different email, Facebook, small donors, building up that loyalty at the small-dollar level, President Trump is so much more potent and powerful than all the other names of the party combined — including Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan."
And another unnamed GOP fundraiser maintained President Joe Biden's early days in office had convinced some big donors to stick with the Republican Party.
"Those donors who were wary of Trump have been coming up saying they're not happy with current leadership," said the Republican fundraiser. "He feels reenergized by that and the enthusiasm he's getting. Could have gone either way."
This all comes after Trump had at one point demanded that three main Republican groups stop using his name and likeness to help raise money.
A Trump adviser had said that lawyers for the former president had sent cease-and-desist letters on March 5 to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Campaign, and National Republican Senate Campaign, asking them to no longer use his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise, Reuters noted.
The adviser pointed out that Trump is sensitive to the use of his name and likeness for branding purposes and was annoyed that the three groups supported Republican lawmakers who had joined Democrats in voting to impeach him over the attack at the Capitol.
But Politico noted the rift over fundraising was quickly resolved.
"The Republican Party has a long history of incorporating former presidents in our fundraising efforts, and we are happy to tout President Trump's accomplishments and all he did to fight for the American people," said RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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