Trump supporters were forced to donate millions of dollars for his campaign

To illustrate his point, journalist Shane Goldmaker tells the story of retired American Stacey Platt. When he hears that Donald Trump needs money to run his campaign, this interested Republican does not hesitate to donate him $ 500. That earns him a lot of reflection because he only earns $ 1,000 a month. Quickly, however, those $ 500 donations turn into 3,000. To that extent Stacey’s bank account is blocked by her bank.

But, surprisingly, Stacy was not hacked. In fact, without him realizing it, Trump’s teams were able to extract this money from him completely legally. How? ‘Or’ What? By using a pre-verified yellow box at the bottom of the donation form. As the newspaper explains, this box recognized the weekly debasement, where the donor thought of making a transfer. This box has become so complicated over the months (and the financial issues of the campaign) that even the regulators in the political world have been fooled. In all, thousands of people have been affected by these unwanted donations.

If this technique is banned in Europe, it is not in the United States. Yet it raises questions. “It’s unfair, it’s unethical, it’s irrelevant,” said Ira Ringold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Lawyers. This is why so many Americans are demanding a refund.

Refunds, yes, but …

In the last two and a half months of its campaign, the Republican Party had to repay 530,000, totaling $ 64.3 million! During the same period, Biden’s team had to repay 6 5.6 million. So while repaying donations is not an exception (since they often exceed the approved $ 5,000 per person), the number achieved by the Republican Party is surprising. For those who look at American politics, these are even the largest sums paid back during an election campaign. No matter how much Trump’s campaign officials attribute these excessive donations to enthusiastic supporters, a good portion of them are due to the already verified box system.

One might think that the former president did not get anything in this story because he had to repay the bulk of the money paid by Trump’s teams … but, in fact, the fall of these funds was neither more or less than 0 per cent more than the reception at a crucial time in his campaign. Not to mention that many have stopped repaying, believing that procedures are more restrictive with regard to withdrawals.

A real system

In any case, the aggressive tactics used by Trump’s campaign groups did not stop after the defeat of the Republicans. According to the New York Times, the automatic withdrawal continued until December. Enough to feed “Save America”, the political action group set up by Donald Trump to “protect the elections” he considered bad.

This is not the last time this maneuver has been used. During the Senate election, two Republicans, David Bertue and Kelly Lofler, used ballot boxes before the second round of voting. Again, the payback rate was higher after the campaign.

While a few Democrats use this method, it is not as practical as the Reds and, most importantly, the refund amount never reaches such levels. One thing is for sure: Republicans are not ready to do this without an easy and devilish technique to implement.

Today, on the websites of various Republican groups and Republicans in the mainstream Congress, delegates Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell always include pre-checked yellow boxes.

In late February, for his first official speech since his defeat, Trump and his team used the method again, “Did you miss me? A question with a link to the donation campaign … decorated with pre-checked yellow boxes.