The Times did what the Times does best and published a rigorously sourced article on Trump's latest law breaking. This one was tied less directly to Trump and more to the grifters and hangers-on that a slob like Trump cultivates. And the rot exposed runs right through the modern GOP.
The basic contours of the scam were/are this: You went to WinRed - the conservative counterpart to ActBlue - and made a contribution to Trump or the RNC. Unbeknownst to you, there was a pre-checked box making your donation a recurring donation. It might also have a prechecked box making a larger one-time donation. You think you've made a $100 donation to Trump and two months later, you've got a $2500 set of charges on your credit card.
We - and possibly you - have had some experiences with entities <cough Wells Fargo cough> who have signed us up for services we don't want without our explicit permission. Eventually the fees were refunded, because...laws. Same goes for Trump and the RNC. They have been refunding tens of millions of dollars to the dupes who thought Donald Trump cares about them.
So, on the one hand, we have the GOP using skeevy telemarking practices that everyone hates to bilk their supporters into making donations against their will. But the kicker of the piece was this graph.
Mr. Wilson, an 87-year-old retiree in Illinois, made a series of small contributions last fall that he thought would add up to about $200; by December, federal records show, WinRed and Mr. Trump’s committees had withdrawn more than 70 separate donations from Mr. Wilson worth roughly $2,300.
“Predatory!” Mr. Wilson said of WinRed. Like multiple other donors interviewed, though, he held Mr. Trump himself blameless, telling The Times, “I’m 100 percent loyal to Donald Trump.”
At what point should I care? I feel bad for the elderly when they are duped by horribly cynical scammers who prey on old people's unfamiliarity with modern life. We spent the last year of my mom's life telling her not to respond/click the box/sign up for any number or probably scams. Maybe you've heard that your car warranty has expired? Or your Social Security number has been changed?
What's amazing is that a political party - presumably one that needs to cultivate popularity with people - is engaging in the sort of behavior of America's least favorite business AND NOT LOSING SUPPORT OVER IT.
The commitment of Trump's hardcore supporters is why conmen succeed. They have been duped. Duped that Trump cares for them, fights for them. He doesn't. He channels their grievances in a way that makes them happy without evet actually doing anything to make their lives better. But because he's basically saying, "Wasn't it great when we could say the N word and didn't have to worry about making sexist jokes at work?" he has won the allegiance of a sizable part of the electorate, BILKED THEM OF THEIR MONEY and NOT LOST ANY SUPPORT.
So... yeah...what Trump's campaign did either SHOULD be illegal or IS illegal. I hope those behind it get convicted. But I'm struggling to sympathize with the marks who insist on remaining marks.
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