The Trump machine: The former president's dash for campaign cash

Although ahead in most of the polls, the Republican is at a huge financial disadvantage to Democrat Joe Biden. He now needs the party’s traditional donors.

- Alex Rogers

Just hours after he was ordered by a New York judge to pay US$454 million (S$613 million) for fraudulently inflating the value of his properties, Donald Trump held a fundraising event at his ritzy Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

The biggest donors received signed Make America Great Again (Maga) caps. They also drank a 2020 vintage of Trump Meritage wine and sat on Opera chairs for a speech where Trump railed against the ruling, according to a person present.

The colour of the chairs, the "Maga" on the caps, and the "Trump" lettering on the wine bottle were all the same - gold.

Part of the proceeds for the event went to a group that pays for his lawyers. On the same evening, Trump fans saw new Facebook ads leading to a donation page claiming: "They're not after me. They're after you." "He's a fighter," says Bryan Eure, an insurance broker and Trump donor at the Feb 16 event.

"There's no coincidence that all of these court cases are happening all at once. It's just ridiculous." The 2024 Trump campaign is unlike any other. Money comes in to send him to the White House.

But just as quickly, some goes straight out to protect him from jail.

Trump has used each of his four indictments as fund-raising tools, selling T-shirts with his mugshot, which helped pro-Trump groups to raise roughly US$190 million in 2023.

But the same groups also spent more than US$50 million on his legal fees.

Although he is ahead in most of the polls for November's election, Trump's campaign is at a huge financial disadvantage to Joe Biden.

Pro-Biden groups entered 2024 with about US$118 million on hand, compared with about US$66 million for Trump. The difference - US$52 million - was equal to the legal expenditures pro-Trump groups spent.