AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has spent tens of thousands of dollars on ad buys in his own home state. Actually, in his own home.
The Bulwark’s Sam Stein reported on Monday that a small but notable portion of Trump’s campaign spending went towards making sure the candidate sees his own political ads while he’s watching TV at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida:
The South Florida expense is likely to have no impact on the course of the election. Palm Beach County is a Democratic stronghold in a Republican state that Trump has little chance of losing. But Trump’s staff is at some risk of incurring his wrath if he — and his Palm Beach pals — don’t see his ads at Mar-a-Lago, a factor that insiders say compelled the purchase.
While Florida is not exactly at play in this general election, a Trump campaign ad had a perfectly simple explanation for why Trump wanted to spend money on ads — $47,000, according to Stein — where he seemingly doesn’t need to campaign too hard:
“This is more about keeping the donors happy than the principal. There’s a lot of donors in Palm Beach,” said a campaign insider, who noted that Trump himself would not be in Palm Beach much this week. “If spending $50k gets us $5 million, that’s good ROI. If it makes the boss happy, too, then good.”
Stein also noted that Trump lost his home district of Palm Beach County in 2020 by 13 points.
But some August Florida numbers might have been enough to spook Trump, according to consultant Kevin Cate, whom Stein quoted in his report. Cate tweeted earlier this month: “I think Trump spends first TV dollars in Florida (for his ego and against his team’s advice). And that’s how you’ll know we’re in landslide territory.”
Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com
