How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations: Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions.

“Bandits!” said Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old Californian, who made a $990 online donation to Mr. Trump in early September via WinRed. It recurred seven more times — adding up to almost $8,000. “I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.”

The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists — retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars.

Trump is a thief. He stole money from unsuspecting people who didn't know the donations were recurring. Throw him in prison.

Of course Dump & Co are the lowest of the lowest preying on these dullard people. But is anyone really surprised by this? The scam was very carefully targeted and specifically designed to ensnare people of very low intellect who don't pay attention to what they are doing so they didn't see the reoccurring payments. They won't be getting their money back either I'll bet. It's a very similar scam to the all Evangelical christian scams.

But I have no sympathy whatsoever for all the fucking MAGA idiots who lost their money to the scam. If they believed in Dump enough to donate those sums of money they then also believed in the "stolen election" lies and storming the Capitol and like believed in hanging Pence and gutting Pelosi...

Fuck all of them.

What I would find interesting is to know how many of the people who fell for this scam have changed their minds about Dump and what he stands for? Or are they just making more excuses for Dump and are as loyal as they ever were?

He warned them.

You know it’s the latter r4.

cry me a river!

Yeah. You're spot on R6.

Unbelievable isn't it? If the people who were scammed cannot think critically then they deserve whatever Dump does to them next...

This is, in fairness, the most on-brand thing the Trump campaign has ever done. How can anyone be complaining about it?

R8. No one especially an unsuspecting elderly person on a fixed income deserves to have recurring withdrawals of cash siphoned from their bank account and given to Donald Trump simply because they didn't see or understand the fine print allowing Trump to scam and make substantial withdrawals to support that motherfucking thief.

“It’s unfair, it’s unethical and it’s inappropriate,” said Ira Rheingold, the executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

Aaaand just like that, the Trump 2024 campaign has found its slogan!

Screwing his base and they'll still love him

And yet they'll all faithfully line up in droves for Dump to scam them again next time R10...

Zero sympathy.

The headline of the article states that Trump himself did this, but later in the article in states that instead WinRed did it. Buried in the article, the reporter notes that there was no confirmation that Trump was aware of it: “Asked if Mr. Trump had been aware of his operation’s use of recurring payments, the campaign did not respond.” The Times gives its readers what they want instead of being accurate. It makes a big difference if it was Trump who did it versus this other, for-profit organization.

There's no doubt whatsoever in anybody's mind that Trump was aware of it R15.

The tactic to continue fleecing donations from the MAGA idiots was likely suggested to him and 100% approved by him and we all know it.

r16, and yet the article doesn’t state that. It would see like the most important thing to include in the article, especially to try to provide some support for the headline.

AS IF Dump or any of the other grifters are going to admit to that R17!

Of course he knew all about it.

I find myself completely unsympathetic even to the old people who gave $$ for the Trump Restoration, only to be screwed over by Dear Leader himself. Way to own the libs, Gramps!

The Trump family has been doing this kind of unethical, criminal business behavior since the 80’s, and before. It’s their oxygen. This fact has been obvious since then to anyone who reads, pays attention, and isn’t an uneducated moron. In fact, knowing this fact is tired.

If the NYTimes is guilty of anything, it’s beating a dead horse!

What? The donations recurred weekly? Despite my orders asking you to not to? I said I wanted the donations to recur BIGLY HOURLY!!!

What? The donations recurred weekly? Despite my orders asking you to not to? I said I wanted the donations to recur BIGLY HOURLY!!!

GOOD.

What are the repercussions? Nothing? Once again, nothing?

Probably nothing R24.

It’s the same as when you sign up for porn sites or when you install software, you have to be very careful to uncheck the boxes of things you don’t want. So it’s odd that donor’s weren’t used to that.

It sounded as though the Republican national committee was involved this ripoff operation too. Time to look into simpering fatface Ronna Romney McDaniel.

If you donated any money to the Trump campaign, you deserve the worst possible things to happen to you. Full stop.

Not at all surprising, but the number are huge...

“In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors.”

Also interesting that the funds raised under the guise of “stopping the steal” were needed to pay off the refunds.

What a cluster fuck. Trump and his associates are the pinnacle of staggering incompetence.

For all MAGAts

I'm sure, even with dump draining all their savings in his scam, many will still support him. Smh...

Getting money out of the rubes is an essential part of the con. When they're actually invested cash in you they'll be that much more invested in you in terms of emotions and ego, and therefore more loyal.

Honestly, I feel it's poetic justice for these people who helped put trump in the White House. No sympathy here at all.

I noticed a couple of times, when I contributed to Democratic campaigns, that what I thought was a "one time" donation turned out to be monthly. After a couple of additional payments, I went to their website to stop it. When you make donations, make sure you mark "one time donation". Look at the fine print.

[quote] No one especially an unsuspecting elderly person on a fixed income deserves to have recurring withdrawals of cash siphoned from their bank account and given to Donald Trump simply because they didn't see or understand the fine print allowing Trump to scam and make substantial withdrawals to support that motherfucking thief.

Oh I couldn’t disagree more. Shitty people getting what they deserve.

I'm sorry but this is hilarious.

I'm about to piss myself laughing thinking of some old senior choosing between food and medicine and then sending cash to Trump only to get royally fucked over.

I guess they really "pwned" the libs! LMAO

[quote] If you donated any money to the Trump campaign, you deserve the worst possible things to happen to you. Full stop.

I agree.

I continue to be amazed at people, both inside and outside the Trump administration, who supported him while he shit on OTHER people, but never thought THEY would be the ones who would get shit upon.

I guess I feel bad that there are probably some smart, liberal-thinking sons and daughters out there who will now be guilted into sending their Trumpist parents money so they don't get evicted from their homes in the trailer park just to keep them from moving into the spare bedroom now that they're broke.

[quote] I guess I feel bad that there are probably some smart, liberal-thinking sons and daughters out there who will now be guilted into sending their Trumpist parents money so they don't get evicted from their homes in the trailer park just to keep them from moving into the spare bedroom now that they're broke.

There are better, more Darwinian, ways to deal with that: after they are evicted, take them to the top of a mountain or leave them in the middle of a thick forest.

Thoughts & prayers!

Live by the Dump, die by the Dump.

[quote] Or are they just making more excuses for Dump and are as loyal as they ever were?

Bingo.

40+ posts to get to this.

[quote] that donor’s weren’t used to that.

Oh, dear!

[quote] Full stop.

*eyeroll*

[quote] Buried in the article, the reporter notes that there was no confirmation that Trump was aware of it: “Asked if Mr. Trump had been aware of his operation’s use of recurring payments, [bold]the campaign did not respond.”[/bold]

They neither confirmed nor denied. In fact, they didn’t even respond to the question.

Did you really think they’d tell The NY Times, “Yup. We duped ‘em. We knowed all ‘bout it”?

And they STILL support him. That’s the very definition of a cult

@r43, and we're still not there

Stinky linky

You could almost feel bad for these geriatrics if they weren’t Nazi supporters.

Thanks, r48!

Trump always stays two or three degrees from the actual crime. There's no way in hell he'd ever admit to knowing about this, much less approving of it with his blessing. He's the ultimate con man.

R15...trump always has other people do his dirty work...never gets his hands dirty. He makes sure he's a couple of degrees away from the crime. He lets other people take the fall. He does and says things in a roundabout way, so not to actually pin it on him...in codes that his supporters understand. We've seen him deny knowledge of people who were caught, even people he's known for years...I don't know him/her. He has done this all his life. If anything, as stupid as he is, he sure is a cunning conman. I'm kind of surprised at how skilled he is at that. He doesn't even try to hide it.

Lol...pretty much repeating what R51 said. Ditto.

Let. Them. Die.

Let them dine on trump steaks and "whine."

We DEMAND reparations from Biden and the Federal Goverment for this scam (which Predisent Trump knew no knowlege of!)

Trump is like Hitler in many ways, one of which is the ability to keep his hands technically clean of dirty deeds done in his name. You’ll find not a single document in which Hitler ordered the Holocaust. And yet he wanted the Jews murdered, and they were murdered. If Hitler had survived, no doubt he would have denied all knowledge of the Wannsee Conference.

Sorry, I got ZERO fucks to give for these people. They got ripped off and they deserve it. Maybe this is the ONLY way they will learn that the GQP has devolved into nothing more than a bunch of grifters and thieves.

Some of us have been observing this for over a decade, welcome to the party. Or will they just keep doubling and tripling down on the GQP? It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out (bad for democracy and the USA, but still interesting from a human psychology/sociology perspective).

Charles Manson did the same. "Do something witchy."....and his psychos did in August 1969. Not saying, murder...but witchy, which is code. That's a trait of true cult leaders.

[quote]He doesn't even try to hide it.

That’s whats always amazed me. How his followers don’t see how obvious he is.

Regarding the big lie: He started planting that seed months and months in advance of the election because he knew he was down in the polls. How did they not say to themselves, “if he’s not re-elected he’ll say it’s stolen”?

Imagine being so stupid as to know the con months in advance but still fall for it. That’s demented level.

[quote] Maybe this is the ONLY way they will learn that the GQP has devolved into nothing more than a bunch of grifters and thieves.

Nope, Some of them at least are still in the cult

[quote] “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.”

Well, that's true to the extent that Trump can be said to fully be aware of anything outside his narcissistic bubble. Remember, he's well on on his way to dementia, like his father before him.

I hope they all die penniless and on the street, then pick their bodies up and dump them in the nearest land fill where they belong. On second thought, take their worthless shells to the pig farm and let the pigs tear them up and shit them out.

President LBJ is having a nice laugh from the great beyond.

He warned us about these types of people.

Give them someone to look down on...

I’m sure his inner circle is siphoning off some money

R65, massive amounts of campaign money appear to have been laundered through a shell corporation created at the direction of Jared Kushner. No one is sure where most of that money went; at least some of it was paid to family members as fake "salaries."

Anyone who donates to a political campaign is a chump. I wouldn’t throw my money away on any candidate. If your candidate loses, all the donations were a complete waste, except to the operatives who profit off the suckers.

[quote]That’s whats always amazed me. How his followers don’t see how obvious he is.

R60 - Trump's cult-like followers gorge themselves on a diet of Facebook, Fox News, OAN, NewsMax etc. They are so biased and deeply invested in the Trump as savior message that they will not seek out alternative sources of information or investigate what they are being told for factual evidence because they HATE everything and everyone with a narrative that does not exactly match their own. They are unable to think critically and live in an echo-chamber of misinformation, distrust and fear and it's getting worse as they years go by. It won't be a newsflash to DL members but the situation we find America in has been incremental over the past 20 years and is now at full force which is what allowed Trump to be elected.

The GOP/Trump knows all of this and they count on it. This won't be their last grifting scam and these same cult members will fall for it all over again.

It's very difficult to have any sympathy for these people. I've got none.

[quote] Anyone who donates to a political campaign is a chump

I kinda felt that way after the last cycle. I donated some small amounts ($50) to a few candidates I heard on Dean Obeidallah's show, like Hank Gilbert, who was challenging the vile Louis Gohmert, (and was defeated by a margin of 45 points). My partner donated to Jamie Harrison.

I don't regret my donation if it helped them get their message out. I strongly believe that Democrats need to run a fifty-state strategy, leaving no race uncontested, but I sometimes wish that these candidates would say "I know I have no chance of winning, but [the Republican] is so odious that I just cannot let her/him run unopposed."

“I like Trump but not this much! Isn’t he rich already?” 🤡

r35, really because it comes to me and in big letters, ask if I want it to be a ONE TIME DONATION or recur.

r67 has a good point. I gave to Democrat candidates...especially the last election cycle, wanting to flip the senate and get trump out. Jaime Harrison had so much donated money, even Graham was worried....and Graham fucking won. Mitch won...and so on. The only good thing is trump got voted out. I may give a general donation to the Democrat Party and that's it. No more to individual candidates. Now, I keep getting tons of solicitated emails from the Dems...it's annoying and a PITA.

[quote] I may give a general donation to the Democrat Party and that's it. No more to individual candidates. Now, I keep getting tons of solicitated emails from the Dems...it's annoying and a PITA.

Oh, definitely. I did the exact same thing and couldn’t agree with you more. Now I’m constantly getting emails with “we need your help” calls and it is absurd.

...correction: *unsolicitated emails...

Fools and their money.

If anyone is fooled enough to give the crook money... they deserve to be robbed. Supporters are suckers. He’s always been a criminally driven con.

Why on earth would anyone on a fixed income donate money to a millionaire? Hard to find sympathy for them.

Trump & RNC mailed out thousands/millions of forms, pre-census, that looked like census forms asking for personal information such as income, employment source, age, race, household members, etc. When exposed, they called it a "County Census". The form stated it was "required" and they sent follow-up demands. It was about collecting personal data to be used as a fundraising tool. I was never a Republican, didn't contribute to Republican candidates, or attended any Republican event. I phoned the RNC asking about the purpose of this. The woman answering confirmed it was not a part of the U.S. Census. I expressed my displeasure about this elaborate, attempted trickery and insisted not to receive additional correspondence from them. I was also receiving Trump campaign mailings via the RNC.

I figured out how they got my name. Months earlier, I sent a form Email to one of my Senators (LG - yep, that one), that was polite, but disagreeing with the Senator's stance and vote on an issue. LG did send a standard form reply, and apparently I ended-up on his campaign mailing list. I also sent an Email to McConnell with no acknowledgement or reply.

If you Email a Congressional politican, use their direct office Email. They will use form Emails for campaign fundraising without you having requested or authorized being on such a list.

.The RNC, inclusive of Trump, are sleazy. The media at one point minimally mentioned the deception, but no ethic entity or elections commission did anything about it.

^politician, ethics

Graham fucking won. Mitch wo

People need to go back to 2018 and what happened in NC. It got no coverage because of the Plump vacuum. But the rethugs were caught red-handed padding a red county with extra votes. It was legit election fraud.

This could be the playbook in FL, KY, SC and even Iowa. There are a couple others I suspect.

SC vote was very suspicious in 2020. While Republicans had the advantage, a well-like Democratic incumbent Congressman was defeated in District 1 Charleston.

The margin of Graham's victory became a landslide, contrary to all polls. The Republicans, who control the elections apparatus, went beyond absurdity with the manipulation of numbers. Graham is not popular, even among many Republicans. However, his campaign and pacs have received massive special interest money, i. e. corporations, NRA, Russian oligarchs, big banks, major lawyer firms, AIPAC, Saudi interests, Koch, Mercer, etc.

No way black voters, white Democrats, younger voters,, progressive Independents, would have a sum total just in the upper 30s, percentage-wise.

Lindsey saw the SC results, and thought the same thing could be done during the Georgia recount. Georgia had watchdogs, a Republican Secretary of State refusing to participate in a cheating conspiracy, and activist Democrats that would smell any organized tampering. SC has none of that.

"Anyone who donates to a political campaign is a chump."

I used my credit card to send Joe $100 when he won the primary. Others did too, and when people hear of other people sending money- they take a chance and do the same.

And now he's President and Donald Trump isn't. See?

[quote] And now he's President and Donald Trump isn't. See?

Biden would have won without your $100, which is what makes you a chump. See?

He may have won without his $100, but if everyone thought that way there’d be no money at all for the campaign.

[quote] if everyone thought that way there’d be no money at all for the campaign.

The Biden campaign would have done fine with the millions received from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and various billionaires and millionaires. There’s no need to take advantage of the kind of weak-minded people with average incomes who would donate to a political campaign.