More than 100 businesses and three dozen individuals have accepted $21 million and counting from Donald Trump’s political committees to help spread his lies about a “stolen” 2020 election – even after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol he incited to overthrow American democracy.
The business payments from Trump’s Save America “leadership” committee and affiliated groups range from as little as $29.47 to a Home Depot in Atlanta to as much as $3.6 million to WinRed, the Republican firm created to process small-dollar donations, according to a HuffPost review of Federal Election Commission filings for the January 7 to June 30 period.
Pay to individuals varied from $300 in consulting fees to former Melania Trump staffer Mary Casey Finzer to $135,139 to Alexander Cannon, a longtime lawyer for the Trump family.
While the vast majority of the people who have taken paycheques or consulting fees from Trump’s political committees previously worked for his campaign or in his White House, most of the 112 businesses that received money have no connection to politics.
Political scientists and authoritarianism researchers said the broad readiness to do business with Trump, despite all he did and continues to do to undermine democracy with his lies about the 2020 election, is a worrisome sign for the country.
“Here is the blunt reality: Individuals or firms that take money from a group trying to kill democracy are taking blood money,” said Norman Ornstein, a fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “The blood of a free and fair political system and society is on their hands.”