Name: Trump's campaign nearly went broke for the 2020 homestretch amid Brad Parscale's $200 million budgeting misfire, Republicans tell Insider
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Trump's campaign nearly went broke for the 2020 homestretch amid Brad Parscale's $200 million budgeting misfire, Republicans tell Insider

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The words "Business Insider".Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.Before his demotion this summer as President Donald Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale had planned for a stunning amount of money to arrive during the 2020 homestretch that would have covered equally shocking spending but left the reelection effort dead broke by the start of October, three Republicans close to the president's campaign told Insider.Parscale had been banking on campaign donations to miraculously double in October by about $200 million more than other recent months, one Republican close to the president said. The Republican said Trump's new campaign team, led by Bill Stepien, had to rush to cancel the spending approved by Parscale to salvage the president's bid for a second term.Trump and Jared Kushner, the president's chief advisor and son-in-law, ultimately demoted Parscale in July and launched an of spending under him, which turned up big-ticket items like a personal driver for Parscale and extensive for campaign staff.But money has been tight since then, leaving no less than the president himself to attempt to beat back stories that his campaign is on the rocks and float the idea, again, that he would open up his own checkbook to keep it running.&nbsp;"I keep reading Fake News stories that my campaign is running low on money. Not true, &amp; if it were so, I would put up money myself," . "The fact is that we have much more money than we had 4 years ago, where we spent much less money than Crooked Hillary, and still easily won, 306-223!"Stepien and other top Trump campaign staff first noticed the potential cash shortfall after they gained access to the financial documents Parscale had been keeping. Parscale didn't maintain a campaign budget, but he did lay out big estimates of how much money he thought the president's reelection effort would raise.&nbsp;Since Parscale's demotion, the Trump campaign has scrambled to save money with the clock ticking fast on the 2020 race."There's been a tightening of the belt," one Trump advisor told Insider. "They recognized pretty quickly there wasn't going to be enough dough."&nbsp;Trump advisors say they still believe the president can win a second term, even while they acknowledge his chances are dwindling with just three weeks to go before Election Day.The president's standing in national polls and critical battleground-state surveys dropped significantly after his rambunctious debate performance on September 29 and in the wake of his early-morning announcement on Twitter that he had contracted the coronavirus.The combination of a cash crunch and Trump's own failings as a candidate has left the campaign to pick which states it targets and which ones to write off, a second Republican close to the Trump campaign said. For example, that Trump was forced to pull campaign ads in the critical battleground states of Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin.But other Republicans have said the advertising situation is not as dire as it seems, adding that Trump's campaign has been focusing heavily on national advertising, while withdrawing smaller local ad buys.&nbsp;What's perhaps most surprising for the Trump campaign is that it has been — even if the numbers don't hit Parscale's optimistic estimates.Trump raised a whopping $210 million in August, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Parscale was banking on almost double that amount to come in this month, a Republican close to the president said.Entering September, Trump's campaign committee boasted a cash reserve of more than $121 million — about 2 1/2 times more than what it had at the , when Clinton's campaign enjoyed a sizable financial advantage.Megadonors who have privately expressed frustration with Trump's official super PAC, America First Action, also have swept in with their own effort to buoy the president. The Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson launched Preserve America, which has spent $76 million since in late August, according to FEC spending records.But Trump's institutional advantage as the sitting president has been overtaken by the surprising momentum behind Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's fundraising. The former vice president's campaign entered September with more than $180 million cash on hand, and political observers expect Biden to later this month report significantly better fundraising numbers than Trump for the month of September.Asked to comment on Parscale's rosy spending projections, the Trump campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, wrote in an email on Tuesday to Insider: "The campaign is being smart and efficient with the resources we have, and anticipate having, and we will have all the resources we need to communicate the President's message and win on November 3rd."&nbsp;Parscale did not return a request for comment.Republicans said Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis further hit their ability to rake in money."I'm not going to spend $500,000 to get coronavirus from the president. Would you?" a former Trump 2016 advisor said.&nbsp;Trump's campaign in 2020 is also without one of its most notable donors from the 2016 election cycle. Robert Mercer has refused to reprise his role as a campaign rainmaker, even though his millions would have assuredly helped Trump in this moment. Close associates of Mercer earlier this summer the reclusive billionaire had Trump and wouldn't come to his rescue.Republicans had also been banking on a new online fundraising machine, named WinRed, and enthusiasm for Trump to generate big money for them. But the left's long-standing digital-fundraising juggernaut, ActBlue, has consistently outpaced them — spurred by big events like the first presidential debate and Sen. Kamala Harris' turn last week on the vice-presidential debate stage.A former GOP fundraiser familiar with the campaign's efforts said the president's campaign was treading water financially. "They don't have enough money to close out the race," the former fundraiser said.&nbsp;Trump has been livid with Parscale for the better part of the year, screaming at him repeatedly when he was campaign manager and blaming him for his woes since then, Business Insider previously . He's dubbed Parscale the "$10 million man" for the amount he believes Parscale took from him.On September 26, . (Insider has not been able to find any evidence of a federal investigation of Parscale.)Two days later, Parscale had a meltdown at his $2.4 million Florida home, and his wife called the police, fearing he was suicidal. Local police detained Parscale and later filed to remove 11 guns he kept at his house, citing him as potential danger to himself and others.Parscale stepped down from the campaign entirely a few days later. Trump advisors said they were concerned about his health and safety but added that they hadn't talked to him recently.Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.NewsletterSign up for a daily selection of our best stories daily based on your reading preferences.Something is loading.It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.

The words "Business Insider".Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.Before his demotion this summer as President Donald Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale had planned for a stunning amount of money to arrive during the 2020 homestretch that would have covered equally shocking spending but left the reelection effort dead broke by the start of October, three Republicans close to the president's campaign told Insider.Parscale had been banking on campaign donations to miraculously double in October by about $200 million...

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Trump's campaign nearly went broke for the 2020 homestretch amid Brad Parscale's $200 million budgeting misfire, Republicans tell Insider

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