President Donald Trump faces a very tough road to a second term in 2020. His job approval numbers are mired in the low 40s, Democrats loathe him, a significant chunk of Republicans want someone else as their nominee and, on top of all of that, special counsel Robert Mueller is still working on his report about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
But it’s not all dark clouds for Trump. Because in at least one respect, he will have something that he never had in 2016 – and something that none of his potential 2020 Democratic opponents will have either: massive amounts of money (and the time to use it as he sees fit.)
In his first two years in office, Trump raised $130 million for his 2020 race – and has spent all but $19 million of it. Those numbers are absolutely without any modern comparison – as both George W. Bush and Barack Obama largely eschewed raising money for their re-election in their first two years in the White House. (Obama had raised just over $4 million for his 2012 race at this point in 2011.)
Trump has shown no such compunction. He has held a series of big-ticket fundraisers since almost the beginning of his administration – and a super PAC aligned with Trump raised $75 million over the first two years of his presidency as well.
That sort of focus on fundraising (and the campaign’s active spending) means that the Trump 2020 campaign will be vastly better funded (and in theory, better organized and structured) than his 2016 effort, in which he was badly outspent in every swing state by Hillary Clinton. (Of course, money is not determinative to outcomes; if it were, Clinton would be president right now.)
Here’s the week that was in political Washington, in 29 headlines.
Monday:
- CBO says economy lost $11 billion during shutdown
- NYT: Trump said firing Flynn would end ‘Russia thing,’ Christie writes
- Bolton seen holding notepad with words ’5000 troops to Colombia’
- Acting AG Whitaker: Mueller investigation ‘close to being completed’
- Cohen agrees to testify February 8 behind closed doors
- Trump accepts Pelosi’s State of the Union invite
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
- Trump chastises intel chiefs after they contradict him
- Sarah Sanders: God ‘wanted Donald Trump to become president’
- Trump blames former Speaker Ryan for not getting border wall funding
- Trump says he was ‘disappointed’ to see Stone raid ‘go down that way’
- Trump singled out Dan Coats in rant about intelligence community
Thursday:
- Trump insists he’s on same page as intel chiefs after insulting them
- Trump signs measure aimed at bolstering his ‘Buy American’ initiative
- Trump presses for wall funding as Hill negotiations kick off
- Trump Jr.’s mysterious calls weren’t with his father
- NYT: Trump says he’s ‘set the stage’ for taking action on wall
- Second Trump-Kim summit planned for Vietnam, source says
- WH prioritizes opioid abuse in first national drug control strategy
- White House security official suspended, alleges boss broke rules
- Trump aims for a ‘very big deal’ with China ahead of March 1 deadline
- Trump considering Cain for open Federal Reserve seat
Friday:
With a crowded Democratic field already in place, Trump will also be able to continue to raise and spend tens of millions of dollars on his general election campaign while his likely opponents beat each other up and exhaust their own campaign coffers.
The Point: If you’re looking for a silver lining in the dark clouds surrounding Trump’s 2020 bid, you’re looking for the wrong color lining. It’s a green lining. Very, very green.
