About the time that he was drafting his first inaugural address, President-elect Donald Trump, as he characteristically does, made a series of decisions at odds with all conventional political logic.
Twenty-seven months later, as we review the most recent Federal Election Commission reports filed by the reelection campaign, I can report that it all paid off — big league.
Having served Trump for President since July 2015, this is my sixth presidential campaign, going back to Bob Dole’s 1988 bid. Conventional wisdom says that the day after you win a presidential election, you fire everybody except the lawyers and the accountants, put the campaign apparatus in hibernation, pay down your debts slowly, and start to rebuild the machine from scratch after the midterm elections.
Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump had absolutely no interest in the conventional approach followed by all establishment politicians, as this president has always been his own best strategist.
So, as he’s done countless times since coming down the Trump Tower escalator on June 16, 2015, Donald Trump turned the presidential campaign playbook on its head. Rather than draw down his campaign efforts, he kept the most important elements that helped deliver his 2016 victory — such as digital marketing, media productions, and, of course, the team that fills arenas for his signature rallies around the country — churning at full speed.
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05.21.2025