Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: I am Kaylee Liones here on Balance of Power on
Speaker 2: Bloomberg TV and Radio, where we brought you the news
Speaker 2: earlier this week from the Harris campaign about a milestone
Speaker 2: crossed half a billion dollars fundraised since Joe Biden left
Speaker 2: the race five weeks ago, five hundred and forty million
Speaker 2: to be exact, of which eighty two million, the campaign
Speaker 2: says was raised at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
Speaker 2: last week. Now I will note here for full disclosure,
Speaker 2: Michael Bloomberg Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner
Speaker 2: of Bloomberg LP, has contributed nineteen million dollars to Future Forward,
Speaker 2: which is a flagship super pac supporting Harris. I say
Speaker 2: that as we aim here to provide you with all
Speaker 2: of the facts, and the facts are right now there
Speaker 2: is a fundraising gap between Trump and the RNC and Harris,
Speaker 2: and the DNC filing show that the Biden to Harris
Speaker 2: campaign has raised more than a billion dollars this cycle,
Speaker 2: while Trump and the RNC has raised a little north
Speaker 2: of six hundred and thirty five million dollars. And it
Speaker 2: is to the RNC and co chair we go. Now,
Speaker 2: Laura Trump, I'm pleased to say, is joining me here
Speaker 2: on Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: She, of course, is the co chair of the Republican
Speaker 2: National Committee. Great to have you, Laura, Welcome back to Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: Is we considered this fundraising gap, how do you aim
Speaker 2: to close it? Who do you go to?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, listen, I don't think we ever keep pace
Speaker 1: with Democrats traditionally as Republicans. Look, you look back at
Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,
Speaker 1: and she far outraised us, and we know the outcome
Speaker 1: of that election. Now. Of course, money is important. It
Speaker 1: affords us the ability to buy TV ads, to do
Speaker 1: digital advertising, to have a great ground game, and we're
Speaker 1: really proud of the number that we've raised so far.
Speaker 1: I think our most proud number may be our small
Speaker 1: dollar digital online fundraising. We are approaching our fiftieth day
Speaker 1: of over a million dollars raised in small dollar donations.
Speaker 1: These are donations under like forty dollars on average, And
Speaker 1: I think what that says is that you have the
Speaker 1: support of the American people behind Donald Trump right now.
Speaker 1: So we always aim to raise more money. We always
Speaker 1: try to encourage people to donate, and even in this
Speaker 1: bad economy that really is hurting so many people, we
Speaker 1: are still seeing very big fundraising numbers for Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: Well, as you talk about the small dollar donors specifically,
Speaker 2: is that where you think more of the money you
Speaker 2: can raise will come from from the grassroots or there
Speaker 2: are other big ticket donors that you think you can
Speaker 2: pull in who may not have yet contributed to the campaign.
Speaker 1: Oh, we do. We do have our eye on some
Speaker 1: donors who we're bringing back into the fold, or maybe
Speaker 1: some new door't I won't give any names today, but
Speaker 1: some new donors as well. Look, you've seen Donald Trump
Speaker 1: really resonate with Silicon Valley over the past six months
Speaker 1: or so, and I think he's really shaken a lot
Speaker 1: of people awake, and a lot of people are now
Speaker 1: realizing how much better off their life, their businesses, and
Speaker 1: the trajectory of this country were when he was in office.
Speaker 1: And so you're seeing a lot of new donors and
Speaker 1: first time donors as well come in in a very
Speaker 1: big way. I do a lot of fundraising calls, I
Speaker 1: go to a lot of fundraising events, and oftentimes there
Speaker 1: are people coming up to me saying I have never
Speaker 1: been to any political fundraiser in my life. I'm here
Speaker 1: maxing out to the RNC and the Trump campaign because
Speaker 1: they want Donald Trump back in office.
Speaker 2: Well, ma'am, of course, it's one thing to raise money.
Speaker 2: It's another to consider how to spend it, and what
Speaker 2: the strategy should be and how it should change. Now
Speaker 2: that it's Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic
Speaker 2: ticket instead of Joe Biden, polling is consistently showing us
Speaker 2: that it does seem the map may be wider for
Speaker 2: her than it was for Biden in terms of states
Speaker 2: she could win. She of course is spending time in
Speaker 2: Georgia today. There's indications she's pulling better in North Carolina.
Speaker 2: Do you have to rethink your allocation to some of
Speaker 2: those states, like in the Sun Belt now that it
Speaker 2: is the Harris campaign not the Biden one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, listen, of course you have a different candidate.
Speaker 1: You do have to change your tactic to an extent.
Speaker 1: And we certainly are doing certain things in very specific states,
Speaker 1: and we're looking at all the same polling as well,
Speaker 1: and we're making sure that where we need to kind
Speaker 1: of firm things up, we're going to allocate a little
Speaker 1: bit more money there, We're going to put more boots
Speaker 1: on the ground in those areas. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: different game. But look, I think that apparently we're going
Speaker 1: to hear from Kamala Harris herself in her first television
Speaker 1: interview alongside her running mate tomorrow night. We'll see how
Speaker 1: that goes. And I think that after the September tenth debate,
Speaker 1: I think you're going to see another shift in numbers.
Speaker 1: I think people are going to very clearly see who
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris is. She's got a lot of questions to answer.
Speaker 1: She seems to have avoided the media very well to
Speaker 1: this point, and we really don't know where she stands
Speaker 1: on a lot of issues. And so I believe once
Speaker 1: the American people are not only reminded that she's been
Speaker 1: in office for three and a half years, that life
Speaker 1: is harder because she has been vice president as well
Speaker 1: for three and a half years, and she's got to
Speaker 1: sell the American people on four more years of this.
Speaker 1: I believe we're going to see polling shift again. And
Speaker 1: we feel very confident all across the country that we
Speaker 1: have our eye and exactly what we need to focus on,
Speaker 1: and that indeed, Donald Trump will be reelected on November fifth.
Speaker 2: Well, will wait and see what further detail we get
Speaker 2: from Kamala Harrison that interview tomorrow. But if I could
Speaker 2: just get some more detail from you, Laura, you are
Speaker 2: talking about identifying potentially areas in which you will now
Speaker 2: need to shift strategy and invest more resources. Could you
Speaker 2: illustrate for us where some of those areas are. Is
Speaker 2: it North Carolina? Is it Georgia? Where exactly are you
Speaker 2: now targeting to a greater degree?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, listen, North Carolina is definitely a state where
Speaker 1: we've seen some movement. It looked very positive for Donald
Speaker 1: Trump in whenever he was going against Joe Biden. It
Speaker 1: still shows Donald Trump up on Kamala Harris. But we
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we increase that lead, so
Speaker 1: we certainly are prepared to put more money into that state.
Speaker 1: It is my home state, and it's one that I
Speaker 1: of course want to win, and I think Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: is a must win state. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: every election cycle we have seen consistently how important that
Speaker 1: state has become. I think the margins have tightened quite
Speaker 1: a bit there. You're going to see Donald Trump in
Speaker 1: Wisconsin coming up today, and so you know, we're making
Speaker 1: sure that everywhere that we felt very good prior to
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris being the nominee for the Democrats, we want
Speaker 1: to feel just as good on the other side of things.
Speaker 1: So we're prepared to invest wherever we need.
Speaker 2: Well, as you look at your home state, are you
Speaker 2: worried that the gubernatorial candidate there, Mark Robinson could actually
Speaker 2: create a drag on Donald Trump's own chances to see
Speaker 2: a problematic candidate for the Republican Party.
Speaker 1: Now, listen, I don't think you've ever seen that sort
Speaker 1: of movement for Donald Trump. In fact, I would say
Speaker 1: it's the opposite. I think that Donald Trump typically helps
Speaker 1: out the candidates in these various races, down ballot races,
Speaker 1: whether it's within the state or for the House or
Speaker 1: the Senate, and so that's not a concern at all.
Speaker 1: And I actually think you're going to look to races
Speaker 1: like you know, the race in Montana, the Senate race there,
Speaker 1: You're going to look at Ohio and Pennsylvanian. I think
Speaker 1: you're going to see that Donald Trump is going to
Speaker 1: be a huge boost for a lot of the down
Speaker 1: ballot candidates and the races within those various states, So
Speaker 1: that's not a concern for us at all.
Speaker 2: Well, of course, you know Donald Trump better than most
Speaker 2: people ever. Will You are not just the CoA chair
Speaker 2: of the r and C, you are also his daughter
Speaker 2: in law. And what we have heard from Donald Trump
Speaker 2: pretty consistently in recent weeks on the campaign trail is
Speaker 2: that he is hearing from people close to him, his advisors,
Speaker 2: that they want him to focus on policy less so
Speaker 2: on personal attacks. But it does seem, and he has
Speaker 2: said as much that he'd like to keep going with
Speaker 2: the personal attacks. Do you have his ear on that, Laura,
Speaker 2: as his daughter in law as RNC co chair, do
Speaker 2: you think he should be focusing more on policy?
Speaker 1: Well, I certainly have his ear, and he certainly asked
Speaker 1: my opinion about a variety of different things. And listen,
Speaker 1: I think that people have been very quick to criticize
Speaker 1: Donald Trump for the way he operates, and he definitely
Speaker 1: does not operate, Keyley, like a typical politician. He's still,
Speaker 1: even though he was president for four years, doesn't like
Speaker 1: to consider himself a politician. And I actually think you
Speaker 1: look back at the twenty sixteen election, for example, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump was such a great brander of people that it
Speaker 1: really gave him an edge during the primary with sixteen
Speaker 1: other candidates, all of whom could have been great presidents
Speaker 1: or great presidential nominees for the Republican ticket. And you
Speaker 1: look at the way that he branded Hillary Clinton. You
Speaker 1: look at the way that even in the early primaries
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, you saw him do the same
Speaker 1: thing with people like Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. It's
Speaker 1: Donald Trump who was left standing at the end. So
Speaker 1: sometimes people don't agree with the way he operates in
Speaker 1: the beginning, but I actually think that people down the
Speaker 1: line start to realize maybe he had the right idea
Speaker 1: to begin with.
Speaker 2: Well, something else that many may disagree with Donald Trump
Speaker 2: about is whether or not he should be willing to
Speaker 2: say now, I will accept the results of the election,
Speaker 2: whatever they are. Instead, what we have heard from him
Speaker 2: as suggestions that as long as he thinks it was
Speaker 2: free and fair, that's when he will decide. Some have
Speaker 2: read that is if he wins, he'll accept those results,
Speaker 2: especially considering that at the RNC, Laura, you are not
Speaker 2: just charged with getting a Republican elected to the presidency.
Speaker 2: It's about the Republican Party as a whole in the
Speaker 2: balance of power in Washington, or you can that kind
Speaker 2: of rhetoric around election integrity may actually harm the Senate
Speaker 2: and congressional candidates who are trying to keep hold of
Speaker 2: the House and turn the Senate blue. What if they're
Speaker 2: able to do that and your father in law does
Speaker 2: not win, is he still going to claim that this
Speaker 2: election was not valid.
Speaker 1: Look, I think that what you've heard from Donald Trump
Speaker 1: is if this is a fair election, which is something
Speaker 1: that I'm working on day and night at the RNC.
Speaker 1: It's the number one focus of the RNC right now.
Speaker 1: We have a huge election integrity operation because, let's be honest,
Speaker 1: half the country had a lot of questions, maybe more
Speaker 1: about twenty twenty. Those questions were never answered. People are
Speaker 1: just supposed to forget about him. And it's paramount that
Speaker 1: in the United States of America we trust our electoral process.
Speaker 1: This is integral to who we are as a country,
Speaker 1: and so we are trying to re establish that trust.
Speaker 1: Every day. We're doing everything we possibly can making sure
Speaker 1: that people are confident that no matter if you're voting
Speaker 1: for a Republican, a Democrat, or a third party candidate
Speaker 1: in this country, your vote matters in your vote counts,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately, we've gotten a lot of pushback from Democrat
Speaker 1: run states, and it's been very challenging to get transparency
Speaker 1: in an issue where we really need transparency. But I
Speaker 1: believe that what we are doing right now at the
Speaker 1: RNC is going to further the notion that we do
Speaker 1: indeed have free, fair and transparent elections. And so I
Speaker 1: think Donald Trump saying if this is a free election
Speaker 1: and a fair election and there's no funny business here,
Speaker 1: is a perfectly legitimate thing to say, because again, you
Speaker 1: go ask half the country, they don't feel like everything
Speaker 1: was completely fair in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: All right, Laura Trump, appreciate you joining us here on
Speaker 2: Bloomberg TV and radio. The co chair of the rn C,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. And of course, for those that
Speaker 2: do still have questions about the results of twenty twenty,
Speaker 2: Joe Biden did win the election, and no court found
Speaker 2: that there was anything actually wrong with the democratic process.