Donald Trump is being mocked as a “fool” and a “sucker” in a new ad by his Republican haters based on the Daily Beast’s revelations of his campaign chief’s LLC’s massive payday.
The Lincoln Project‘s ad highlights how his campaign chief Chris LaCivita’s LLC is receiving a fortune from the GOP presidential candidate.
The attack ad is based on the veteran investigative journalist Michael Isikoff‘s discovery that LaCivita’s LLC received $19.2 million (and counting) in just two years.
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“Donald, you are such a sucker,” the ad opens, a woman’s voice narrating. “And you don’t even know it.”
A frame of Trump dancing on stage next to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (the confessed heartless dog killer) flashes on screen, before the narrator asks incredulously, “Chris LaCivita? Twenty-two million? Are you kidding?”
She notes that Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton paid LaCivita just $38,850 to manage his successful U.S. Senate campaign. To really rub it in Trump’s face, the narrator spells out the gross imbalance.
“That’s twenty-one million nine hundred and sixty-one thousand one hundred and fifty dollars less,” she says. “And [Cotton] won in a landslide.”
The ad also mentions another former Trump campaign official who made a fortune from the former (and potentially future) president: Brad Parscale, whose lavish spending and lifestyle made headlines during the 2020 presidential campaign.
“Now another campaign manager sees a sucker and backs up the truck,” the ad’s narrator says.
“A fool and his money. That’s you, Donald,” the ad ends.
LaCivita, through the campaign, denied any wrongdoing over the $19.2 million. Most of it is made up of commissions from money spent on television and digital advertising and voter outreach efforts.
He claimed the “entire story is fabricated nonsense, cooked up by talentless grifters” without denying any of the specific sums he stands to make. “Every member of this team, myself included, has been fairly and responsibly compensated, with the priority of electing President Trump at the forefront of every strategic and financial decision we have made.
The other co-head of the campaign, Susie Wiles, has been paid $685,000 from the campaign through her own consulting firm with monthly retainers that ranged between $25,000 and $30,000. Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Kamala Harris’ campaign manager, is paid $13,442 a month, campaign finance records show.
The Lincoln Project‘s use of the word “sucker” is particularly loaded, given Trump’s furious reaction to revelations that he called fallen troops “suckers and losers.”
Editor’s Note: The original version of this article mistakenly reported that LaCivita’s firm had received a total of $22 million from Trump’s campaign and affiliated PACs. Based on a further review of FEC records, the correct total is $19.2 million. The Beast regrets the error. The article has also been updated to make clear that payments were to LaCivita’s LLC not to LaCivita personally.
