title:  SCAMPAIGN: Here’s How GOP Donors Are Making Trump Rich (But They Don’t Know That)
text: Donald Trump is making a lot of money thanks to the donors giving money to his presidential campaign, and it s all legal. Even though Trump s actual wealth is still a secret thanks to his refusal to release his tax returns, he is required by law to submit annual spending reports on the behalf of his campaign to the Federal Elections Commission.The latest filing from the Trump campaign shows a new way that Trump has found to make money, and it comes directly from those who believe he should be president and are giving them his money.Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March   the same amount it had been paying since last summer   and had 197 paid employees and consultants. In July, it paid 172 employees and consultants.The filing is the latest piece in the ongoing mystery that has bedeviled campaign observers. Trump is bringing in millions of dollars, but so far has barely spent any money on advertising or basic campaign infrastructure like field offices in key swing states. Instead, as this filing shows, Trump has funneled a lot of the campaign dollars right into his own pockets by using Trump businesses as vendors to the campaign.What ends up happening is that the array of Trump businesses ends up sucking up all the money that donors think is going to a political campaign.Like his other businesses that went belly-up   Trump Steaks, Trump Water, Trump University, the Trump Taj Mahal and various other real estate projects   Trump profits while the investors (and now donors) are hung out to dry.Featured image via Flickr