It's All a Scam! (And that's OK.)

So for a while, when it was still quite the Clown Car, I was mentioning that a lot of the marginal Republican candidates seemed to be in it for the money.

Then the challengers fell away, and I became focused on the hideous, hideous possibility that this homunculus might actually get his hiney into a chair behind the desk in the Oval Office.  As of now, this seems unlikely.  In fact, based on the primary electorate he built up as his base, almost everything he's done since the convention only seems to make sense if he's actively trying to lose.

Return to the fact that Trump has been a con man and a grifter for his entire career, and instead of thinking, "holy crap, a grifter might possibly become President", think, "holy crap, what an enormous grift this whole sorry spectacle is!"

Example: When his campaign started getting donations at a serious level, Trump Tower raised the rent for the campaign's office space by a factor of five.

Or spending eight million dollars on web design to raise more money from -- let's be blunt -- idiots.  Idiots who have shown the distinct lack of judgement required to actually give a billionaire $50 checks.

And then we have the hats.  So.  Many.  Hats.  Somewhere I read the following definition of the Trump campaign: "...a hat website that advertises by running a guy for President."  (That's from memory. Oh how I wish I could find the quote again.  If you know where it's from, hit me up in the comments so I can give it the link-love it deserves.)

Finally, we have the word on what Trump plans to do with his campaign's mailing lists and donor rolls after the election: "Monetize it."