Donald Trump's latest get-rich-quick scheme leaves open the possibility of churches or other allies pouring money into his coffers outside the purview of campaign finance laws.
The former president posted a commercial on his Truth Social account promoting the "God Bless the USA" Bible selling for $59.99, becoming the latest commercial venture for Trump as he faces a deadline next week to put up a $175 million bond to delay enforcement of a a $464 million fraud judgment during his appeal, and Politico's Sam Stein told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that opens up a new avenue for corruption.
"This has been something that's been evident with Trump for a while now," Stein said. "There was sort of an infamous poll in the 2016 race where white evangelical voters were asked about their support for Trump before and after the revelation of the Stormy Daniels allegations and their support went up, which was the shocking thing. I suppose it says more about the voters than Trump."
The ex-president is known for slapping his name onto buildings and products to make a quick buck, but Stein said that poses unprecedented challenges to rules governing political campaign fundraising.
"Obviously, part of what Trump does, he's sold everything from steak to water to shoes, this is his brand and people buy into it literally," Stein said. "The other element of the story it raise kind of important questions about our campaign finance system, not the steaks and Bibles so much as he's going public, Truth Social is going public right now on the stock exchange. That money will be used likely by Trump to pay off not just his legal bills but potentially he could use that money to help his own campaign efforts, and that really does raise questions about the porous holes we have in our campaign finance system and how easy it is for people who want to influence Trump with huge checks."
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