Donald Trump Comes Clean About Money in Politics, But Doesn’t Offer Solutions

Business mogul, reality TV star, and now presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to understand how politics works these days. Yesterday in a speech in New Hampshire, Trump discussed the record breaking $103 million raised for rival candidate Jeb Bush’s Super PAC, Right to Rise: 

“He raises 100 million, so what does 100 million mean? 100 million means he’s doing favors for so many people. It means lobbyists. It means special interests. It means donors. Who knows it better than me? I give to everybody. They do whatever I want. It’s true.” 

That nails it. Trump even admits he’s part of the problem. He dumped $198,500 into last year’s election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That puts him among the top 200 mega-donors from 2014. 

Trump and many other 2016 candidates are talking a lot about the influence and power of “lobbyists” and “special interests.” But they’ve got little to say about real solutions our campaign finance mess, including public financing measures that empower small dollar donors, a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, and disclosure measures to help voters see whose money is behind all those political ads.

When the 2016 candidates start talking solutions, we’ll know they’re getting serious about making sure every American is fully represented in our democracy, regardless of the size of his or her bank account.

Demand a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United today.