Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Donald Trump has trolled the Harris campaign following his sweeping victory on Tuesday, offering to do “whatever we can” to help with debts incurred throughout the 2024 election cycle.
The president-elect returned to his social media platform Truth Social, where he pledged in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek post to support the Democrats through the “difficult period” for the sake of “desperately needed unity.”
The vice president’s campaign raised around $1 billion in the three months at the top of the ticket. According to Politico ended with at least $20 million in debt.
“I am very surprised that the Democrats, who fought a hard and valiant fight in the 2020 Presidential Election, raising a record amount of money, didn’t have lots of $’s left over,” Trump crowed on Saturday. “Now they are being squeezed by vendors and others.
“Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do.
“We have a lot of money left over in that our biggest asset in the campaign was ‘Earned Media,’ and that doesn’t cost very much. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
It comes as Democrats find themselves embroiled in a blame game following the stunning defeat, with questions also raised over the use of campaign funds. Politico also reported that as of October 16, the Harris campaign still had $118 million.
“We spent money in stupid ways because we had a really bad strategy,” a former consultant to the DNC told Puck, citing money sent to fund Representative Colin Allred’s failed challenge against Texas Senator Ted Cruz, as well as money directed to help in Iowa, a historically Republican state.
“Instead of owning any mistakes, or being transparent about the voter data and strategies that were so obviously wrong, they shut off their Twitter account and are patting each other on the back,” the former consultant said. “We dug out of a deep hole but not enough.”
A member of Joe Biden’s staff was less forbearing: “How did you spend $1 billion and not win? What the f***?” they told Axios.
Read More: Trump trolls Harris by claiming he wants to ‘help’ with hefty campaign debts