No. of Recommendations: 4
It seems pretty clear that the Republican zombies who have sworn off any independent thought are clueless about this dynamic and its impact on ALL Republican candidates.
I'm not sure that's the case. RNC fundraising has been anemic recently, and it's probably due exactly to this factor.
Republican donors generally want their donations to go towards helping elect Republicans. For many - especially small-dollar donors - that will certainly include Trump. But most of those folks will be giving directly to the Trump campaign committees and the PAC's that are funding his efforts directly. The ones who would be RNC donors, though, are going to be more reticent about giving to the national committee if they think they won't get much bang for the buck.
I wouldn't overstate that dynamic - in a Presidential cycle, much of (if not most of) the national committee money for both parties is going to go to the Presidential nominee's campaign anyway. And obviously Republican donors would mostly prefer Trump over Biden, and they'll be grown-ups about understanding that Trump has to pay a ton of legal fees in order to remain a viable candidate. But I don't think they're clueless about what's going on, and I think it's going to be a big brake on RNC fundraising.
