There will never be standards or consequences from politicians for the scams they pull because they are the ones who’d have to create and implement them, and that would be like asking Hunter Biden to behave himself at a “Hookers and Blow” convention where he’s been paid a million dollars cash to deliver the keynote address. In other words, it’s just not going to happen. When it comes to raising campaign money, that’s where some of the biggest lies politicians tell make it out of their mouths, and that’s really saying something.
Of course politicians lie – literally promising everything to everyone with the intent of delivering is impossible, but saying you will, then spending your term explaining who or what prevented you from doing something is easy. Do that for a few election cycles and voters will forget what you promised them in the first place, at which point you can update your “promises” and start the process all over again.
So what lies should you be on the lookout for? All of them, honestly. Pretty much everything you read in a fundraising email is some level of BS. The only thing that varies is the amount of stink.
The most egregious, and the one that should be illegal (because it is pretending to do something that is illegal), is the idea of the “some random number MATCH!!!!” I hate this because it takes advantage of people who want to help by making them think they can have a bigger impact than they actually can have.
What is it? It’s an email with something along the lines of “Your donation will be TRIPLE MATCHED!” in the subject line. They used to pretend that there was some big donor who would take your $10 and turn it into $30, but there are limits to how much anyone can give to any campaign, and those limits aren’t that high. Even if there were some secret billionaire who was willing to triple people’s donations, they’d max out after about 20 minutes. It’s a lie.
Of late, they’ve dropped the idea of a magnanimous donor and now just declare…I don’t know, they don’t say. Maybe just some magic unicorn that eats $20s and poops hundreds?
The worst I’ve seen at this, honestly, is Kari Lake. While I would much rather have her in the Senate than any Democrat, I can’t just ignore someone on my team lying, and hopefully they’ll knock it off.
On March 12, Lake sent out a fundraising email touting a “10X MATCH ON ALL DONATIONS UNTIL MIDNIGHT!
Then, on March 15th, came an email with, “RUSH ANYTHING 24X IMPACT. THIS IS A LIMITED-TIME OFFER – this is YOUR CHANCE to make a difference in the most important Senate race of 2024. This link automatically activates 24X IMPACT!!!” There was no time limit (because it’s not real), and it was still active when I clicked on it on March 17th.
But that wasn’t the worst from Lake. Nor was it the first time her campaign sent it out – that “24X IMPACT” has been sent a few times.
No, the worst was “8000% MAGA IMPACT on YOUR contribution has been activated, that’s 80X IMPACT ON YOUR DONATION!” That is an impossibility they don’t even try to explain, and it is a lie. And it’s a lie they’ve told at least twice so far – March 3rd and 4th.
Each time, it was only if you donate “NOW, WITHIN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES.” The link claiming the magical 80X multiplier is still active, leading to a webpage promising the 80X whatever.
Politicians lie about what they do with our money once they get into office, is it too much to ask that they not lie to get our money to get into office? At some point in the process shouldn’t these politicians be required to tell the truth and face consequences if they won’t?
I know, I know, voters should hold these people accountable. I agree. But voters have to be made aware of the fact that they’re being lied to in order to do that. And I’m hoping that voters being made aware will stop these politicians from lying in the first place, because I really do hope every Republican wins. But I also hope they’re at least slightly more honest than Democrats, and that needs to start with fundraising.
