Trump Campaign Has Less Than $1.3 Million

The latest filing reports released by the Federal Election Commission show Democrat Hillary Clinton with nearly 40 times as much campaign cash on hand than her Republican rival, Donald Trump.

The New York Times writes Trump's report, delivered late Monday, shows the New York businessman has just under $1.3 million, compared with Clinton's more than $41 million, including $28 million raised by the former secretary of state in the month of May. The Times describes Trump's campaign purse as "more typical for a campaign for the House of Representatives than the White House."

It's not just the Trump campaign. The Republican National Committee is reporting just $13 million raised and $19 million on hand, which Derek Willis notes are the lowest such figures in a presidential election year going back to 2004.

Trump, who claimed to have self-funded his primary campaign, has reportedly been reticent to call on Republican donors and fundraising bundlers not just for his own campaign but on behalf of campaigns and funds for down-ballot Republicans. Sarah Isgur Flores writes about the folly of not doing enough to raise campaign dough:

Trump's numbers are in free-fall and his campaign is in disarray. By allowing the election to become a referendum on himself, Trump has managed to let Hillary Clinton off the hook as only the second worst presidential candidate of all time. He's the pyromaniac candidate, spending the bulk of his time putting out fires he started. All the while, the RNC is exhibiting telltale signs of battered wife syndrome. They ask Trump to call 20 donors. He manages only to call three before turning up his nose and vowing to "do it very nicely by myself" while telling his own party to "just please be quiet; don't talk." Yet somehow, Trump also refuses to self-finance his campaign.

For those who haven't worked in federal politics under the byzantine campaign finance laws that were designed solely to protect incumbents and ensure high legal fees for election lawyers, calling donors is a major part of the job description. Each call lasts about 25 minutes, and "call time" is usually blocked off in two to three hour chunks a day. Like any courtship, flattery and personal attention goes along way—two things we haven't seen a lot of from Trump.

A lot of candidates don't like call time, but they all do it. To refuse is a little like an astronaut refusing to wear their oxygen-filled helmet—even if it's cumbersome, you kind of need it to survive.