A few thoughts on Trump's apparent threat to fund Super PACs against Cruz and Kasich
According to the Bloomberg report, this plan would entail Trump investing as much as $20 million of his own money in the Super PACs, which would spend against Cruz and Kasich in future elections.
This comes after Trump lashed out at Cruz and Kasich at a press conference earlier Friday, including resurfacing allegations that Cruz's father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
I have a few thoughts on the Super PAC threat, and what it says about Trump as a candidate and a possible president.
- There is no way Trump will make good on this threat. He's too cheap. As we've seen from the available data on his charitable giving, he has a pattern of promising to throw money around and then not following through.
- Still, Trump could put non-financial resources into a vendetta against Cruz and Kasich, which would bring him few political benefits and undermine Republican unity.
- If Trump were president, he could misuse organs of the federal government to get back at Cruz and Kasich, and any other enemies he might decide he has.
- Trump is acting against his own political interests. He needs supporters of Cruz and Kasich to vote for him in November, and he needs the Ohio Republican party to coordinate with his campaign to turn out voters in a swing state. His attacks on Kasich are interfering with the latter imperative.
- Not that we needed more evidence, but this is a demonstration that Trump acts out of pique and will pursue non-strategic vendettas. How might that work out when Trump feels disrespected by a foreign leader and has the ability to launch nuclear weapons?
- It is also a demonstration that Trump freely makes threats he is unlikely to carry out. How will the erratic issuance of empty threats affect America's foreign relations?
This is just one more data point that shows Trump would be a temperamentally dangerous president.