Trying to predict what the successful Trump campaign’s conduct means for the state of money politics

From the Brennan Center’s Ciara Torres-Spelliscy in a recent post:

In 1846, there was an advertisement in the Springfield, Illinois Gazette that said, “Westward ho. Who wants to go to California without costing them anything?” The ad was signed G. Donner. Responding to the appeal, a group of travelers, including several families, got snowed in by a blizzard on the way to the West Coast. They were trying to take a “short cut” to California—the land of milk and honey—but they ended up eating each other (literally). They are typically remembered as the Donner Party.  Donald Trump’s cabinet is shaping up to be the Donors Party.

One common refrain during the 2016 campaign was that Trump’s success both in the primary season and the general election proved that money in politics doesn’t matter. And while Trump did beat better-funded candidates such as Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton, Trump always had his personal wealth to tap into at a moment’s notice. In the end, he supplied 22 percent of the $247 million his campaign spent.

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