I have seen the term coined a few times recently, though I suspect people have been using it unceremoniously for far longer.
I bring it up, because...you guys made it into the New York Times!
Donald Trump's Self-Funding Includes Payments to Family and His Companies
I’d like to get to that in a moment, but if you look at the second to last paragraph…
Democrats on Tuesday tried to seize on the payments Mr. Trump made to his businesses as evidence of hypocrisy. Commenters on the liberal website Daily Kos ridiculed Mr. Trump for running a “scampaign” and overstating the personal investment he was making in his campaign by funneling the money back to his empire.
It’s not every day you see a major news outlet citing Daily Kos commenters. It ought to be, though, amirite?
Whoever originally came up with that term, I sincerely hope you get your credit. Personally though, all I care about is that the Donald Trump Scampaign becomes a household name.
The idea that Trump’s Presidential Scampaign is secretly a ploy to make money makes perfect sense, if you assume that was the original intent from the very beginning. I have been arguing for awhile now that Trump has been planning this whole time to sell out at the RNC convention.
From the moment he entered the Republican primary, Trump knew that the establishment GOP would never let him be the nominee, but if he would be able to win a significant number of delegates, he could essentially hold the nomination hostage at the convention.
The GOP has always had the means to buy his exit from the presidential race - whether it be through tax loopholes or shady deals for his multitude of business ventures, and likely many other avenues that it would behoove the American public to uncover - the only question was how high the ransom would go.
It would explain why he has done little to no fundraising, little to no infrastructure building for a real general election campaign. Like any other Ponzi scheme, you put up just enough elaborate artifices to make you look legit, while planning your escape before the rubes realize they’ve been duped. Then again, that about describes most all of Trump’s business ventures.
It would explain why, when any other rational major party candidate would be pivoting away from Primary politics to a more moderate general election rhetoric, Trump has failed to do any pivoting at all. He’s practically making it impossible for the GOP to do anything but abort his scampaign. The question was never, could they end his scampaign: the question was always, how much would it cost?
Thanks to the maneuverings of the GOP’s brilliant leaders, it certainly seems like Trump has them over a barrel, and will extract a hefty ransom.
It would also explain why he is so willing to self-fund: his scampaign is practically a self-driving vehicle to recoup all his investment before we even hit November.
If one thinks about how Trump uses many of his own venues to stage his many rallies and events, he is essentially funneling the campaign money back to himself. Meanwhile, all he has to do is make a schedule where he only uses the venues when they were not already booked, and so not only is he not losing any money that he didn’t already have, but he also doesn’t lose the revenue from empty venues. He loans money to his campaign » his campaign rents his venues » his campaign fundraises and collects donations from his supporters » his campaign pays his loans back. I honestly think Trump deserves trademark rights for “Scampaign;” its about his only documented example of business savvy.
Trump is a Sellout. If the circumstances do come to pass where Trump leaves the RNC convention and he’s not the nominee, the headlines likely will not put it in such terms. But that is what it will amount to. He was not in it for the long haul, but then again, he never really is, when he’s looking to make a quick buck.