Trump Guards His Campaign PAC ‘Gold’ Like Smaug

Sep 4, 2026 06:55 PM EDT, Fri

Why Trump isn’t spending to save Ken Paxton

The only surprise is that Republicans seem surprised Trump isn’t sharing his cash.

Colbert Interviews Smaug — A Masterclass in Hoarded Power

Jul 29, 2021

Colbert’s interview with Smaug — the dragon who sleeps on a mountain of treasure and trusts no one — is the perfect cultural shorthand for what follows. It’s a satire of power, secrecy, and obsessive hoarding, delivered through a character who believes the world revolves around his gold. That frame fits uncomfortably well with the political dynamics in the article below.

By Max Burns Sept. 4, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

Republican insiders are sounding the alarm after Ken Paxton, who’s running for the U.S. Senate from Texas, faced yet another brutal month of sagging poll numbers and weaker-than-expected fundraising. The latest quarterly filings show Democrat James Talarico swamping Paxton in donors and dollars. Talarico brought in more than $31 million compared to Paxton’s meager $9.3 million. Meanwhile, a Texas Public Opinion Research poll published Aug. 27 gave Talarico a 6-point lead.

Veteran political strategist Karl Rove told Faux News’ Brian Kilmeade on Wednesday that “time is running out” for Paxton’s campaign without a serious injection of cash from national Republicans. Paxton’s campaign should be able to count on a flood of cash from President Donald Trump, who endorsed him over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. But despite sitting on a game-changing $400 million war chest, Trump’s super PACs haven’t distributed a dime to Paxton — or any other Republican, for that matter.

Despite sitting on a game-changing $400 million war chest, Trump’s super PACs haven’t distributed a dime to Paxton — or any other Republican, for that matter.

Trump has guarded his gold like Smaug, and congressional Republican leaders are panicking that he may continue to hoard all of that cash for himself instead of sharing it with his party’s most vulnerable candidates. The only surprise here is that Republicans seem surprised by Trump’s self-serving greed. Trump’s entire public career has focused on soliciting staggering sums of money from megacorporations and the megarich for unprecedented White House access and influence. Republicans who sold their loyalty to Trump in the hopes he’d share his cash are belatedly realizing that he doesn’t care about anyone’s future but his own and never has.

Trump’s approach to political fundraising can best be summed up in a phrase his chief fundraising guru, Meredith O’Rourke, uses when calling corporations: “The boss wants this money.” The pet projects Trump asks companies to fund make some Republicans fear that’s where his super PAC money might go. His Miami-based presidential library is expected to cost more than $1 billion, which would make it, by far, the most expensive presidential center in history. The Washington Post reported that Trump might also use super PAC money to finance his postpresidential travel and events at his swanky Mar-a-Lago club.

Embattled Republican candidates got a sense of how Trump might spend some of that campaign cash this week. Super PAC MAGA Inc. and pro-Trump group Securing American Greatness bought $1 million in airtime for campaign ads in major media markets including New York; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago, and those spots don’t mention any of the GOP’s at-risk House or Senate candidates. A typical ad is the one titled “Toughest Guy,” which focuses on Trump’s strength.

Republican strategists are scratching their heads over why Trump would spend money in New York City and Chicago when so many swing-district races are trending against the GOP, but Trump’s logic is easy to deduce. The latest UMass Amherst poll put Trump’s approval rating at a new low of just 32%, while an Economist/YouGov survey found him underwater with voters in 47 states. Trump’s fragile ego would never let such humiliating numbers go unchallenged, so the MAGAverse is taking to the airwaves to boost the boss — even if that means hanging out to dry Republicans running for Congress.

Republican strategists are scratching their heads over why Trump would spend money in New York City and Chicago when so many swing-district races are trending against the GOP, but Trump’s logic is easy to deduce.

While Trump sits, the clock ticks. Democrats like Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Joel Brennan are buying up ad space statewide ahead of the party’s planned late-campaign media blitz. Some GOP donors are worried that if Trump doesn’t start spending within days, there will be precious little ad space left to buy during the final sprint to Election Day.

“Our threat level should be up and people are going to have an expectation that you deploy all your resources,” one GOP donor recently told Politico’s Alex Gangitano. “He’s sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, not doing that. We’re in September.”

“Oh my God, it’s September — this guy is not going to spend the money,” another Trump fundraiser told Gangitano.

The Republicans who are now frantically begging for a slice of Trump’s cash are in many cases the same ones who allowed him to create the parallel fundraising network starving their party. They assumed, wrongly, that Trump would unleash a flood of cash if the party ever found itself in dire political straits. Instead, Trump is counting his cash while the Republican Party burns around him.

Trump’s unrivaled personal greed may lead his party into a historic electoral rout this November, but the donors who funneled $400 million into his pocket should rest easy. With all that cash to spend, the Mar-a-Lago afterparty is certain to be spectacular.

Max Burns is a Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. Find him on X, @themaxburns.

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