Kimberly Guilfoyle under fire for Trump fundraising disarray
* Insert Laughter here
Interviews depict an operation beset by departures, staffers with no prior fundraising experience and accusations of irresponsible spending.
The episode was the latest example of upheaval within the fundraising unit that Guilfoyle oversees, which is primarily responsible for cultivating networks of donors who cut checks in increments up to $2,800. Interviews with nearly a dozen Republicans familiar with the campaign’s fundraising depict an operation beset by departures, staffers with no prior fundraising experience and accusations of irresponsible spending.
Trump is raking in big money online and has amassed an enormous war chest. But Joe Biden has outraised the president for two consecutive months, and there are growing concerns among senior Republicans about whether the dysfunction within Guilfoyle’s team is translating into money left on the table for what has become an uphill fight for a second term.
Her staff is in upheaval. Last week, several of them requested a meeting with then-campaign manager Brad Parscale to air their grievances. The sit-down never took place — Parscale lost his job before it could happen — but they did meet with Alexander. They described a feeling of confusion and said it felt like they were caught between the competing demands of longtime fundraiser Caroline Wren and Guilfoyle confidant Sergio Gor, who oversee the unit’s day-to-day operations.
Finance staffers privately complain about a pressure-cooker environment in which employees are berated when they’re perceived to not be measuring up. They compare working under Wren and Gor to living with two warring parents; some Republicans argue that staff discontent is less about Guilfoyle than about the pair working directly under her.
The team has seen three full-time staffers leave the past two months, including two with past fundraising experience. The most recent departure came earlier this month. Each transferred to different positions within the campaign after finding the culture of the finance operation untenable.
Particularly concerning to some Republicans is that a few of the new additions have not worked as political fundraisers before. One is a friend of Gor and the son of Don Huffines, a major GOP donor. Another is New York socialite and Guilfoyle friend Somers Farkas. People close to the operation acknowledge that Farkas was an unorthodox hire but pointed out that she had spent years raising money for an array of causes.
There are growing Republican worries that the internal turmoil will hurt the campaign’s fundraising. The task of shepherding midlevel donors demands a high level of organization and staff coordination, with outreach to thousands of people who are neither megadonors with bottomless bank accounts nor smaller contributors being hit up for a few hundred dollars at most.
Those involved with the campaign describe the 51-year-old Guilfoyle, who took on the finance chair role in February, as one of the president’s most tenacious fundraisers. The former Fox News host has taken on the challenging task of developing a traditional donor network, something George W. Bush made famous with his “Pioneer” program, but which the anti-establishment Trump has struggled to create. Her supporters say she has performed in the face of a pandemic that has chilled the fundraising environment by cutting off most in-person donor events.
Campaign officials said the bundling program had raised around $73 million and that she had grown the network from roughly 1,000 in January to 6,500.
Guilfoyle’s unit is part of a massive Trump fundraising apparatus. Her department raises money into Trump Victory, a joint account between the reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee. While Guilfoyle’s team is mainly responsible for gathering $2,800 checks, the committee
focuses on collecting donations into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is also the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, which vacuums up small-dollar contributions.
“Kimberly is one of the president’s strongest and hardest-working advocates, and he is lucky to have her fighting in his corner,” said Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair.
I’m sure Donny jr. “ knows nuffin “
COVID should have just taken that bitch.
Karma.