Trump told you the election was stolen, ripped you off, to sucker you, to take your hard-earned money and shovel it into his pockets. He spent it on himself, not to take back the White House. It was the biggest scam in political history. Every dollar you sent him paid to keep his shady business empire and lavish lifestyle going.”
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— Voice-over in Lincoln Project announcement, first aired Sept. 8
The Lincoln Project, formed by a group of disaffected Republicans, loves to needle former president Donald Trump.
This ad, which the group says aired on cable in Bedminster, N.J., sparked a furious reaction from the former president, who has a home there. The ad asserts that Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him is just a mechanism to raise money — “the biggest scam in political history” — that is designed to rip off his supporters — “a sucker's game” — because Trump is pocketing the money to prop up his businesses and maintain his standard of living.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump threatened to sue Fox News for allowing the ad to run, although local ad buys are made directly with cable companies.
“This is the ad that pissed off Trump this morning,” the group cheerfully tweeted, earning at least 41,000 retweets and more than 109,000 likes.
But is there evidence to support its core claim — that Trump has diverted contributors’ money for his own benefit?
We first checked the campaign financial records for two Trump leadership political action committees, Save America PAC and Make America Great Again PAC. Trump has certainly been hoarding the money at the Save America PAC, sitting on about $100 million in cash and giving out relatively little to fellow Republicans. (A Leadership PAC generally is used to raise money to support other politicians.)