Key Point: “‘Voters, donors, and staff alike are either fleeing the MAGA-fied Republican party or being chaotically forced out in a mass purge, casting a troubling shadow on the committee’s balance sheet and their prospects at the ballot box leading into a critical election year,’ wrote DNC executive director Sam Cornale.”

Financial Times: ‘Chaos’ in Donald Trump’s Republican party will boost Joe Biden, Democratic memo says

By: James Politi and Lauren Fedor

• In a memo to be released on Wednesday and obtained by the Financial Times, the Democratic National Committee said its counterpart — the Republican National Committee — was “barely able to stay afloat” amid fundraising struggles and internal strife.

• “Voters, donors, and staff alike are either fleeing the MAGA-fied Republican party or being chaotically forced out in a mass purge, casting a troubling shadow on the committee’s balance sheet and their prospects at the ballot box leading into a critical election year,” wrote DNC executive director Sam Cornale.

• [Trump’s] campaign and the RNC have been lagging behind Biden in terms of fundraising and in the amount of cash they have on hand, just as an election battle that is expected to be the most expensive in history gets under way.

• At the end of 2023, Biden groups had about $118mn in cash on hand, compared with about $66mn for Trump groups. The difference — $52mn — was equal to the Trump groups’ legal costs in criminal and civil cases.

• The mounting legal costs have raised concerns among some donors that any money they give to Trump or the party might be used to cover the former president’s defence in court, rather than help his campaign or other Republicans.

• Democratic officials believe that Trump’s takeover of the RNC will only harm Republicans — and help their own prospects — in the November election, both at the presidential level and in congressional and other races.

• “This latest MAGA rebrand with Whatley and Lara Trump at the helm won’t do the RNC any favours, and it doesn’t bode well for down-ballot Republicans,” Cornale wrote in the DNC memo.

• “Pledging to spend the RNC’s non-existent war chest on Trump’s legal bills is not a good pitch to donors, who are already refusing to donate”, Cornale wrote. In contrast, he said the DNC was “breaking fundraising records, and are in a strong position to keep building our already massive war chest”.