Hats are one of Trump's top campaign expenses

The classic Donald Trump hat comes in red and white.
(Image credit: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)

With Election Day just around the corner, Hillary Clinton boasts a $90 million advantage across her campaign bank accounts over Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reports. While Trump has never exactly approached the election traditionally, the significant difference in funds does mean he likely has no chance on matching Clinton's TV spending or field staff between now and Nov. 8.

So how is he spending the money he has? Trump actually had his largest splurge of the election season last month when he dropped $30 million in total (although that still pales in comparison to Clinton's $50 million bill in August). The largest chunk of Trump's cash, $11.1 million, went to web-marketing firm Giles-Parscale, which Trump is using to help with digital ads and online fundraising despite the firm having no experience working on presidential campaigns.

Then there is the significant paycheck Trump is still inexplicably funneling to his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and the $128,000 the Trump campaign paid to a firm run by his current campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But perhaps most baffling of all is the fact that Trump is spending a significant portion of his money making his ubiquitous Make America Great Again hats. Merchandise is one of his biggest expenses overall, at $2 million:

See more

As its been reported before, Trump still isn't terribly shy about spending campaign money on his own businesses whenever he has a chance — 7 percent of his spending last month went to companies Trump owns.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.