'Pirate' Trump campaigns are reportedly plundering the conservative grassroots

Trump Campaign.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The Trump re-election campaign isn't pleased with everyone who says they're trying to help the president secure a second term in the Oval Office.

Several unaffiliated pro-Trump PACs, dark money groups, and off-brand Facebook advertisers that haven't received Trump's stamp of approval have pulled in a combined $46 million from donors so far through a variety of means including selling Trump merchandise, Politico reports. And the actual campaign — which winds up competing with the groups for cash — wants it to stop, especially since most of those "pirate" groups are reportedly spending little money to help Trump's re-election and appear to be targeting grassroots donors.

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
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
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.