Donald Trump GoFundMe Raises $84K of $355 Million Target in 24 Hours

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Feb 17, 2024 at 3:58 PM EST | Updated Feb 17, 2024 at 5:46 PM EST


An online fundraiser for former President Donald Trump has racked up $84,354 out of a $355 million target in just 24 hours following the final judgement in his civil fraud trial in New York. On Friday, Trump was fined roughly $355 million by New York Judge Arthur Engoron following a monthslong trial.

The trial was to determine how much Trump and his associates would pay after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit in September 2022 accusing the former president, his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney of fraudulently overvaluing assets to secure more favorable bank loans and taxation deals.

The former president was also barred from doing business in New York for three years. Other defendants in the case also faced financial penalties and were banned from doing business in New York for periods of time. Meanwhile, Trump, who is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, has denied any wrongdoing and claims the case was politically motivated.

Elena Cardone, the wife of real estate businessman Grant Cardone, made a GoFundMe page titled, "Stand with Trump; Fund the $355M Unjust Judgment" following Engoron's ruling. Within 24 hours, the GoFundMe page has raised $84,354 from 2,170 donations. The highest donation, which was sent anonymously, was for $2,500. There were also quite a few $100 donations and some $200 donations. Meanwhile, others donated smaller amounts like $5 to $25. Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email and Cardone via GoFundMe for comment.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-gofundme-raises-84k-355-million-target-24-hours-1870940

[FalloutShelter]

1. First of all... LOLOLOLOL.

Secondly, I didn’t know there were that many idiots.
Okay… I did.

[spooky3]

2. Fools and their money... nt

[FalloutShelter]

3. Yep.

[Roy Rolling]

55. Someone's said it

Trump is a poor man’s idea of what a rich man looks like.

What billionaire accepts charity? In almost every scripture and philosophy warns against giving charity to the rich.

Even if he’s Smelvis.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. You think that's bad?

Imagine my surprise to learn he was here in Philly today at "Sneaker Con" hawking his latest - https://apnews.com/article/trump-sneakers-sneaker-con-philadelphia-4de093eda6f8d1c68baf8fe8095f777b

[FalloutShelter]

13. OMG yeah... the ugly ass gold sneakers.

If this sick F*** were not such a malignant force, O would find this sad.

[cpamomfromtexas]

90. Imagine hillbillies with mullets sporting these

During hunting season no less. The reflection off of them will scare off the deer.

[COL Mustard]

73. How hard is it

To disinfect the city after he leaves? Everything about him is gross.

[BumRushDaShow]

84. And especially where he was

the SAME PA Convention Center that the GOP sent goons here to attack during the 2020 Presidential election ballot counting.

[PatSeg]

38. It still blows my mind

Can so many really be THAT stupid?

[True Blue American]

67. New gold sneakers

Are selling for $400.00! His other ones sell for $100.00! These must be real gold!

https://www.etsy.com/market/trump_sneakers

[FalloutShelter]

68. LOLOLOL

[COL Mustard]

77. This is more my speed for any merch associated with him

Useful and decorative!

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=trump%20toilet%20paper&ref=search_bar

[Kennah]

123. It's marketed to fools, so I'm thinking it's a particular type of gold

[Beartracks]

137. Hahaha. Nicely stated.

[jimfields33]

129. 488,000.

[Mr.Bee]

4. GoFundMe Terms of Service

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218693884

Not to use the Services to raise or establish or contribute to any Fundraiser with the implicit or explicit purpose of promoting or involving:
the legal defense of alleged financial or violent crimes.

[TwilightZone]

6. It's civil and not criminal.

Credit to ProfessorGAC pointing that out in another thread.

It violates the spirit of the rule, in my opinion, but there's probably enough wiggle room there that I could see the fundraiser arguing that it's not technically a violation.

[chowder66]

12. Plus think of the payday the GoFundMe org could make at 2.9% of 355 mil

[TwilightZone]

15. I suspect they're going to kill it before long.

I'm a little surprised they haven't already. If nothing else, there are political fundraising violation implications that they probably don't want to mess with.

[chowder66]

18. He does have a lawsuit against him from fraud that I posted in this thread.

I would think that would be enough to shut it down but I guess not ....as of yet.

[COL Mustard]

75. It's funny and ironic

I work for the Government so I can't benefit from a GoFundMe, since I can't say where the money comes from, so it could be a conflict of interest with my official duties...but this sexual abuser and grifter who used to get a paycheck from the Government (and wants to again), can do whatever the hell he wants and get away with it.

[usaf-vet]

87. What is your opinion is the GoFundMe Services going to let this go forward. Looking toward their cut 2.9%?

I will personally be very disappointed and think they would ruin a great service to real people who need real help.

I personally would never donate through them again.

OTHER SERVICES WILL POP UP TO FILL THE VOID.

[COL Mustard]

105. I won't use them.

They've shit the bed in my opinion.

[usaf-vet]

106. Agreed!

[slightlv]

26. Leave it rump and his lawyers

find find and exploit any wiggle room! I do hope either gofundme disallows this as against the spirit of its TOS, or else, like everything else, rump takes down gofundme. I know it's done a lot of good for a lot of people, but like everything else, it can be turned to bad... as in this case.

[cstanleytech]

10. Is it being run to pay for the defense or to pay the judgement? If its for the judgement then it probably does not

violate that portion you posted.

[ProfessorGAC]

61. That's The Wiggle Room

That's what I said in a thread yesterday that TZ referenced.
The policy is "squishy" enough that it can probably be justified, at least with some tortured logic.
That said, there's another condition that prohibits fundraising for illegal activities and the fine is the result of activities found to be unlawful, at least under civil law.
Like TZ, I expect they'll take it down, eventually.

[onenote]

72. A GoFundMe account was used to raise $250,000 to pay court imposed fines on Chelsea Manning

Which would suggest that a GoFundMe account created to cover the judgement against Trump may not violate the TOS.

[Shermann]

92. I came to the same conclusion. nt

[keithbvadu2]

5. Use this. Be generous.

Use this. Be generous.

[tanyev]

7. I assumed that none of that money was ever going to reach Trump.

[TexasBushwhacker]

29. Probably not

Cardone is a snake oil salesman and Scientologist.

[captain queeg]

104. It will be good if she stiffs him. And be sure to laugh in his face, he's stiffed so many.

[claudette]

128. He has to report

it as income for tax purposes

[OilemFirchen]

8. LOL

A local breakfast joint seeking to relocate into our neighborhood of a few hundred residents raised their goal of $15K in 8 hours. Plus an extra $3K by EOD.

Brekky rulez!

[TheBlackAdder]

47. With interest that's accruing at $1M a week, they've got to do a little better than that. 🤣 🤣 🤣

[RockRaven]

11. On the bright side, that's $84K not being spent on Alex Jones supplements,

or Mike Lindell pillows, or guns...

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Or fradulent Glenn BecKKK gold!

[machoneman]

69. Better! Not spent, not one dime, on R's running for the Senate, House, Governor, lesser elected posts. TFG by....

...sucking up all the loose change virtually guarantees we will win tons of elected posts as the R's running will get zero financial support. We win, they lose and they already know it! Lemmings jumping into the sea.

How many of them are stupid beyond belief? Let me count the ways..........................................

[MayReasonRule]

89. DAILY INVOICE to Citizen Trump (just for interest) Dated: February 17, 2024: Amount: $87,534

That's per day... lol

[cstanleytech]

14. I doubt it will in anywhere near that goal.

[chowder66]

16. Suckers

According to a recently filed lawsuit, Cardone Capital and Grant Cardone targeted “everyday investors,” through social media. These solicitations were allegedly misleading to many investors. For example, the lawsuit complaint states that Grant Cardone assured investors through these solicitations that their investments would pay high monthly distributions and would return to investors at least two to three times their investment. He gave specific examples, as stated in the lawsuit complaint:

Investing $100,000 would pay $500 in distributions monthly
Investing $200,000 in the fund would result in a $660,000 “position” in the fund
Investing $200,000 would allow investors to early $12,000-$15,000 in distributions a year
The property investors invest in would triple in value in 5 to 7 years
However, according to the lawsuit, the actual distributions have been much less than these stated amounts. Further, the complaint states that Cardone had no reasonable basis for estimating investors’ distributions or the value of the property to be so high. As a result, these statements have been deemed false and misleading.

https://www.classlawgroup.com/securities-fraud/cardone-equity-fund-class-action-lawsuit

[DavidDvorkin]

17. It's up to $145,000 now

Some of the comments are simultaneously contemptible and pathetic.

[Salviati]

39. Hey, if they keep up this breakneck pace...

... they'll have paid off the entire total in only 15 years, after accounting for the 9% interest.

(Actually, that's at 145k per day. At 85K per day, he's not even covering the yearly interest.)

[ificandream]

20. There's more than one Trump GoFundMe ....

There's one called "Defamation Lawsuit." The description reads: "Donate today for president Donald Trump from the crazy Democrats and their their sex crazed puppets." LOL That has just only over $1,000 raised. "Restore Democracy and Make America Great Again" has raised $20.

There's also a twin "Stand With Trump" that has raised only $200.

These people are dumber than dumb.

[FakeNoose]

21. He got .02% of his goal

At this rate he'll need 5,000 days - more than 13 years - to raise the entire amount.
(Rough numbers here, but still it proves that he'll never raise it by GFM.)

[SilasSouleII]

37. Was hoping someone would do the math

I had a rough guesstimate of over 10 years.

[soldierant]

40. If he were going to raise it himself,

working 24 hours a day for $15.00 per hour, he would have had to start in 600 and something - BCE

[Rizen]

22. Republicans have got to be the dumbest people on the planet

Hey look, it's a convicted fraud and rapist; lets throw money at him!

[KarenS]

23. Where's the math people??

At this rate how long is it going to take him to raise enough money to raise $355 million???

[ProfessorGAC]

62. From Where It Stabds Now...

...at $160k in a day & the total bond requirement of $540 million, 3,375 days, or 9 years/3 months.

[Kablooie]

24. $159,218 raised of $355,000,000 goal

Well, they have high aspirations.

But many people are sending thousands of dollars.

[slightlv]

28. I would say this insane, stupid mass of magas

take the cake, but they'd just find a way to monetize it and give it to trump! Honestly... how many of these $25 donation people have trouble making it through the checkout line at the grocery store and scream bloody murder about it? But they're more than willing to give their grocery money to a billionaire?

God... the stupid... it burns!!!!!

[NYC Liberal]

133. Imagine the cognitive dissonance in believing

Trump is both a multibillionaire and needs donations to pay his bills.

[Oneironaut]

25. The guy literally owns a palace in Florida.

God people are dumb lol

[Evolve Dammit]

27. What a fucking grifter and mob boss. LOCK HIM Up!!!!!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. A fool and his money......

"I'm a successful billionaire. Please send me a donation." Donald Trump

[LudwigPastorius]

31. If they keep up that donation rate,...

they’ll have raised the money for his fine in 11 and a half years.

At which point, he will have already have been the only U.S. president to have died in federal prison.

[truthisfreedom]

32. $84k/day is 2.6M/mo or 31M/year

Not gonna get there.

[3catwoman3]

33. 160,000 divided by 355,000,000...

…is 0.0004507% of the goal -

[Bernardo de La Paz]

54. You are off by a factor of 100. Is 0.045 %. . . nt

[TomCADem]

34. Is that in Dollars or Rubles? There is no restriction against foreign contributions...

...to GoFund me unlike campaign contributions. Also, is there any need to disclose who made such payments?

[KewlKat]

35. Why hasn't that fund raiser been pulled? Isn't it

a violation of GoFundMe TOS?

[malthaussen]

85. Yes, and multiple people have alerted.

Presumably, it will take awhile for the wheels of justice to turn.

-- Mal

[Phoenix61]

36. Awesome! He'll suck every penny from repukes

making it more difficult for every other repuke campaign to get any donations. Seems like a plan they should stick with.😂😂😂

[orthoclad]

41. It's like the people tithing the church

They're investing in their souls to the God-Emperor.
Time off in Purgatory.

[IronLionZion]

42. $189,209 now

Make America Grift Again

[niyad]

43. Largest donation anonymous? Originally, that 2,500K had a name on it,

and the guy is apparently a sex offender, eric vevang, according to several posts here on DU yesterday.

[AllaN01Bear]

45. hem . birds of a feather.

[IronLionZion]

74. Convicted of statutory rape.

I don't know the details but that means his victim was underage. Typical of the GOP Grand Old Predators

[malthaussen]

86. I'm shocked, I say, shocked! n/t

[AllaN01Bear]

44. could u have imagioned what this could have done if done for good , but , noooooooo

it was used for a 2 time impeached , rap sheet thousands of miles long jerk instead.always opm other peoples money not theirs ,

[malthaussen]

46. Man, and to think I only got $2500 on mine. n/t

[No Vested Interest]

48. A number of Dems are making $5 donations and using the comments section

to vent their true feelings re The Donald.

[WillParkinson]

49. But we're totally not a cult

Go on, tell us another.

[iluvtennis]

50. THey need to raise $972,602 per day and he'll have the NY money in 1 year. Good luck with that. Time for him

to liquidate those 2.5 billion in assets he supposedly ( ) has.

[Layzeebeaver]

51. "As he spoke, the smell of weed occasionally wafted through the room."

his supporters are definitely high on something...

[captain queeg]

52. Too bad I can't get a mailing list of donors, so ripe for scamming

Wouldn’t have to work at convincing them, they are thoroughly convinced already and beyond any light of reason. I suppose trump already has all their names.

[Botany]

53. Is that brought in less than the interest that is adding up on Trump's civil penalties daily?

[Smackdown2019]

56. Taxes

Does he have pay taxes on that as well?

[tavernier]

57. If he can legally do that, why can't there be a go fund me for Ukraine?

That or a world wide telethon until we can throw the Putinists out of our Congress?

[More_Cowbell]

111. I'd donate to Ukraine!

I've seen that some of the marine drones/jet ski-type things that took down two Russian ships were bought with donated funds. I'm not sure if it's true, though.

[Novara]

58. It'll only take 11 years to raise it all. And that's BEFORE interest kicks in. LOL

Who's to say this isn't a total scam? I mean, people know how stupid his cult members are. Anybody can set up a godundme and cash in.

[Think. Again.]

59. This Elena Cardone person is gonna learn the hard way...

....about how much of a REALLY bad idea it is to get mixed up financially with donald trump.

[samnsara]

60. i feel like donating 1$ just so i can add a snarky comment

...but 1$ is too much.

[MayReasonRule]

63. DAILY INVOICE to Citizen Trump (just for interest) Dated: February 17, 2024: Amount: $87,534

That's for ONE DAY of interest (9%) on the $355M Judgement

He gets one of these EVERY day until the Judgement is paid in full.

30-day deadline to pay the fine was imposed by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.

[gibraltar72]

64. About equivalent to one days interest.

[rambler_american]

65. Everybody should

send a check for $1.00. It will cost more than $1.00 to process the check and then postage to send a thank you.

[Layzeebeaver]

66. OMG that's hilarious.

[Mr. Ected]

70. Now tell me if I got this straight

The very people who are so opposed to billionaires paying their own fair share of taxes are the ones making sizeable contributions to a purported billionaire to cover his bills?

Yeah. It's a cult.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

71. If he can continue to raise 84k

every 24 hours it will only take him 4,226 days to hit the mark (more or less)- about 11 years or so..............

[COL Mustard]

76. I read somewhere that one $5 donation

Came from "Trumpisarapist" or something like that.

[liberal N proud]

78. I just don't understand it.

How can these idiots, many of who don’t have the money, just hand it over to a man to pay his legal fees for FRAUD!

My head hurts now!

[The Grand Illuminist]

79. It all deals in personal accountability.

There needs to be laws in the books where outside help on all monetary rulings, whether criminal fines or litigation rulings, are completely and totally forbidden. Trump made his mess, he needs to clean it up by himself, without any help at all.

[calimary]

80. Welcome to the next episode of "Soak the Suckers", ladies and gentlemen!

They’ll give their all, and they’ll have nothing to show for it. And somehow they’ll feel vindicated, I guess.

[True Blue American]

81. Ali Velshi

Just put coins in water. The magnet picked them up just fine.

And Fox News blamed Micheal Steele for the Steele Dossier.

[Martin68]

82. I suspect some members of the cult have decided not to throw good money after bad.

Maybe we should all donate a penny to waste their time and money.

[malthaussen]

83. "Racked up," forsooth?

That is such a low percentage of the total, it has to be expressed exponentially. 2.366 e-4, roughly.

-- Mal

[Liberty Belle]

88. I contacted GoFundMe's press office and asked why a conman found by 3 judges to have engaged in fraud

is raising funds on their site. His company is barred from doing business in New York, and his family charity and Trump University were all shut down as frauds.

We'll see if I get a response, as a media member.

[True Blue American]

91. Let us know if you do!

[Smooth155]

93. Go Fund Me

With the Eugene Carol lawsuit from the court and the NY 350 million dollar lawsuit can't that money be seized as assets ?

[ColinC]

94. Wait. Why is the super billionaire using gofundme?

[Aristus]

95. He's cleaning out the rubes. Again.

I tell you, pretty soon, they're not going to have the scratch for crystal meth and Colt .45 beer.

[ificandream]

96. It's up to $280,000 as of 1 p.m. ET Sunday.

And I'll bet Trumpo doesn't see one penny of it.

[BumRushDaShow]

97. Still waiting for Bannon's "Build the Wall" fundraising fraud trial

so far still scheduled for May - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/steve-bannons-we-build-the-wall-scheme-trial-set-for-may-2024

(as a side note - when I went to search on "Bannon trial" it came up with "Do you mean Baboon trial". )

[Turbineguy]

98. 11 years, 6 months, 17 days 4 hours and 33 minutes to go

Not including interest.

[FakeNoose]

99. There's no proof that these GFM accounts are for real

They probably (most of them) aren't real. They're just grifters taking easy money from the rubes.

Even if they ARE real, Chump will most likely croak before the full amount is raised, so what's the point? It's coming out of his estate and the kiddies will inherit zilch.

[More_Cowbell]

112. That would be great

The only thing better than the MAGAts depriving real candidates of funds by giving to Trump would be if the MAGAts depriving real candidates AND Trump of funds by giving to a grifter.

[TwilightZone]

116. I have little doubt that it's real.

As for the amount, it doesn't have to meet the goal before the money is available. Money can be transferred out of GFM at any time, so they wouldn't have to wait until goal is met to send money to Trump.

The part I find interesting is that it never really says the money would go to Trump. He's mentioned, of course, but there's a lot of weasel words about "taking a stand", and it's referred to as a "legal fund".

[Playingmantis]

100. Some one can check math but

At this rate it will take about 12 years to pay this off and that is not including interest and other penalties..
Hopefully he wont last another six months..

[JohnSJ]

101. Idiots

[Jrose]

102. DjT's 'golden sneakers': After running for a year,

the gold peels off, revealing black and white stripes!

[Grins]

103. Not even ONE DAY'S interest exp. he is accruing PER DAY!

Ms. Carroll and the state of NY thank you, suckers!

[captain queeg]

107. Now I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it. What a great way to make money, no effort, no feelings of guilt when

I pocket it. I might have to creat some phoney expenses. Most likely that is exactly what is happening for the one who started the fund. A true trump acolyte

[Orrex]

108. Why doesn't he simply steal the $$$ from a charity?

[Kennah]

109. At this rate, it will take 11.5 years

[marble falls]

110. Woooo hoooo, they'll have the rest of it in a coupla decades!

[COL Mustard]

113. So the total is now up to $303K...still a long way from what he needs.

Among the 6000+ donors:

Vladdy YourDaddy
PT Barnum

A whole bunch of "anonymous", and I can't blame them. I wouldn't want my name associated with that asshole either. In fact if I were going to donate $5 I would do it under my Irish name, Pat McGroyne, or my Arabic name, Azheet M'Draws.

I really can't understand how that many people can be so gullible. $5 is one thing, but there's at least one contribution of $5000. What is that person thinking? I really don't get it. Oh well, not my circus, not my monkeys.

[634-5789]

114. As of 4:30 CST Sunday, it's $305,000. Why doesn't gofundme stop this?

Their T & C clearly states you can't set up a donation for crimes, yet...here we are. I did try to report this fiasco, but apparently I'm too dumb.

[No Vested Interest]

115. GoFundMe gets a cut of some sort from the total...

Could that be the reason this is allowed?

[TwilightZone]

117. He hasn't been convicted of crimes.

The penalties have all been from civil cases thus far.

[BumRushDaShow]

118. A judge ruled that he committed fraud via a summary judgement before having the trial to determne penalties

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-letitia-james-fraud-lawsuit-1569245a9284427117b8d3ba5da74249

(a jury could have done the same if they hadn't missed the chance to request a jury trial)

"Fraud" is a crime. One of the main differences here is that NY restricts the AG to only being able to file civil suits, and in this case, it would be to recover money lost to the state (plus there is rarely any prison time associated with civil judgements).

[TwilightZone]

119. He's not facing criminal penalties.

He's facing civil penalties. A ruling in a civil case is not a criminal conviction. It can lead to a separate criminal investigation, but that still doesn't make the civil case a criminal one.

He was found liable for sexual assault, which, separately, is a crime. He was not convicted of sexual assault. This is the same thing.

[BumRushDaShow]

120. I saw upthread that apparently GoFundMe has been used for other similar civil penalties

so at this point, I expect it is then moot for this.

But "fraud" is still a crime. I expect Alvin Bragg's case that goes to trial March 25 (so far), which is for "criminal" fraud, would be one that might apply at that point.

[TwilightZone]

121. It doesn't matter if fraud is a crime if it's in a civil case.

One cannot be convicted for a crime for which one wasn't indicted or charged.

One cannot be convicted for a crime in a civil case.

I can't believe this even needs to be explained.

Was Trump convicted of a crime in the E. Jean Carroll case? Obviously, he wasn't. But, but...sexual assault is a crime!!!

This is quite literally the same exact circumstance. Why would one be a conviction and the other not?

The first criminal trial is the hush money case, as the Guardian correctly notes in their headline:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/trump-court-hush-money-stormy-daniels

[BumRushDaShow]

122. The issue in this case with this thread and questions about GoFundMe

is whether this particular account violated GoFundMe's TOS and nothing more. Given that similar fundraising accounts to take care of penalties were permitted to continue by the service in the past, would thus be the answer to those questions, and the rest of what you wrote would be irrelevant.

[underpants]

126. 0.000859154929577 Less than 1 1,000th

On Saturday I saw that some gave $5 literally to post “F Trump”. The top donor at the time at $2,500 was a convicted sex offender.

[Brainfodder]

124. Aint math fun?

[Javaman]

125. and when the next shiny object distracts them and the funding falls off...

will the orange asshole demand whatever has been raised?

you can bet he will

[claudette]

127. I'm astounded

by the stupidity of magats

[C_U_L8R]

130. What's the daily interest on a $355M penalty ?

I don't think the magats will be able to keep up for more than a few days.

[Kennah]

131. A trip to Saudi Arabia

[COL Mustard]

132. In an update....

They are all the way up to $1.3M. Not insignificant, but a long, long way from the current total (I assume with interest) of $465M.
This counter makes me unusually happy, although I know it shouldn't.

https://trumpdebtcounter.com/

[GoneOffShore]

134. This made me 'Happy! Like squirrel!"

Or my slightly psychotic raccoon spirit animal.

[COL Mustard]

136. I like happy raccoons!

Pissed off ones, like the one I scared in the garbage can, not so much.

[AZLD4Candidate]

135. womp womp