The wealthy has spent nearly $400 million to stop Trump with nothing to show for it [View all]

[davidn3600]

Money might be hard to come by in many parts of America, but it’s cheap in the 2016 election. Wealthy Republican donors have given nearly $400 million so far to presidential candidates with zilch to show for their efforts, including at least $63 million donated to super PACs supporting the latest GOP dropout – Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz quit the race after losing the Indiana primary election to Donald Trump, who has nearly locked up the GOP presidential nomination. With nine primary contests left, Trump now seems all but certain to win enough delegates outright to clinch the nomination, leaving no path for rivals.

At this point, it’s no longer surprising that Trump is trouncing opponents. What is surprising, however, is the vast sum Trump foes have wasted trying to steer the nomination toward anybody other than Trump. Yahoo Finance has been tallying the millions spent in futility on this year’s presidential campaign, and the total spent on super PACs supporting losing Republican candidates now totals roughly $375 million. That’s more than Mitt Romney’s entire estimated net worth. It’s equivalent to two years’ worth of profits for Netflix.

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Democrat Hillary Clinton does enjoy super PAC support, totaling about $76 million in fundraising so far. But that’s pretty much the entire super PAC haul on the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders doesn’t accept super PAC support, and three other Democratic candidates raised a paltry amount through super PACs.

The tally for now shows Republican donors have burned through about $375 million in super PAC donations meant to support failed candidates, compared with about $1 million in super PAC donations for failed Democratic candidates. If you’ve got money to burn, maybe that lopsided ratio is no big deal. But anybody comfortable burning money tends not to have money for all that long.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/rich-gop-donors-ted-cruz-donald-trump-050232681.html