Loomer Unleashed - July 27, 2023


Private Jets, AMEX, and Luxury Hotels: What Is DeSantis Spending YOUR Campaign Donations On?


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

168.42491

Word count

2,299

Sentence count

99

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On today's episode of Loomer Unleashed, we're going to take a deep dive into Ron DeSantis' first FEC report since he filed to run for president in May of 2023. You may have heard that Ron's campaign isn't going so well. In fact, he is burning through his campaign cash like crazy.

Transcript

Transcripts from "Loomer Unleashed" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:01.000 Hey everybody, welcome to a new episode of Loomer Unleashed.
00:00:04.000 I'm your host, Laura Loomer.
00:00:06.000 And on today's episode, we're going to take a deep dive into Ron DeSantis' first FEC report since he filed to run for president in May of 2023.
00:00:15.000 You may have heard that Ron DeSantis' campaign really isn't going so well.
00:00:19.000 In fact, he is burning through his campaign cash like crazy.
00:00:24.000 Since filing to run for president, Ron DeSantis posted his fundraising numbers that show that in the first fundraising quarter since filing, he raised $20 million.
00:00:34.000 However, if you look at these expenditure reports, you'll see that Ron DeSantis has already burned through $8 million of campaign cash, which equates to a burn rate of roughly $1.5 million per week in the five weeks since he filed to run till the July 1st fundraising reports were due.
00:00:52.000 Why does this matter?
00:00:53.000 Well, it matters because that means that Ron DeSantis only has $12 million of campaign funds left.
00:00:59.000 And when you look at the fact that $3 million of those campaign funds are earmarked for the general election because they are double max donations and can only be used if he wins the primary against Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis technically only has $9 million available on hand that he can utilize for the duration of his presidential campaigns.
00:01:20.000 And this is causing quite a problem for Ron DeSantis because his fundraising numbers thus far are not indicative of a candidate that has the ability to fundraise for the long haul all throughout the duration of the GOP primary, especially for key caucus states like Iowa, where the caucus is going to be taking place in January of 2024.
00:01:40.000 With a burn rate of $1.5 million per week, Ron DeSantis would need an additional $42 million cash on hand if he was hoping to spend at this current rate all the way until the Iowa caucus.
00:01:51.000 And given the fact that Ron DeSantis' poll numbers are dwindling on a national level every single day with Donald Trump taking a 40 point lead in national polls, It doesn't look like Ron DeSantis is going to be raking in millions of dollars that he desperately needs if he's wanting to continue his presidential campaign.
00:02:08.000 Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, holy hell, how does somebody spend $8 million without running a single TV ad in five weeks?
00:02:15.000 Well, I went through Ron DeSantis' first FEC report with a fine-tooth comb, and I'm here to show you some of the most outrageous and most absurd expenditures that Ron DeSantis had on his FEC report.
00:02:26.000 Let's take a look.
00:02:27.000 Now, if you look at the $20 million that Ron DeSantis raised for his campaign, only $2.9 million of those funds came from small grassroots donors whose donations were under $200.
00:02:38.000 Why does this matter?
00:02:39.000 Because if you take a look at his FEC report, you'll see that majority of his donations came from large, high-dollar, Wall Street-type donors, with the average donation being $1,200.
00:02:50.000 That is not indicative of a grassroots campaign.
00:02:53.000 If you look at the $35 million that Donald Trump raised in this fundraising period, his average donation was $34 because most of President Trump's donations came from grassroots small donors.
00:03:05.000 Now you're probably wondering, what on earth did Ron DeSantis spend $8 million of his campaign money on in five weeks?
00:03:11.000 Well, here are the reports.
00:03:13.000 Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign spent $867,583 on media placements, and then they spent an additional $730,497 on direct mail postage.
00:03:26.000 Do you remember when Ron DeSantis had the genius idea of launching his presidential bid on a failed Twitter space with Elon Musk?
00:03:34.000 Yeah, well, I was there for that to report on it live on the ground, and I'll tell you what an absolute dud it was.
00:03:39.000 It turns out that it was actually an investor meeting.
00:03:42.000 Yeah, his donors refer to themselves as investors and walk around with investor badges because they're hoping, right, to get some type of return on their investment.
00:03:50.000 Whereas people who support Donald Trump are campaign donors.
00:03:54.000 It's just further evidence that Ron DeSantis is trying to sell the White House and sell access to his campaign because what do you expect if you invest in something?
00:04:03.000 You expect a financial return on your investment.
00:04:06.000 And so when Ron DeSantis had this fancy elitist donor kickoff, he had it at the Four Seasons Resort in Miami on Brickell Avenue, which happens to be one of the most expensive hotels in Miami, Florida.
00:04:18.000 And what did that end up costing?
00:04:20.000 Well, if you look at the FEC report, you'll find over $280,000 in payments that were made to the Four Seasons in Miami where DeSantis had his campaign kickoff.
00:04:28.000 But it doesn't end there.
00:04:29.000 Other receipts on the FEC report show that he spent over $28,000 on donor mementos.
00:04:35.000 What are donor mementos?
00:04:36.000 Well, those are gifts that you give to donors.
00:04:39.000 So not only is Ron DeSantis spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on these fancy So if you happen to be a grassroots donor who donated money to Ron DeSantis,
00:04:59.000 this is where your money's going.
00:05:00.000 Some of the more concerning expenditures on Ron DeSantis' FEC report come in the form of payments that were made to pay off his American Express credit card.
00:05:09.000 Now, the FEC has very strict guidelines when it comes to how you can report credit card expenditures.
00:05:15.000 You're actually supposed to have an itemized list of every single purchase that was made On the credit card so that you're not just going on wild shopping sprees and writing it off as a credit card payment.
00:05:26.000 But if you look at Ron DeSantis' expenditure form, you'll find one payment that was made on June 13th to American Express to pay off a credit card for the amount of $175,589.20.
00:05:39.000 Then, 10 days later, on June 23rd, there's another American Express credit card payment for $148,347.66.
00:05:50.000 And then on May 26th, there is another American Express very large credit card payment for the amount of $99,218.32.
00:06:02.000 So this is absolutely absurd.
00:06:05.000 Ron DeSantis has over $425,000 worth of American Express credit card payments that aren't even itemized the way they're supposed to be legally itemized according to the FEC on his FEC expenditure form.
00:06:19.000 So it really makes you wonder, what did Ron DeSantis spend $425,000 of donor money on Through his American Express credit card.
00:06:27.000 Is Ron DeSantis paying off his personal credit card bills with his campaign funds?
00:06:32.000 Is his wife going on crazy, lucrative shopping sprees? 1.00
00:06:35.000 We will never know.
00:06:36.000 And unfortunately, that just leaves room for speculation since Ron DeSantis has decided to skirt FEC laws and improperly report his Amex credit card payments.
00:06:45.000 Another expenditure on Ron DeSantis' report shows that he spent over $21,000 on campaign apparel.
00:06:51.000 This is not what you call a grassroots campaign, and as Ron DeSantis' poll numbers continue to plummet, it has his very large national donor base asking questions about whether or not his campaign is sustainable given the current burn rate.
00:07:04.000 Well, what is Ron DeSantis now doing to address his donors' concerns about his extreme burn rate?
00:07:09.000 Well, you guessed right.
00:07:10.000 He's spending more of their money.
00:07:13.000 Recent reports show that Ron DeSantis spent an additional $87,000 of his campaign funds to host a swanky donor retreat and investor appreciation dinner at a Utah resort called the Stein Erickson Lodge.
00:07:26.000 This type of luxury is indicative of how Ron DeSantis is running his campaign, and that's with absolute total disregard for the average middle-class working American who can't afford to live their life in luxury.
00:07:38.000 According to his FEC reports, Ron DeSantis and his wife have also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars flying on private jets while they jet-set around the country pretending like they're going to be the next president and first lady of the United States of America.
00:07:52.000 Is this somebody who you really think is going to run our country responsibly?
00:07:55.000 If Ron DeSantis can't even run a lean and mean campaign and doesn't know how to save his campaign cash and run things on a budget, how does he expect to run our country?
00:08:05.000 Is he going to drive our country into trillions of dollars more debt?
00:08:09.000 While I was sleuthing through Ron DeSantis' FEC report and looking into this swanky high-dollar investor retreat that he just had in Utah this last weekend, I came across this Instagram video that was posted by DeSantis high dollar bundler Brooke Walzer.
00:08:23.000 Brooke and her husband are all over social media bragging about how wealthy they are and how they're so proud to be raising tons of money for Ron DeSantis.
00:08:32.000 But being braggadocious is a double-edged sword because it looks like Brooke revealed too much information in her Instagram posts. 1.00
00:08:39.000 Brooke Walzer admitted that the campaign is essentially committing illegal coordination with the Never Back Down Pro-Ronda Santa Super PAC, which is highly illegal.
00:08:48.000 Her Instagram post reads,"...lots of one-on-one time with Governor to exchange ideas.
00:08:52.000 Spent time with the Super PAC Never Back Down to learn about the campaign boots on the ground and fundraising strategy and needs." Well, if this is true, and Brooke indeed spent time with Ron DeSantis and then also spent time with officials and paid employees from the Never Back Down Super PAC discussing Ron DeSantis' campaign and his campaign strategy and his campaign's fundraising needs,
00:09:15.000 that is an admission to illegal coordination between a super PAC and a campaign, which is highly illegal.
00:09:21.000 And as nauseating as Brooke's social media posts in the video that she posted along with some cheesy EDM music may be, it sheds light into the mentality of the donor class and the type of person that is supporting Ron DeSantis and his presidential campaign.
00:09:35.000 These are not people that care about the needs of the everyday hardworking American.
00:09:39.000 You can see they don't really care about the fact that our country is in decline.
00:09:43.000 No, they're just having a grand old time eating baked Alaska, beef tenderloin, and sipping champagne at a swanky Utah resort.
00:09:50.000 And who else happened to be in attendance?
00:09:52.000 Well, it looks like Congressman Chip Roy from Texas also decided to jet set to Utah where he spent the weekend with DeSantis donors and investors.
00:10:00.000 It really makes you wonder, do any of our elected officials actually work anymore?
00:10:04.000 Ron DeSantis is an absentee governor.
00:10:06.000 You see that he's not really concerned about the issues facing Floridians, whether it be the insurance crisis or the upcoming hurricane season that is likely to devastate thousands of homeowners here in Florida.
00:10:18.000 No, he's not really focused on that because he would rather have parties with his donors and investors at Utah resorts that cost tens of thousands of dollars, something that your average American can't even dream of doing in their lifetime.
00:10:31.000 And these leaked images, Instagram posts, and videos out of Ron DeSantis' donor retreat this weekend show that Ron DeSantis is the last thing that we need as presidents of the United States of America.
00:10:41.000 The American people on both sides of the political aisle are sick and tired of the elitist donor class controlling our politicians and purchasing access to our politicians and the White House.
00:10:52.000 The American people want a leader and a president like Donald Trump, who is going to put the American people first and not sell us out to the donor class.
00:11:00.000 Given Ron DeSantis' current burn rate, it's unclear how he plans on running a full-blown presidential campaign for the duration of the GOP presidential primary.
00:11:10.000 But as we have seen, there is no shortage of elitist millionaire and billionaire anti-Trump establishment GOP donors who are more than happy to piss their money away if it means trying to stop Donald Trump from securing the second term that was stolen from him and the second term that he rightfully deserves and is entitled to.
00:11:29.000 We're good to go.
00:11:53.000 To go through Ron DeSantis' FEC reports and tell you, the American people, what Ron DeSantis is wasting his donor money on.
00:12:00.000 I'm Laura Loomer, and if you enjoyed this content, please be sure you subscribe to my sub stack, lauraloomer.substack.com.
00:12:07.000 It's free to subscribe, but if you want to support my independent journalism, you can subscribe for $7 a month or $70 a year.
00:12:15.000 Also, please be sure that you're following me on Twitter, Gab, Getter, and Truth Social at Laura Loomer.
00:12:22.000 I'd also like to take a moment to thank the sponsor of this episode of Loomer Unleashed, Goldco.
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00:13:37.000 Thanks for watching.
00:13:38.000 See you next time on Loomer Unleashed.