Tshibaka paid Trump $14,477 for 'hosting' her campaign fundraiser

When Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka claimed that Donald Trump was putting on a campaign bash for her at Mar-a-Lago, she said she was thrilled “that he will be hosting this event.” But she neglected to mention a key detail.

Trump wasn’t the host, and Tshibaka wasn’t a guest. Indeed, she had to pay her so-called “host” to hold the event at his Palm Beach club. Additionally, she paid for the food and drinks.

As many other Republicans know, it’s a pay-to-play situation when it comes to being endorsed by Trump.

According to her first-quarter fundraising report filed last Friday, Tshibaka spent $5,772 as an “event staging expense” on February 8. The next day, she spent $14,477 for “facility rental and catering services” for the gathering. Then, on February 10, she spent $350 at the Lauderdale Lakes Lodge for lodging.

But it was all for naught. Those who raised $25,000 to support Tshibaka’s campaign received a “free” picture taken with Trump and Tshibaka.

Unfortunately for Tshibaka, Trump himself did not donate.

His political action committee, which had $110 million on hand in February, gave $5,000 to her last summer. In contrast, Trump’s committee recently put $500,000 into a committee aimed at defeating Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. Tump hates Kemp for failing to cheat on the 2020 election.

Trump also hates Sen. Lisa Murkowski because she stood up to him on multiple occasions. At some point, he may use the immense stock of cash given to him by his backers to try to bail out Tshibaka.

“Mr. Trump can be downright stingy. Though he holds rallies for some candidates, for many, his support goes no further than an email and a $5,000 check. Mr. Trump has almost never deployed his huge list of supporters to help other politicians raise money,” the New York Times reported.

Murkowski has a big advantage in raising money, and Tshibaka is failing to keep up. Murkowski has $5.3 million in her account, while Tshibaka has about $970,000, with $95,000 in debts.

Tshibaka told the Republican blog in February that she raised about $450,000 at the Mar-a-Lago event. But that seems unlikely. Her report with the Federal Election Commission said she raised a total of $665,000 during the first quarter from all sources.

On Monday, Sen. Mitch McConnell announced plans to spend $7 million on the race to help Murkowski. This is close to what Murkowski spent during her entire 2016 campaign. The money is from the Senate Leadership Political Action Committee controlled by McConnell.

CNN analyst Chris Cillizza said McConnell is calling Trump’s bluff. So far, Trump has refused to put up money to help Tshibaka, other than the token $5,000, while “McConnell is sending a not-so-subtle message to Trump: Time to put up or shut up.”

Last weekend, the New York Times reported on the steady stream of GOP supplicants making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring; some come bearing gifts along with the mandatory obsequious attitude. So far, Republican candidates have spent $1.3 million at Mar-a-Lago, vying for Trump’s blessing, the newspaper said.

In Tshibaka’s case, the gifts appear to have included a cringe-worthy video she posted on social media in which she pretended to pack her belongings as one of her young children sat close by, reciting lines that a child would never repeat without prompting.

“Once you meet him can you tell him everyone needs to call me ‘Tiny Trump’ because I thought he was cool,” her child asked.

“I’ll absolutely tell him that. I think he’s gonna really like that,” Tshibaka answered

Flattering Trump by telling him that your young child burns with a desire to be called “Tiny Trump” is exactly what Trump would like. And it is in keeping with the Kiss-the-Ring mentality of Tshibaka and the other sycophants.

The three Alaska candidates Trump has endorsed—Tshibaka, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and former Gov. Sarah Palin—will accept any and all of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and his steady stream of attacks on Murkowski. Trump even made his Dunleavy endorsement conditional on getting the governor to promise he would not endorse Murkowski. Dunleavy complied, but he did not do exactly as Trump wanted and has declined to endorse Tshibaka.

During Tshibaka’s fundraiser, with Tshibaka and her husband with him on the stage, Trump complained about this, saying, “unfortunately, [Gov. Dunleavy] is sort of staying in a neutral position, and I’m not happy about that either. I’m not happy about that either.”