Former President Donald Trump will be collecting some serious money ahead of a rally in Texas on Saturday, hosting a $100,000 per couple lunch and a second fundraiser before he takes the stage.
The money is for a new political action committee, Make America Great Again Again.
And it demonstrates Trump’s major star appeal even after a week that saw multiple investigations close in on his business and political operations, and a poll suggested his grip on the GOP may be loosening.
Still the money pours in.
Trump is charging couples $100,000 to join him and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for lunch in Houston, at an undisclosed location.
The Houston Chronicle reported it will be followed by a $5000 a couple reception at Lake Conroe, where hosts include Major League Baseball legend Roger Clemens and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Donors can pay as much as $50,000 to join a roundtable discussion.
Former President Donald Trump holds a campaign-style rally in Conroe, Texas, Saturday. He will use the visit to hold two major fundraising events during the day
Trump cut a relaxed figure this week, joking with golfers at one of his Florida courses. He also huddled with aides to plot a midterm strategy during the week
Trump met with hip hop star Ray J during the week, to discuss business, information technology and black empowerment at Mar-a-Lago, Florida
And he is expected to drop into an event hosted by his son Don Jr called the American Freedom Tour.
The visit marks Trump’s first visit to Texas in two years, to the reddest county in state where Democrats are making inroads.
For Trump it will be a chance to hammer Democrats on the border crisis.
‘Texas is one of the great losers on that one,’ he told the Houston radio station KTRH Friday. ‘The state is getting killed.’
And he teased a rally attack on Hillary Clinton, at a time when conservatives (but not Democrats) are talking up the idea that she could run again in 2024.
‘She’s a total nutjob,’ Trump told the radio station. ‘She could run. I hope so.’
The former president cut a relaxed figure this week, joking with golfers as he played a round on one of his Florida golf courses.
As he prepared to tee off, a fellow player introduced him as the ’45th president of the United States.’
’45th and 47th,’ he responded deadpan, before turning to hit his drive.
And he smiled broadly in photographs as he posed with hip hop star Ray J during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago headquarters.
‘He’s in great spirits,’ Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor who set up the meeting, told the Associated Press.
At the same time there are signs that his power within his party may be on the slide.
A new AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found 71% of Republican said they had a favorable opinion of Trump, compared with 78 percent in September 2020.
But it also showed that only a slim majority – 56 percent – want him to run for president in 2024.
Although he remains the most popular figure in the party, it suggests there may now be room for former Vice President Mike Pence or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Trump huddled top aides in Florida this week as he plots a midterm strategy that could serve as a springboard for future efforts.
On Friday, he had lunch with Sen. Rand Paul at his West Palm Beach golf course.
His campaign-style rally in Texas on Saturday comes ahead of the state’s March 1 elections that formally kick off the midterm primary season.
And it means he can forget his mounting legal woes.
On Monday, judges in Georgia approved a request for a special grand jury by the Fulton County prosecutor who has been investigating whether Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to throw out President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said her office received information ‘indicating a reasonable probability’ that the election had been ‘subject to possible criminal disruptions.’
In New York, state Attorney General Letitia James claimed in a court filing last week that her office uncovered evidence that Trump’s company used ‘fraudulent or misleading’ valuations of its golf clubs, skyscrapers and other property to secure loans and tax benefits.
While her lawyers said they hadn’t decided whether to bring a lawsuit in connection with the allegations, they revealed the company overstated the value of land donations made in New York and California on paperwork submitted to the IRS and misreported the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse, among other misleading valuations.
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