'Trump was "extremely disciplined in grifting" and trying to use the presidency to make money, expert on fascism says'
Donald Trump pursued a unique goal as former president of the United States; an objective that required extreme discipline and dedication from the unlikely leader, according to an expert on authoritarianism.
"Trump's aims as president were totally different from any other president, Republican or Democrat," Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University and expert on fascism, told Insider. "His aims were autocratic in that he wanted to turn public office into a vessel of making money for himself; to have private profit off of public office."
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In the congressional committee's second televised hearing earlier this week, lawmakers focused on Trump's massive fundraising efforts following the 2020 presidential election, in which his campaign sent millions of emails to supporters claiming "the left wing mob" was threatening the integrity of the election and encouraging potential donors to "step up" and "fight back."
According to investigators, Trump's lies about voter fraud ultimately resulted in $250 million in donations from Trump supporters following President Joe Biden's November victory. Most of the money raised ended up in a PAC that made significant contributions to pro-Trump organizations and businesses, the panel said.
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"The sad thing is that autocrats can be very loved by their followers, and people genuinely love Trump. He has a real personality cult," she said. "But they despise their followers and they use them. And that's where him grifting off of his followers [comes in]. Because he is not grifting off of Democrats; he's grifting off of his followers, he's bilking his own followers."
Trump's presidential penchant for money-making started long before the 2020 election, according to Ben-Ghiat. In his first three years as president, Trump spent nearly a third of his days at a Trump-branded property, The Washington Post found in December 2019.
The former president's money-making schemes even date back to before he won the presidency. When he was campaigning the first time, Trump was under investigation for defrauding people through Trump University. The grifting, Ben-Ghiat said, is his "model."