Trump is panicking and has had to put together a last-minute rally in North Carolina for which local officials forced him to pay in advance.
Blue Ridge Public Radio reported:
The City of Asheville confirmed receipt of a $82,247.60 payment from the Trump campaign, ahead of the former president’s Wednesday campaign event in Asheville.
The deposit will cover a two-day rental of the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, a city-owned building that’s part of the Harrah’s Cherokee Center complex in downtown Asheville. The auditorium is the smaller of the complex’s two venues, with a maximum seating capacity of 2,431, according to the venue website.
Of those funds, $22,500 is the rental amount for the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium event space, according to city spokesperson Kim Miller.
Local officials required Trump to pay in advance for additional staffing, venue security, crowd management expenses, and other costs.
Trump’s campaign put together the rally at the last second because they are sinking fast and trailing in the polls to Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s original plan was to do no campaigning and hold no events until after the Democratic convention next week.
Donald Trump has run up massive balances, in some cases totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for rallies around the country that local taxpayers. When Trump stiffs a local government, it’s the people in the local community who have to have their services cut or pay higher taxes to make up for the deadbeat ex-president rolling into their town.
Hopefully, more cities and towns will follow Asheville’s lead and ask Trump to pay in advance for his rallies.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
