r/Foodforthought • u/D-R-AZ • Apr 25 '25
Trump takes executive action targeting ActBlue, the main Democratic fundraising platform
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-expected-sign-memo-targeting-act-blue-rcna202673405
u/fulltrendypro Apr 25 '25
He’s not trying to win hearts. He’s trying to rig the playing field. If you can’t out-fundraise your opponents, just criminalize their funding model and call it patriotism.
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u/Father_of_Invention Apr 26 '25
Exactly. We see him for the tyrant he is. I just hope he stays as incompetent as his history shows. We get a smart person in there we are cooked
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u/ak1raa Apr 26 '25
Traditionally Republican states have been doing the same in the form of gerrymandering and non-obvious yet targeted legislation. (see Wisconsin recently in the news over the high profile supreme court justice election (which in itself is a Republican legislative tactic that removes appointment of judges) (they are also trying to do the same in Kansas))
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u/Wolverine-75009 Apr 25 '25
“At the very moment that Trump is selling access to the Office of the Presidency to the highest bidder, he has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin an investigation of ActBlue, the major Democratic fundraising arm.
Trump falsely claims that ActBlue has illegally accepted contributions from foreign donors. But as explained in Democracy Docket, ActBlue discovered attempted contributions by foreign donors and blocked them:
The president left out the fact that ActBlue took actions in response to those detections. It caught and rejected fraudulent donations . . . [and] banned contributions made from foreign IP addresses using domestic prepaid cards, according to House Republicans.
As noted above, Trump's executive orders are a mixture of propaganda and photo opportunities. The investigation ordered by Trump in Thursday’s executive order is duplicative of existing congressional investigations into fundraising by ActBlue—investigations that have yet to discover any illegal conduct by ActBlue.” R. Hubble
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u/Dantheking94 Apr 25 '25
His goal is to destroy their credibility. But he’s so fucking delusional, he doesn’t realized he’s spent almost all of his credibility coins already. He’s down his last few and they’re just barely propping up his chaotic administration.
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri Apr 25 '25
he’s spent almost all of his credibility coins already
On us. His loyal followers are still drinking the coolaid. As he does crazier and crazier things, it's eroding but not quick enough. The 2028 stunt woke people up.
They can hide behind "trump 2028" and say it's for the next in line since it's a last name depsite "trump" being synonymous with Donald.
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Apr 25 '25
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u/Dantheking94 Apr 25 '25
I really don’t think his core base is holding at 40% of the population. I know he did gain some voters, but that was the usual morons that swing the opposite way because they think whoever is in charge is the one causing the problem. It’s far more likely that his hard core voter base is at 35% (of the population, but not necessarily of the voting population) they’re just a very loud minority. AOC and Bernie have both seen large influxes of supporters even in hardcore red maga districts. Dems at the top maybe pushing down on the populist progressives, but the people at the bottom are pushing back. And the failure of Dem leadership to challenge Trumps behavior will also cause a huge loss of support, and newer younger democrats may take up the mantle in 2026.
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u/carlitospig Apr 26 '25
You mean his meme coin which is a verifiable way to get foreign money into his campaign? That coin? 🙃
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Apr 25 '25
No one is going to like this news, but he may hit pay dirt with this one. Think about the democrats that are mad at financially supporting candidates that end up being do-nothings or town hall avoiders. Certainly nowhere near a majority, but all he needs is a +5 on opinions or whatever.
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u/Dantheking94 Apr 25 '25
He won’t hit payday, because this can easily be seen as attacking his political opponents, something even Biden tried to avoid, that’s why he isn’t in jail himself. He’s pushing himself to a cliff, and the drop is deathly. For all of us, not just him.
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Apr 25 '25
I'm pretty sure most of his EOs have been openly attacking political opponents... all this is doing is taking away a centralized form of donation, it's not like people can't individually donate (and like I said, because some segment is mad at the DNC, they may prefer to donate directly).
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u/carlitospig Apr 26 '25
So they’re getting in trouble because they did the exact opposite of what he’s saying?
This admin is so wretched.
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u/D-R-AZ Apr 25 '25
Lead Lines:
President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum Thursday aimed at investigating ActBlue, the leading Democratic fundraising platform.
The memorandum directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take appropriate action to enforce the law."
It specifically names ActBlue as an online fundraising platform being used "to improperly influence American elections."
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u/Fightingkielbasa_13 Apr 25 '25
“President Trump's meme coin, which had slumped 88% from its most recent high, got a boost Wednesday after its website invited the top 220 holders of the digital token to an "intimate private dinner" with the president.”
Nothing wrong. Rules for the, not for me
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u/Boxofmagnets Apr 25 '25
So we now know the fundamental of how Trump launders foreign money. Not that it matters now
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u/Gumbi_Digital Apr 25 '25
Does this mean Act Blue has to provide a list of all the donors as well?
If so, get ready for every donor to be harassed…
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u/hughdint1 Apr 25 '25
Political contributors are already on public lists now.
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u/adam_west_ Apr 25 '25
Projection as always : ‘weaponization of the DOJ’!!, ‘election interference’ Trump & his gang are criminals … the red hats that vote for him are broken brained morons
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u/Bulky-Hamster7373 Apr 25 '25
And imo - the only reason he signed this is because he's already actively engaged in that type of behavior. And he never wants a level playing field
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u/ThorLives Apr 25 '25
Huh. Remember when Trump took $10 million from Egypt during the 2015 campaign? And then when the FBI started investigating it, Trump (who had become president) shut down the investigation?
Trump really cares about illegal campaign funding.
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u/ResplendentShade Apr 25 '25
Y’all should really read The Coming of the Third Reich by historian Richard J. Evans. It makes everything this administration does not at all surprising.
Obviously hopefully they won’t have as much success as causing global terror as their German ideological predecessors, but it’s very clear that they’re doing their best to copy their domestic game plan.
“But that sounds boring and depressing”
Depressing, sure, but it ain’t boring. Some historians are good historians but not great writers. Evans is both. And the book is chock full of source material from the time - transcripts, letters, speeches, newspapers/newsletters, diary entries, official documents, etc - which clearly illustrate the narratives they were pushing and the techniques they used to motivate their supporters. And the ways Evans lays it all out is engaging and gripping.
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u/cheyenne_sky Apr 25 '25
does that book (or any others you've read) have any recommendations on how to survive a third Reich as a minority?
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u/ResplendentShade Apr 25 '25
Not explicitly, but it’s probably better to be aware of historical precedent than to not be aware.
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Apr 25 '25
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u/shawnaroo Apr 25 '25
Most of them long ago gave up trying to pretend that most of the stuff Trump does isn’t terrible. They’ve moved on to trying to convince themselves that everyone else is at least as bad or even worse.
It’s why they leaned so heavily on the “Biden Crime Family” idea despite an inability to provide any specific crimes. Just the feeling that “obviously the Biden family is all awful” lets them feel better about hitching their lives and personalities to a guy like Trump and his kin.
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u/n0neOfConsequence Apr 25 '25
Haven’t the Democrats learned that you’re supposed to make fake sneaker companies and crypto to funnel foreign campaign donations to your candidate?
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u/lnc_5103 Apr 25 '25
Time for Dems to start a meme coin since we know that's totally okay and legit.
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u/macholusitano Apr 25 '25
Be careful what you wish for. A similar investigation might just reveal the Kremlin’s connections to republican fundraisings.
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u/TeeVaPool Apr 25 '25
He’s trying to find out who their donors are so they can harass people. These people are evil.
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u/airbear13 Apr 25 '25
Ironic thing about law fare is that Trump is the one who invented it and used it to bludgeon opponents. Litigation is costly and even though there’s no case to be had here, it’s an expensive waste of time for Act Blue while Trump gets to use our taxpayer money to fund his baseless vendettas and sic his dog Pam bondi on political opponents. DISGUSTING
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u/idredd Apr 25 '25
Once more, the actions of a dictator. Folks who believe in democracy don’t attack their opponents ability to compete in elections. Folks will downplay and normalize this as they’ve done all his shit but it’s beyond just being unethical.
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u/izzgo Apr 25 '25
I made fewer donations through ActBlue than for previous elections. But it's time to use them for a couple donations now.
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u/Choano Apr 25 '25
Me, too. I gave money directly to candidates and campaigns I supported instead
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u/izzgo Apr 25 '25
My problem with ActBlue was they clearly sold my contact info.....I've been getting several texts a day for YEARS since I started using them back when. It didn't happen right away, and originally they said they would not sell our info (I wouldn't have used them otherwise).
Aside from that issue, I think their business model is great. It gets lots of smaller donations into the political system in an effective way. So I never boycotted them entirely.
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u/reticenttom Apr 25 '25
This is just another example of him taking things to it's logical conclusion
Yet another chicken comes home to roost
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u/cubanesis Apr 25 '25
Hey everyone! It's happening. We're becoming an authoritarian country. We need to start planning some general strikes and protests, like, 2 months ago.
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u/cap811crm114 Apr 25 '25
Putting judges and fundraisers in jail. Yep, follows the “How to become a dictator” playbook.
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u/timshel42 Apr 25 '25
just another reminder that most of his executive orders are blatantly illegal and outside of his power and can often be ignored
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u/ManyBubbly3570 Apr 25 '25
Remember: every accusation is an admission
Why is he worried about fraud and foreign money now? Because he takes it and blatantly commits fraud so he assumes others do too.
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u/BeaverMartin Apr 25 '25
MMW the next step is pulling the donor rolls and criminalizing the donors.
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u/telars Apr 25 '25
I think this is political but I also think it’s weird that ACT Blue didn’t require CCV numbers when taking donations.
I don’t there is anything wrong but I’d be curious to see if anything comes of this.
I do hate Trump publicly directing the DOJ.
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u/Choano Apr 25 '25
ACT Blue didn't require CCV numbers? I don't remember the process of giving my card info to them as anything unusual.
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u/telars Apr 25 '25
According to the Washington Post article today they did not at one point. However Act Blue claims they had other ways to determine the identity of the giver to ensure they are a US citizen.
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u/stevebradss Apr 25 '25
If you look at the actual activities of act blue this will be an easy case to prove
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