Wealthy Candidates Should Fund Their Own Campaigns

I’d have more respect for rich people in politics if they didn’t spend their time begging people who are much poorer than they are for money.

Donald Trump (net worth: $2.5 billion), while he did put up some of his own wealth to enter politics, now has an entire ecosystem of affiliated organizations that use the most absurd “mega-MAGA-patriot-take-our-country-back-55-times match” schemes to schmooze $10 out of random elderly people and then spend more attacking Republicans rather than supporting them. Doug Burgum (net worth: $1.1 billion) is giving people $20 gift cards if they donate as little as $1 to his campaign. And Vivek Ramaswamy (net worth: $630 million) has turned his campaign into a multi-level marketing scheme.