What Trump’s Donate Page Says about His Silver Spoon

Trump may love dinging Hillary for her big donors, but he appears to have some pretty wild ideas about how much his supporters can afford to donate to his campaign—ideas that suggest he’s completely out of touch with the realities of the average American. Check out the difference between Hillary Clinton’s donate screen and Donald Trump’s donate screen:

Can you spot the difference? And no, I don’t mean the fact that Donald’s page shows him in front of a crowd of cheering sycophants. Here, let me help you look more closely. Let’s look at some close-up screenshots:

Hillary’s donate pages lets supporters choose to give $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $200, $250, and “other amount.” Trump’s donate page lets supporters choose between $10, $35, $75, $100, $250, $1,000, $2,7000, and “other.” That escalated quickly, and it makes a big difference! Hillary offers six options under $250. Trump offers only four options under $250 and two options above it—the higher a staggering $2,700 (the maximum amount an individual may donate). It seems that growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth may have thrown of Trump’s understanding of how much ordinary Americans earn, and what they can afford to spare.

But it’s actually worse than that, because it appears that the $10 amount may have been added more recently. Check out this page, also on Trump’s website:

In this version of his donate page, Trump lets supporters choose to give $35, $75, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,700, and “other.” The median donate option is now $250, with three options below it and three options above it.

Make no mistake—a well-run campaign does not choose these numbers at random. Fundraisers have to balance a desire to encourage supporters to give liberally, pushing them to higher numbers, with a desire to ensure that even small donors feel valued and wanted and are not put off. In this last version of Trump’s donate page, a donor looking to give less than $35 has to hit the “other” button, which risks communicating that their donation is too small to matter. The $2,700 option is too likely too high to matter—without perks, anyone giving more than $250 is probably best off filling in their amount themselves. This also avoids intimidating smaller donors.

Note also that Trump’s donate page automatically checks a line reading “Make this a weekly recurring donation until 11/8/16.” In other words, if you don’t uncheck that box, the Trump campaign will automatically draw your donate amount weekly. Hillary’s donate page, on the other hand, offers the option of giving weekly, but it’s a button you have to push—but it’s something you have to specifically click, not something that’s already checked. In other words, becoming a weekly Hillary donor is opt-in, while for a Trump donor, it’s opt-out. This, too, is not something that is generally set up accidentally or without much thought.

Trump may boast about his small donors, but he does not appear to understand their financial situations as well as he thinks he does.

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