According to recent reports, the Trump presidential campaign is vulnerable in potential battleground states due to an inability or unwillingness to fully fund reelection efforts in those areas. In Michigan, a state that Donald J Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020, Trump's campaign has promised an aggressive strategy.
However, neither the Trump campaign nor its partners in the Republican National Committee have made any significant investments in the state of Michigan according to Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra.
He said the national committee has not transferred any money to the state party to bolster its operation going into the general election. Also, there's no general election field staff in place.
"We've got the skeleton right now," Hoekstra said. "We're going to have to put more meat on it."
According to Republican party officials in other states, the campaign is running into similar problems elsewhere.
What Does This Mean For Trump's Campaign?
Though praised for its professionalism and overall effectiveness during the primary phase, Trump's political machine has been slow to turn toward the general election home stretch in the weeks following his hostile takeover of the Republican Party's national leadership.
Analysts believe the Trump campaign may have even rolled back plans to add hundreds of staff members and dozens of minority-outreach centers in key states.
Six weeks prior to the first early votes are cast, it appears that the Republican Party has little to no infrastructure in place.
By contrast, the Biden campaign opened 100 new offices and added 350 plus new staffers in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and other swing states, according to campaign spokesman Anmar Moussa.
Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who is now also running operations at the RNC, declined to detail any of the Republican campaign's plans.
"By combining forces, the Trump campaign and the RNC are deploying operations fueled by passionate volunteers who care about saving America and firing Joe Biden," he said. "We do not feel obligated, however, to discuss the specifics of our strategy, timing, or tactics with members of the news media."
