'Money is a real issue' as Trump insiders call his 2024 presidential run a 'mess': report

According to Republicans with close ties to Donald Trump, close aides to the former president are finding it difficult to get him out of Mar-a-Lago and interested in his re-election campaign that is -- using Trump's words -- a "mess."

As Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman wrote, there is unhappiness with Trump after his 2022 announcement that he is running for a third time failed to catch fire.

Put bluntly, one GOP strategist explained, "The early ’22 announcement was a historic flop. Talk about how not to create momentum."

Trump insiders agree and admitted that finances and Trump's attitude have become huge obstacles to turning things around.

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According to Sherman, "I spoke with a half dozen Republicans close to Trump, and the consensus is that his campaign is a 'mess,' to borrow a preferred Trump epithet. “He is in a weird bunker and doesn’t want to go anywhere. Even the inner circle is worried he’s getting no traction at all."

“Literally nothing. It’s like it’s not even happening,” agreed a Republican Party strategist.

According to one former Trump administration official, donations -- the lack of them -- is becoming a problem by stating, "Money is a real issue.”

"As a presidential candidate, Trump isn’t allowed to tap into the $100 million war chest his various super PACs have amassed since he left the White House, meaning he either has to raise the money himself or spend his own. 'A rally is expensive. They cost a half million dollars easily,' a veteran of Trump’s 2016 campaign told me. Trump’s 2024 campaign has yet to file a fundraising report with the Federal Election Commission, but two sources close to Trump told me the money spigot isn’t flowing like it used to," Gabriel wrote before adding that may have something to do with Trump's widely ridiculed cash grabbed selling virtual trading cards after claiming a "major announcement" was imminent.

"Even if the financial situation improves, Trump allies worry he has already committed a series of baffling, self-destructive blunders. 'Trump completely overexposed himself with all those stupid midterm endorsements,' another 2016 campaign veteran told me," Sherman added.

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