Panic in GOP as Trump hoards much-needed campaign cash: report

The "cavalry" isn't arriving, and Republicans are freaking out, according to a new report.

With the midterm election four months away, GOP candidates and their campaign advisers expressed alarm that Donald Trump shows no inclination to spend the approximately $350 million sitting in his MAGA Inc. super PAC. While the money is there, Trump may not deploy it, according to Politico.

"We've been waiting for the cavalry," one campaign consultant told Politico, summing up the Republican desperation in five words.

A GOP lobbyist and donor laid out the strategic case bluntly: "We didn't leave our most powerful missiles on the ships when we were trying to crush Iran. Money is the political equivalent in politics. The electorate's mindset on the economy is normally locked in stone by Labor Day after a summer of backyard conversations and paying for summer vacation gas. Now is the time to sell the message."

But Trump hasn't been selling anything, Politico reported.

"MAGA Inc., hasn’t spent directly on a race since March, when it spent $17,900.88 to support Rep. Clay Fuller’s campaign for his House seat in Georgia," the report noted.

Since then, it's given $560,000 to a Kentucky PAC and paid consulting fees. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, and polling shows significant disapproval for Trump and his policies. Republican candidates have begged him to spend money on ads counteracting that damage, particularly on affordability.

The White House is offering no reassurance. A senior official told Politico decisions on spending don't have to be made "until after the convention," which starts Sept. 9.

"What makes you think they're going to spend?" asked Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump State Department appointee. "Every day matters about shaping sentiment and ideas, and when you have limited time, you should be attacking that early. So the notion of waiting is just inherently concerning. But even more so: are you even actually going to be playing?"

"There's this golden promise and the question is, when you get to the end of the rainbow, is the bucket empty or full?" one GOP donor asked.

A senior White House official told anxious donors that "we all know this is the president's party and he's going to make the strategic decisions on how to go about doing that. He's on his timeline."