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Donald Trump Returns to D.C. and His Minions Can’t Wait to Knife Each Other


Former President Donald Trump’s return to Washington, D.C., for the first time since leaving office last January has sparked protest factions among MAGA loyalists — rival groups that have spent time since he left to plan his return to power and who intends to keep the others apart.

The former president will be in town on Tuesday to meet with America’s First Policy Institute, a relatively new non-profit group affiliated with Trump that this week convened a multitude of policy buffs. MAGA and loyalists for a two-day conference in the hotel’s basement blocks away from the Capitol building. According to AFPI, the agenda is focused on legislative goals ahead of what they hope is Republicans back in power in Washington after the midterm elections and beyond.

A source close to Trump told The Daily Beast that despite the investigative cloud over his head, the former commander-in-chief is “excited” about his return to the swamp.

The keynote speech will offer “an opportunity to showcase the dual contrasts between America under Trump and America under Biden,” according to the source, who speaks frequently with the former president.

“People are hungry for solutions,” the person said.

But just because the group has successfully lured Trump back doesn’t mean the broader Trumpworld plans to cede power to them.

Instead, pro-Trump sources told The Daily Beast that AFPI – a nonprofit founded shortly after Trump left the White House – had become an enemy of MAGAland. These critics point to what they see as an ineffective, frivolous organization that failed to deliver a clear victory for the former president, while trying to claim to be the gatekeeper to a second Trump administration. two potentials.

And make tens of millions of dollars in the process.

“It’s a mile wide and an inch deep, it’s all hot and there’s no substance,” a current Trump adviser, who is still well-regarded by the former president, told The Daily Beast. “They’re burning through donors’ money and not doing anything meaningful to promote a coherent policy agenda and everyone who’s paying attention knows that.”

“They’ve launched a bunch of ‘hubs’ and spread too thin for the very limited talent the organization has,” continued the Trump adviser, who declined to be named. “Trump’s seal of approval is everything. what they really have for them.”

Likewise, former Trump administration official Peter Navarro told The Daily Beast that the pro-Trump group in Washington, DC is nothing more than a “Troyan horse” that will bring “RINO” —Republicans In Name Only — staff into the second Trump administration and nurtured the “same mistake”[s]”When it comes to personnel in Trump’s second term.

“People are using Trump’s good name to defeat him,” Navarro added of the “incompetent” group. “Trumpism without Trump coup.”

That comment did not sit well with AFPI communications director Marc Lotter, who shot back at Navarro when approached by The Daily Beast.

“Unfortunate to see Mr. Navarro, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, transformed into the DC swamp creature he once loathed,” he said. Lotter went on to instruct Navarro to visit the AFPI website “to view a range of studies based on the Trump administration’s successes, including its tough stance on China and its continued imposition of tariffs on China. President Trump.”

AFPI was formed last spring and with a plaque filled with top Trump people in the White House has been billed as something of a “White House in wait”.

The nonprofit’s president, former Small Business Administration Director Linda McMahon, was joined by a host of former officials, including former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, and former acting director of the Association. Homeland Policy Fellow Brooke Rollins and former economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reported acts as an informal advisor, according to Axios.

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi and White House special counsel Kellyanne Conway contribute to the organization’s fundraising power — and there’s a lot of it.

AFPI debuted with a $20 million first year budget, according to Axios. (Unlike other AFPI bigwigs at the conference, Conway was watched by supporters and news cameras.)

Although some in Trump’s orbit are targeting the group, McMahon said Monday to guests at the private event that the “more than 20 policy-centric” section of the group is filled with “patriots” and “The doers” will unfold “America First Agenda.”

That assessment does not sit well with a former White House aide.

“I don’t see much happening from AFPI other than cable news interviews and press releases about the people they’ve hired,” the aide told The Daily Beast. “I know they’ve raised a lot of money from supporters of President Trump, but most of it will go to staff and operating expenses.”

A Trump spokesman did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment Monday afternoon.

If the group was primarily a flash funding trap, the first clues came early.

AFPI first came to public attention in the policy arena a year ago, when it was behind a Trump-advised First Amendment lawsuit against social media companies. Organizational leaders even spoke with the former president at the televised announcement event, directing supporters to a website where they could sign in as co-plaintiffs of the lawsuit. group.

“We’re really looking for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Americans,” AFPI president Brooke Rollins said at the time.

But the website actually doesn’t allow anyone to sign up for the lawsuit. Instead, it sent people to a separate fundraising page for an entity within AFPI, called the Constitutional Leadership Partnership.

And whatever contributions AFPI has made to the legal effort over the next 10 months, they will not be enough. A federal judge filed the lawsuit in May.

On the contrary, fundraising is in full swing.

Although the public does not know who all of the sponsors of AFPI are, it is clear that the group has made a lot of money. On Monday, Politico reported that it has a current operating budget of 25 million dollars.

But thanks to Federal Election Commission records, one source of those millions is clear: Trump himself. In June 2021, his leadership PAC gave the group 1 million dollars—At the time, the only external gift the PAC had ever made. A few weeks later, AFPI was behind his social media lawsuit.

AFPI also exhibited partially overlapping with other groups in Trump’s dark money machine – with a focus on fundraising.

The Daily Beast reports that three AFPI officials – Bondi, former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker and former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell – are also on the payroll for a super PAC endorsed by Trump. Bondi alone made hundreds of thousands of dollars for that effort.

Those same officials also joined another nonprofit, Make America Great Again Policy, along with By Donald Trump Jr. fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle. However, that group does not appear to be involved in any publicly known activities.

It was also Trump’s adviser who remarked that Trump’s affection for the group masked a deep, long-standing rift.

Trump’s seal of approval is all they really get. But in reality, with very few exceptions, those involved are more closely associated with Jared Kushner’s vision for the country than with Trump’s,” the person said. “That’s why Navarro has criticized them publicly.”

The Trump world has long been rife with discord between two camps – the more highly regarded Kushner faction, and the populist brute force, represented by aides like Navarro and Steve Bannon.

AFP I emerged when that conflict reached its climax—In the months after Trump left the White House in disgrace following the January 6 attacks, an event driving spike between the two factions is even deeper.

“They are making a play to be the focal point of Trumpworld in DC, so bringing Trump back to the capital for the first time since he left and bringing together all these legislators will go a long way. long way to do that,” said a Trump adviser. “DC isn’t necessarily a place where anyone wants to go on vacation, but it’s a smart power move to host the event there.”

Lotter dismissed other critical views from Trumpworld insiders, telling The Daily Beast, “President Trump’s closing of the event shows his support for AFPI’s work to continue the policies. put America first!”





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