Former president Donald Trump will be in Metairie tomorrow (Tuesday, July 25) for a campaign fundraiser.
As we've previously reported, that fundraiser is being hosted by businessmen Boysie Bollinger and Joseph Canizaro and will cost attendees at least $3,300 to attend the VIP reception. A photo with the president will cost donors an additional $19,900 per person or couple.
While Trump's visit has been public knowledge for several weeks now, the event has attracted little publicity. According to one political scientist, that's not uncommon.
"This is a tried and true way that campaigns make money," LSU political science professor Robert Hogan told WWL's Don Dubuc.
According to Hogan, organizers most likely have bombarded donors with histories of major campaign contributions with invitations to the Trump campaign event. Hogan says a similar event held in California last week for President Joe Biden raised $10 million over two days. He expects Trump to have a similar result during Tuesday's event.
"I would expect they would raise a couple million dollars," Hogan said of the Trump fundraiser. "That's why the Trump Campaign takes an afternoon or evening out of Trump's time to come do something like this."
Considering the former president has a penchant for attention, why has this fundraiser flown under the radar? Hogan says the answer is simple: it's a matter of dollars and cents.
"He's here for the purpose of collecting money," Hogan said. "You don't want the opposition protesting in front of someone's house. You don't want supporters out there trying to get a glimpse of him."
Hogan says Trump's goal isn't to attract cameras and crowds. It's to make connections with as many big-money donors as possible.
"It's publicized to people who have the kind of cash who have the history of contributing to campaigns for Republicans," Hogan said. "He's hoping probably making personal connections with these wealthy donors now will give them an incentive next fall to contribute and write out huge checks to Super PACs that can support his campaign."
