How Might Democratic Fundraising Survive Trump's Actblue Investigation?

When Democratic politicians need campaign cash, they turn to ActBlue, the party's leading fundraising website. However, the platform may be at risk now that President Donald Trump is using the Justice Department to target it.

Last week, Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to "investigate allegations" of improper fundraising by online platforms, said NBC News, in a memorandum that "specifically names ActBlue" as a website used to "improperly influence American elections." Democrats said Trump is trying to weaponize the government against his political rivals by cutting their fundraising off at the knees. The investigation is a "brazen attack on democracy in America," said an ActBlue spokesperson.

The president has "harnessed the power of the federal government to punish his enemies," said The Associated Press. The ActBlue investigation comes on the heels of White House efforts to "target law firms, media outlets and individuals with whom he disagrees." It also puts Democrats at risk of "financial death," said The Bulwark. Candidates need to be "prepared for an alternative," said Rufus Gifford, who was the finance chair for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.

What did the commentators say?

The investigation of ActBlue is "overdue," said The Washington Examiner. Investigations by House Republicans found "anomalies" like "sudden and frequent donations from elderly citizens" as well as money from "voters registered for one party but voting for another." Following those allegations, the union representing ActBlue workers sent out a letter warning of a "pattern of volatility and toxicity stemming from current leadership" and asked the board to hire an outside investigator. Democrats may say Bondi's investigation is "baseless," but the "public deserves to know what happened at ActBlue."

Trump is "taking a page from authoritarians around the world," said Paul Blumenthal at HuffPost. While the president has gone after "law firms, nonprofits and former government officials," this is the first time he has targeted the "machinery of the Democratic Party." Trump's memorandum does not contain specific allegations of wrongdoing but relies instead on fraud discovered and reported by ActBlue. WinRed, the GOP counterpart, has faced no inquiries "despite reports showing it faces similar issues with fraud detection." The investigation is Trump's "clearest effort" to use the presidency to "destabilize and hobble his political opposition."

What next?

ActBlue is a "key link" in the Democratic Party's fundraising system, said New York magazine. It makes donating to Democrats an easy one-click job. That's why hobbling the system will hurt. Replacing it "will take years to rebuild and will cost us some money," one consultant said. But if ActBlue is "muzzled," other platforms will step up to take its place. Democratic fundraising will "not stop altogether," said New York.

Indeed, the investigation appears to have sparked a surge. ActBlue had its "biggest fundraising day of the year" after Trump's order became public, said The New Republic. Some political action committees that use the platform "more than quadrupled their fundraising within 24 hours" of the announcement. Party strategists say it is still time for Democrats to start building alternatives. "Democrats need to democratize their campaign tech," said Cory Archibald, the communications director at Turn Left PAC, "and they need to do it yesterday."