S.E. Cupp: Donald 'I'm Really Rich' Trump needs a bailout

"Here's the good news. I'm very rich."

That was 2015 Donald Trump, who spent much of that year bragging about his immense wealth as he mounted a then-unlikely run for president.

"I'm the most successful person ever to run for the presidency, by far," he said then. "Ross Perot isn't successful like me. [Mitt] Romney - I have a Gucci store that's worth more than Romney."

He regularly threw out numbers like $9 and $10 billion in net worth, and had attempted to sue folks like Timothy O'Brien, author of "Trump Nation: The Art of Being Donald," for suggesting otherwise. (He estimated Trump's wealth was closer to $250 million.) Then, Forbes put him closer to $4 billion.

And despite promising in 2015 to release his tax returns if he ran for president, he repeatedly refused, filing lawsuit after lawsuit to keep them from becoming public.

Even at Forbes' current estimate of $2.6 billion - a quarter of what he boasted in 2015 - there's no arguing Trump is rich, just not as rich as he says.

But importantly, despite Trump's vast fortune, he continues to shamelessly grift off the American people.

Now that he's facing a $454 million bond in his New York civil fraud case, Trump is looking to you - voters and taxpayers - to fork over your hard-earned cash so that he can keep his name on Trump Tower, throw lavish cocktail parties at Mar-a-Lago, keep his golf courses and hotels open, and fund his many legal battles.

In a pitiful plea to his supporters, Trump is begging them to "chip in" and "STOP THE WITCH HUNT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP!"

Asking for donations ranging from $20.24 to $3,300 or more, the message reads "KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF TRUMP TOWER," just one of the properties that could be seized by New York Attorney General Letitia James if Trump can't come up with the money by Monday.

The cash-strapped tycoon also has his sycophants busking for bucks on his behalf. Fox News personality Mark Levin is outraged that Republicans with some dough to spare aren't coughing up cash for their imperiled leader. "Why are there no Republican multi-billionaires offering to lend President Trump the funds to file his appeal in the outrageous case in NY state?" he asked on X. And then, missing the irony completely, questioned their cash status: "Are none of them liquid enough to help or join with others to help? This is an outrage."

Indeed, why won't billionaires bail out the billionaire? Probably because, as another Fox personality, Charlie Gasparino put it, "Donald doesn't have a great track record at paying back banks over the years." That's probably why, as Trump's lawyers told a New York appellate court, none of the 30 underwriters they contacted were willing to post the bond.

This isn't the first time Trump has asked for handouts.

Trump made it a central feature of his candidacy in 2015 that he was so rich he couldn't be bought by lobbyists and special interests.

And he promised to run on his own money. "I don't need anybody's money," he said in his announcement speech. "I'm using my own money. I'm not using the lobbyists. I'm not using donors. I don't care. I'm really rich."

But it took less than two months for him to change his mind. He held a campaign event outside of Boston that August that demanded attendees "Please have cash ready to make checks payable to: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc." and "Entry Fee $100 Per Person." Trump, meanwhile, insisted, "This is not a fundraiser, tonight, just so you understand."

Shortly thereafter, he added a contributions page to his website.

After he lost the 2020 election, his campaign raised $250 million from small donors who hoped to help him "Stop the Steal" and combat "election fraud." But a House committee report called that a "rip-off," with much of those funds diverted to other purposes, including $60,000 to Melania Trump's stylist.

Facing numerous legal battles after leaving the White House, Trump turned to the Republican National Committee, which gets much of its money from small donors, to help allay some of his costs.

The RNC spent nearly $2 million on two Trump law firms working on his cases. Newly installed co-chair Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, told reporters Republicans have "a big interest" in paying his legal bills. But the RNC only has $8.7 million in cash on hand, not enough to make a dent in Trump's fees and fines.

Trump's since resorted to selling everything from golden sneakers to digital NFT (non-fungible token) cards.

The bottom line? Trump's rich, all right. But apparently not rich enough to let his supporters hold onto their own hard-earned dollars. How long will they continue to bail out the billionaire? As long as he's asking, I'm guessing.

Political commentator and longtime conservative S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN. This column was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.