Public Radio International: The new Trump: Trying to raise campaign money

When it comes to raising money, Donald Trump is morphing into the very kind of bootlicking presidential candidate he’s insisted — over and again — that he wasn’t, isn’t and wouldn’t become. [...]

Consider that last week alone, Team Clinton aired about 3,400 ad spots — mostly eviscerating Trump — on broadcast and national cable television, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of data from media tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG. The Trump campaign aired no such TV ads at all, while a supportive super PAC managed fewer than 100.

On the other hand, Trump’s turn toward fueling his White House ambitious with cash from special interests and political megadonors undermines what’s been one of his most effective marketing messages: that he’s beholden to no one and can’t be bought because he’s a rich man who’s self-funding his campaign. [...]

Trump’s campaign refused to answer questions about how Trump’s attitude toward political money has shifted. But an analysis of Trump’s statements on the matter demonstrates how it most certainly has.

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Public Radio International: They said, 'You can't win.' He did, and he's now part of a new wave of indie politicians in Mexico.

Mexico has mid-term elections this Sunday, and a political shift is testing the country’s long, entrenched party system: A crop of independent candidates determined to shake things up and win by tapping public frustration with politics as usual. [...]

But there’s worry here about independent candidates, too. “We have no certainty as to whether an independent candidate is going to be better than a party candidate or not,” says Rios, who is quick to call Kumamoto “fresh and refreshing.” But, she offers an overall warning about independent candidates who, she says, can be “more dangerous than party candidates.”

She adds: “Because with parties you have some form of transparency, accountability. At least the party is there after the person is left, so there is some form of punishment that the electorate can give them. However, an independent person is just himself, after he’s done, he’s done. Many authoritarian regimes in Latin American have emerged from supposedly independent candidates.”

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