Why Does Trump Decide Not To Self-Fund His Campaign?

Earlier, Donald Trump had declared that he could not be "bought or sold" because he was a rich man. He said that he was not dependent on anyone, so he dug deep into his pockets to cover his campaign costs for the Republican presidential nomination.

He had called Jeb Bush a "puppet" who would do whatever his contributors wanted. However, he felt that he did not have to worry about any such thing. When one lobbyist offered him $5 million, he said: "I don't want it. Because when you come back to me in two years and you want help for a company that you're representing or a country that you're representing, I'm going to do the right thing for the people of the United States." Taking the money would put him on the wrong foot. "I'd feel obligated because I'm a loyal person," he said.

This week, Trump changed his tune. He announced to the Wall Street Journal that he was now actively raising money for the general election in order to fight the Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He would no longer just rely on his own reserves along with the 'Donate now' button on his website, but would raise the money on his own.

Critics are quick to slam him. As LA Times wrote: "Hypocrite alert! Flip-flop alarm! What happened to independence? Is there any other way to greet this news than to assume that Trump will now feel "obligated" to those who give and that he too will be a "puppet," loyal to his donors and their needs?"

However, the writer also takes up a cudgel for him and explains that it is well-known that a presidential run is very expensive. With Clinton having already raised $213 million for her drive through the end of April, apart from $67 million garnered by her allied super PACs, she could raise as much as $1 billion.

That puts Trump under pressure to follow the trail too.

He could get into public financing to replace the corrupting influence of private fundraising. Still, just $96 million, the public financing's spending cap, would not be enough to run his campaign.

Undoubtedly, the source of funds for his independent campaigns would be unlimited, but in this enormous flow of money, there would be a quid pro quo involved as Trump said lobbyists don't spend on you "because they like the color of [your] hair."

But where earlier, Trump felt he could win more votes by claiming to be "unbuyable", he now does not now want to spend $1 billion of his money on November's election. He has come round to believe that being "being bought and sold" is not as bad as it sounded, after all.