But… but… He can’t be bought! He’s really, really rich! Just ask him!

Well, so much for that whole “self-funding” bunk from the primaries.

If you’re even remotely plugged in to the political game, you’ve probably gotten plenty of junk emails and annoying robo-calls, urgently asking you to contribute to one campaign or another. The wording always makes it sound as if this is our nation’s last hope, and it’s hinges on your $25 contribution to come through before the end of the day… or else.

One of Donald Trump’s big selling points for those glassy-eyed loyalists, who rushed to push him ahead of other, more qualified candidates is that he’s really rich, didn’t need anyone’s money, and he would self-fund his campaign.

He wasn’t a politician, after all. He was a wildly successful businessman. Now, it appears Trump’s campaign is making the very traditional political move of pleading for donations. Honestly, if you replace “Mr. Trump” with practically any other career politician’s name, it would sound like every other political mailer.

From the Hill:

“Right now we’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000 to help get our ads on the air,” the email said. “We need your contribution by 11:59 P.M. Tonight.” “Crooked Hillary is about to invade your TV with ads attacking Mr. Trump. But we’re preparing to fight back,” it reads, adding that the campaign plans to attack Clinton over her role in Benghazi and the FBI probe into her use of a private email server while secretary of state.

Trump has previously said that the $1 billion fundraising goal set by the GOP was unnecessary, because he’s counting on a gushing media to give him lots of free airtime, as they’ve done since last Summer.

“There’s no reason to raise that,” the presumptive GOP nominee said earlier this month. “I just don’t think I need nearly as much money as other people need because I get so much publicity.” During the Republican primary, Trump often bragged about his largely “self-funded” campaign, but he’s shown increasing willingness to court donors as next month’s convention in Cleveland draws closer.

Some of the more prominent and reliable big money GOP donors have opted to keep their checkbooks to themselves, so far during this season.

It appears the Branch Trumpidians are going to have to tighten the belt. This is going to cut into their Kool-Aid savings, for sure.