Now, by this reasoning, any money a political candidate spends to maintain or protect his image while running for office now qualifies as a regulated campaign donation, and has to be disclosed. That would include, by the way, in addition to an infinite number of other things, buying toothpaste and getting a haircut.

It would definitely include the taxpayer-financed slush fund that Congress has set aside to pay off its own sexual harassment claims. Yes, those now qualify as campaign contributions. They must be publicly disclosed, except, of course, they’re not publicly disclosed, and they never will be. Why is that?