by Kody Fairfield

Donald Trump, the Republican Presidential nominee, has always opined about how great of a businessman he is; how “yugely” successful his ventures have become and the great things they have created. And based on past statements of his, it would seem his profiteering is not limited to just his private enterprises. In the past, Trump has gloated about how he could make a run for the White House profitable, saying, “It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it.”

Unfortunately, it looks as if he may be doing just that. With reports already showing that about 9% of Trump campaign expenditures going to Trump-owned entities, there is a new report out of the The Huffington Post claiming that The Donald has raised the rent on some of the offices in Trump Tower. Specifically, the ones where he staffs his own campaign. It would seem that these accusations were nothing but mere smear tactics by critics, but the evidence appears to be pretty apparent.

The charges are not some minuscule amounts, nitpicking at a minor fluctuation. Rather, in the time frame from March to July, the charges appear to have quintupled. The rent in the span of 5 months has ballooned from $35,458 to $169,758. Not to mention that alongside this astronomical increase, the amount paid to employees dropped. Compounding the issue further, The Huffington Post goes on to argue that Trump’s campaign was only majorly self-funded during his primary run, but after the month of May, it has completely reversed.

The reality of the facts has become so convincing to many that it has one Republican National Committee Member saying, “Nobody cares when you’re spending your own money, but when you’re spending the donor’s $27, that could cause problems.”

Another RNC member even went as far to say, “If I was a donor, I would want answers. If they don’t have any more staff, and they’re paying five times more? That’s the kind of stuff I’d read and try to make an (attack) ad out of it.”