Trump to GOP companies: Stop using my image or your clients will suffer

“When you cheat the president’s donors and impersonate his brand for your own gain, you drain him of the financial resources his campaign needs to defeat Joe Biden and make America great,” Wiles and LaCivita write in the letter.

The Trump campaign sent the letter to Tag Strategies, Red Spark Strategy, Prosper Group, IMGE, Go Big Media, Push Digital, Convergence Media, Coldspark, Axiom Strategies and Targeted Victory.

Several of the companies work for potential GOP rivals to Trump. Coldspark, for example, is helping former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her candidacy. Axiom works with a super PAC aligned with the Florida government. Ron DeSantis and Targeted Victory are a supplier to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Both DeSantis and Scott are considered likely suitors. The companies also represent a host of other lower ballot candidates within the Republican Party who would have an interest in securing Trump’s endorsement.

None of the companies that received Trump’s campaign letter commented on this story.

Trump has made similar moves before. In March 2021, his attorneys sent cease and desist letters to the Republican National Committee, NRCC, and Republican National Senate Committee, demanding that they stop using his name and likeness in emails and fundraising merchandise. The RNC has denied the cease-and-desist lawsuit.

Thursday’s letter isn’t so much a legal threat as a political threat, forcing the party’s top digital consultants to weigh the value of endorsing Trump against using his name to raise money for their clients.

“Going forward, in determining which candidates he will support, the President and his team will consider whether the candidate is paying a digital fundraising provider that routinely raises funds in his name, image and likeness without his permission,” write Wiles and LaCivita. “President Trump is highly unlikely to endorse, sign letters for, appear at events or post on social media any candidates who use these vendors, or invite clients of these vendors to join him on stage or acknowledge them. in another way at its gatherings and other events.”