Republicans have finally caught up to the Democrats’ most progressive fundraising platforms and are launching a online, small-donor fundraising website of their own Monday: WinRed, a name coined by President Trump himself.
As a counter to Democrats’ ActBlue, which has already raised more than $174 million this year, the move will give Republicans a space to unify their online giving, which the Party has not had in the past, Politico reported. Efforts to create an ActBlue rebuttal came after Democrats raised significantly more funds than Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterms. The rollout was reportedly initially planned for February, but the legal components of developing the website proved challenging.
The platform was originally suppose to be christened “Patriot Pass,” but branding shifted after objection from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — a good friend of President Trump’s who was also recently caught up in a prostitution sting at a series of massage parlors in Florida — that it sounded too much like the team’s name.
As a president with a penchant for monikers, Trump reportedly was especially interested in picking a name for the enterprise and he called top Republican allies to toss around branding suggestions. Trump reportedly offered “ActRed” and the winning name, WinRed.
“While Democrats act, Trump told his team, Republicans win,” in Politico’s words.
Trump posted a sparsely self-aware tweet to announce the new platform, saying it would help “Republicans to compete with the Democrats’ money machine.”
I am pleased to announce the launch of https://t.co/D1MY2aPC7f. This new platform will allow my campaign and other Republicans to compete with the Democrats money machine. This has been a priority of mine and I’m pleased to share that it is up and running! #KeepAmericaGreat
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2019
