President Donald Trump's bare-bones presidential campaign of 2015 has given way to a campaign machine with hundreds of consultants and spending that has already bypassed the money used to lock up the 2016 nomination.
“Last time, it was insurgency," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told The Washington Post. "This time, there is a feeling of insurgency — but the candidate, after all, is the president of the United States.”
Trump's current campaign has more than 200 people, where at this point in 2015, he had just 19. The effort's spending has already eclipsed the president's first run as well. Also, pro-Trump committees have already spent $531 million, but by May 2016, his campaign had spent just $63 million to help him lock up the nomination.
This means his committees have been able to spend much more than in the 2016 race, including launching a $10 million ad in recent weeks to target his Democratic rivals.
Political consultants are also reaping the benefits, with almost $92 million going to firms for the president's 2020 reelection and being spent on experienced campaigners and newer strategists.
Some of the committees pulling in the most are being run by the president's loyalists, including campaign manager Brad Parscale, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, bodyguard Keith Schiller, and two of his ex-White House spokespeople, Raj Shah and Sean Spicer.
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This is also a major shift from 2016, when the campaign had to use staff to carry out functions like advertising, knocking on doors, and polling.
The president's reelection efforts include six main committees, including his campaign, the Republican National Committee, and a super PAC, and they have raised more than $736 million, marking more money collected than for any other presidential campaign at this point in a race.