One of the critiques of Donald Trump’s campaign is that vast sums that have been raised to get him nominated and elected have been used to fund his legal defense.

Many people, myself included, think that Trump should either fund his legal defense himself or at the very least establish a legal defense fund to pay those bills. After all, people donating to a campaign generally believe that their donations are going to fund the campaign. It is common sense to believe this, not to mention political malpractice to squander campaign resources for other purposes.

It takes a lot of money to run a campaign for president. That big plane doesn’t run on unicorn farts.

It’s no small amount of money involved. So far $43 million has been spent on defending Trump and others against the legal attacks, and we are just getting started. In principle, I have no problem with Trump asking donors to pony up to help in his defense. The indictments are political in nature and his supporters shouldn’t feel cheated if he asks for help. He is, after all, their guy and they are correct that he is being persecuted.

In 2021 and 2022, Save America spent $16 million on legal bills, The New York Times has reported. In the first six months of this year, almost a third of the money raised by his committees and the super PAC backing him has gone toward legal costs — more than $27 million, according to a Times analysis of federal records.

On the other hand, a legal defense fund is open and honest about its purpose, and a campaign should be too. Donald Trump is running for president, and people who send in their donations have a right to expect that their dollars will be used to get him elected, not keep him out of jail. Those are, I would think, two different things. After all, if Trump dropped out of the race for president he would still face these legal challenges.

The sooner we unify behind a nominee that sooner we can use resources to fund the defenses of everyone indicted for being a Trump Republican. This is become about a bigger principle than just one man. https://t.co/2kLux9I9Wa

— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) August 18, 2023

I don’t begrudge Trump asking for help to fight his cases. With legal fees that could possibly reach 9 figures in the future even a billionaire can be forgiven for not wanting to shoulder all the burden, and had Trump not angered the political and media elite so much by getting into politics he wouldn’t be facing this legal onslaught.

The problem is that the Trump team is making it clearer by the day that at least one purpose for his campaign is to bail Trump out of this mess. Matt Schlapp, a Trump supporter and President of the American Conservative Union says the quiet part out loud: the field of candidates challenging Trump should drop out so that he can focus on staying out of jail.

This shouldn’t be the primary purpose of a presidential campaign, and certainly shouldn’t be the primary focus of the Republican Party.

Keeping Trump out of jail is a fine goal, and people who can afford to help are welcome to do so. I would even applaud the effort. But that should be done after and on top of winning back the White House. Keeping Trump out of jail doesn’t save the country from the disastrous rule of the Democrat Party, which is destroying America, and what higher goal should we have than saving America?

NEW: Trump says "the party should come together. People should drop out of the race" citing new polls which have him winning both the primary and the general election. pic.twitter.com/hUNHLlekL4

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 17, 2023

Trump is often accused–mostly rightly–of caring mostly about himself. Asking that he go to jail for the sake of the country is asking for him to go above and beyond, but asking a man who wants to be president to care deeply enough about our country’s future that he not throw it away to protect himself is merely asking for the minimum.

Anybody who is willing to toss away the 2024 election and perhaps the future of our country to protect one man has his priorities out of whack.

If Trump’s campaign is really about keeping Trump out of jail–as Schlapp approvingly suggests–then it is Trump who should drop out. Trump has just as much right to run as anybody else and clearly a majority of Republicans want him to run. But if his campaign really is only about paying Trump’s legal bills he has an obligation to pass the torch and focus on his primary goal.

The rest of us have a country to save.