Patriot Brief

• Julian Epstein says wealthy liberal donors are losing confidence in the Democratic Party.

• The Democratic National Committee is carrying more debt than cash on hand.

• Donor frustration is tied to ideological drift and costly campaign failures.

What Julian Epstein described isn’t some mysterious funding glitch — it’s a predictable consequence of a party that spent years convincing itself donors would always show up no matter how badly things were run. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, the Democratic National Committee is sitting on less cash than debt, and the usual billionaire cavalry hasn’t arrived. That’s not an accident. That’s a message.

Epstein’s point about a “vote of no confidence” cuts closer to the bone than most Democrats want to admit. Big donors didn’t suddenly become stingy. They watched a party lie to voters about President Biden’s condition, fumble a historically expensive campaign under Kamala Harris, and drift further from the political center — all while insisting everything was fine. Eventually, even loyal checkbooks notice results.

The irony Epstein points out is real: the same elite donor class that helped pull Democrats left is now unhappy with where that path ended. After lighting billions on fire, they’re shocked the numbers don’t add up. There’s talk of a “Sister Souljah moment,” but that would require self-awareness and discipline — two things this party has been short on lately.

Meanwhile, the contrast is brutal. The Republican National Committee is flush with cash, while Democrats are paying down old bills and hoping donors forget how the money was spent. Confidence, like cash, dries up when leadership keeps proving it can’t be trusted.

From Western Journal:

Democratic strategist Julian Epstein said Friday that his party can no longer assume it will enjoy automatic backing from wealthy liberal donors.

The Democratic National Committee’s principal fundraising committee reported roughly $12 million in cash on hand while carrying nearly $16 million in outstanding debt from a recent loan, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. During a discussion on “Kudlow,” guest host David Asman asked why prominent left-wing billionaires have not stepped in to help stabilize the DNC’s finances. Epstein said the silence from the donor class reflects a broader “vote of no confidence” in the Democratic Party.

“I think what we’re seeing with the donor class right now is a lack of confidence, a vote of no confidence in the Democrats. And I think it stems back to a couple things,” Epstein told Asman. “The lie about Biden’s mental health, the incompetency of the Harris campaign, and the fact that all of the data shows that the Democratic Party is deeply out of touch on almost every single economic and social cultural issue.”

Epstein said elite donors helped pull Democrats away from the political center.

“The irony here, David, is that the donor class is perhaps the most leftist class of the Democratic Party. They are the ones driving the Democratic Party to be out of touch. Now they are withholding their money because they don’t like the results of sort of the far-left drift,” Epstein added. “So I don’t really know where the Democrats go from here. I’ve argued for a Sister Souljah moment, but I don’t think a lot of people are listening to that.”

The DNC’s debt problems are not new, as the committee entered the midterm cycle months ago at a clear financial disadvantage, weighed down by lingering debt from former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign and weak donor enthusiasm. At the time, the Republican National Committee reported raising $10.7 million in September with roughly $86 million in cash on hand, while the DNC brought in $10.3 million and held about $12 million in reserves.

The strain partly traces back to liabilities carried over from Harris’s failed presidential bid, which spent roughly $1.5 billion in just over three months. The DNC shelled out another $1.6 million in September to settle campaign-related bills, pushing total payments linked to Harris’s effort past $20 million, according to Axios.

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