'Do you still love me?'- Trump's aggressive fundraising campaigns to boost donation

Donald Trump's email campaign is blurring the boundary between political communication and marketing gimmick. Over the span of last 7 days, Trump's team has blasted out several unconventional email as part of the fundraising campaign. From Valentine's day themed mails to phising mails Trump's Digital Fundraising and PR team are mixing, devotion and fear for aggressive political campaigning.

Screenshot of the subject of the mail Photograph: (Meidas Touch Network)

Just a couple of days ahead of Valentine's day, Trump's team sent out a fundraising mail with a romantic theme, a textbook moment marketing technique. The mail had a subject line, “I am asking with an open heart.” The email featured emotional messages like “Do you still love me”, “My love language is MAGA” and “I miss you”.

Screenshot of the mail Photograph: (Meidas Touch Network)

The mail read like a love note, but ultimately directed readers readers to a donation page in the guise of a poll, to prove devotion. Many recipients claim they have not signed up for the mail including writer such as E. Jean Caroll, who won an $83 million defamation lawsuit after Trump denied sexually abusing her. In 2023, a civil jury in New York found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.

The email was reportedly sent on behalf of Never Surrender Inc. a leadership of PAC associated with former House Rep Mark Greene of Tennessee.

Screenshot of the Mail Photograph: (Meidas Touch Network)

Another such campaign sent a tech alert, “We've detected an attempt by external filter to block all communication from President Trump”. The mail urged recipients to quickly “sync” with a supposed “secure patriot server”, which didn't solve anything but redirected to a donation page.

Screenshot of the Mail Photograph: (Meidas Touch Network)

Both emails employs triggers, devotion and fear to create urgency among small donors. A parasocial bonding strategy that derives heavily from the advertisement appeal of, fear, scarcity, personal validation. This hyper- personalisation of politics is highly dramatised, algorithm driven and designed to discourage rational and critical thinking.