 So I know that I'm preaching to the choir by saying this but it can't be overstated Bernie Sanders single-handedly has revolutionized campaign fundraising in America by relying exclusively on small-dollar donors and not millionaires or billionaires He demonstrated to everyone that you don't have to sell out to get elected That is no longer a necessary evil You could subvert the whole process and just raise money by going to the people In fact his campaign just announced that they surpassed four million individual donations Which is more than any candidate in US? History now this scares the establishment because it gives Bernie Sanders an advantage that basically no other candidate with the exception of Elizabeth Warren has longevity Because small-dollar donors are propping up this campaign. He can stay in until the very end Right the campaign funds are not going to dry up anytime soon He has monthly recurring donations from people who are nowhere near maxing out Who are going to allow him to stay in all the way until the convention and The establishment hates that so corporate media They're trying to find ways to not only downplay what he's managed to accomplish like we've talked about the segments on CNN before but they're trying to find ways to maybe dissuade people Possibly from donating to Bernie Sanders and Politico published an article with a message that's subtle But possibly nefarious where they want you to maybe rethink the donations that you're giving to Bernie because by donating to him You may be inadvertently propping up the entities and organizations who you claim to hate So they published an article titled how Bernie's small donors are making credit card companies rich Now based on that title when I saw this I thought oh this must be about how poor people are so inspired by Bernie Sanders That they are using credit cards to donate because they don't have any cash on hand they don't have money so they're kind of putting it on the credit card and You know putting themselves into debt to help Bernie because they believe in him that much That's something that I did like in 2016 I donated to Bernie Sanders using my credit card because that was all that I had and I wanted to help him out So that's what I thought this was about But that's not what this is about at all So the article's headline is a little bit misleading What this is actually about is the fact that there are processing fees that apply to every single transaction Now to that I say Yeah, obviously whenever you swipe your credit card or debit card there is a processing fee and You know the more times you donate to Bernie Sanders the more times There will be a processing fee that will go to these credit card companies now I really don't think this is anything that is Too surprising to people nonetheless political linked to a newsy video where they kind of gave you this Objective breakdown that's presented in a very matter-of-fact way that doesn't really dive too deep into you know The implications and what this means for you as a Bernie Sanders donor. Take a look donating to your favorite political candidate online Is easy it can take just one click or if you set up recurring donations You don't have to do anything at all the internet has revolutionized how donors behave People now give more frequently and in smaller amounts than ever before But if you want to be part of getting me on the debate stage just go to yang 2020 comm and donate a buck But every time you donate online There's a processing cost and while it might be pennies on the dollar Those pennies add up and in recent years as small-dollar donations have ramped up credit card processing costs have exploded Jonathan zucker is the former CEO of Democratic payment processor act blue. He's watched this whole transformation unfold He's old what it really boils down to is it's just Easier to make a small dollar donation than it used to be the reality is no one would make out $105 checks and give them to a hundred candidates But you can absolutely do that with online giving on the one hand large numbers of Small-dollar donors investing in the political process is very good for democracy on the other hand They are also good for the the credit card processors between 2008 and 2016 The amount that federal campaigns reported spending on credit card processing fees roughly doubled going from 28 million to 52 million dollars 2020 campaigns have already racked up Millions in fees and they're on track to surpass any previous election cycle since 2008 more than 200 million dollars has gone towards credit card processing fees of course political fundraising overall has been on the rise but More and more of every dollar donated has been going to credit card processing fees instead of to the candidate and This cycle the Sanders campaign has reported the highest processing bills the reality of Card processing is that the smaller the transaction amount the larger the percentage of that transaction That disappears into fixed fees So the first thing I'll say is no, it's not the internet that revolutionized how donors behave. It's Bernie Sanders Exclusively who revolutionized the way donors behaved? Obama ran for president during the internet era and he didn't raise small-dollar Donations he was taking money from Wall Street So don't give the internet credit for something that Bernie Sanders did Bernie Sanders changed the game So give him the credit that he deserves both that being said the video itself I don't really have any problems with that because if they're just going to educate people and explain how yes every single time You use your card There's a processing fee and the more times you use it the more fees that will be going to these credit card companies Like I have no problem with that however The problem is that this video that Politico links to only got 222 views and on top of that It's unlisted which means that more people probably read the article than just watched the video now The problem is the article itself takes a few extra steps To kind of make Bernie Sanders supporters think about whether or not they should continue their contributions They write what these grassroots supporters may not realize is that in making small repeated Contributions they have in aggregate delivered a huge payday for the middlemen often large banks and financial institutions that process those payments It's important that people realize that the more transactions they engage in the more credit card companies are making money Said Jonathan Zucker the co-founder of democracy engine and former CEO of act blue the nonprofit payment processing behemoth Catering to Democratic campaigns while it may only be a matter of sense those pennies pile up Nearly one-tenth of that money came from Sanders presidential campaign Which has paid credit card processors more than 2.3 million the most of any candidate this cycle Second is Warren whose 1.75 million in processing payments narrowly edged out Pete Would a judges 1.73 million donors however appeared to be making a less informed choice and October newsy Ipsos poll found that nearly half of donors didn't know Processing fees were taken out of their donations at least 44% said knowing the connection between donation size and fees could change how they donate If your goal is to reduce the amount of money that you're paying credit card companies with your donations Then you want to limit the number of donations you make Zucker said the more donors combined smaller donations into larger less frequent Contributions he said the more those campaigns are going to have at the end of the day Susan Weisner a Sanders supporter who has already donated small amounts to his campaign dozens of times this cycle Said she had no idea that slices of her donations were never going to credit card fees Never knew they took that deduction Weisner said now that she knows making many small donations instead of a large one Increases the cut going to processing fees. She said she may change the way she donates She said she plans to tell her friends to do the same. I'll pass it along So the implication here is maybe if you are a small donor who has donated repeatedly to Bernie Sanders Maybe rethink your donating habits. Maybe instead of just sending in $5 Put that $5 aside wait until you have you know, $25 to spare and donate that amount to him So that way you're giving less money to the credit card companies and the processing fee itself is smaller and then Bernie gets more money Now that in and of itself It's not the most problematic takeaway, but this is potentially Damaging to Bernie Sanders and the article frankly is relatively reckless because think about this What are people going to do in actuality if they're rethinking their small donations? Well, they'll put it off and if they put it off there's a chance knowing that people are busy and you know, we have short attention spans as human beings We might not get back to it We might not donate rather than you know saving our money to donate a bigger donation to Bernie Sanders We might just put it off and not do it So this could be a problem now I'm not going to argue that this is some nefarious plot by Politico to take down Bernie Sanders all I'm saying is they need to be very careful and Not try to discourage small donations because let me tell you all something that every person who is progressive should know There is absolutely no ethical consumption under capitalism However, you spend your dollars even if you think it's going to a good cause in some way directly or indirectly Your money is propping up some type of organization Institution or entity that is fighting to oppress you, right? So you can't really worry too much about this what you need to worry about is The goal and the goal is getting Bernie Sanders elected and at the end of the day if you can only spare $5 should you put that off? So you can avoid this processing fee No Donate to Bernie Sanders in fact do it right now No matter how big a donation you want to make because remember that that fee that a credit card company is taking That's going to be something that they're going to be paying back when Bernie Sanders wins and raises their taxes So you can't stress the little things like this like this is a necessary evil act blue is something that all candidates use running for Congress or otherwise because it's the easiest way To raise money like what are you? What are you supposed to do? There's no way that you can run a campaign and not prop them up It's either you do small dollar donations or you take money from special interests What matters is the policies that Bernie Sanders and these grassroots candidates are pushing right? So yes, we can acknowledge that maybe in the event we kind of consolidated our donations and rather than Sending in five separate five dollar donations. It would be better if we sent in one twenty five dollar donation That's not practical for everyone like if you have five dollars and Bernie Sanders is asking you for a donation Send him five dollars. Don't worry about the processing fee because again, we're gonna tax these bastards anyway So the regulation is what matters and second of all don't be afraid that your money is helping these organizations because this alternative is much Better than a credit card company Donating directly to candidates and effectively buying them off So if Bernie Sanders is having a portion of my donation go to a credit card Processing fee or whatever I like who cares it is pennies and yes It does add up, but they're trying to basically dissuade you from donating in You know these small sums, but it's that's just practical It's it's what more people feel comfortable doing like we have five dollars here ten dollars there So it's not realistic to expect people to donate like a fifty dollar donation or a twenty five dollar donation So Politico needs to be more responsible and less reckless here and make sure that they make it crystal clear That they're not trying to dissuade people from donating to candidates that they support right do not give less money But they've got to know that if you kind of turn people off to the process itself That a lot of people will see that and think oh, well, I don't want my money going to these credit card companies Fuck them. I'm not gonna donate anymore. Sorry Bernie, but let me stress this He needs money without money He will not win so regardless if you can spare one dollar or five dollars Do it don't wait donate when you can and as much as you can if you can donate twenty five dollars again instead of five Individual five dollar payments do it but Do not be dissuaded by this article Don't think that you're doing something wrong by donating to Bernie Sanders because credit card Companies are gonna take a processing fee wherever you go whenever you swipe your debit card You're gonna be paying that processing fee regardless So again, I don't want to seem like I'm conspiratorial and suggest that Politico is trying to you know hurt Bernie Sanders in a direct way maybe this is harmless, but my Overall argument here and what I want you to take away from this is that we can't be dissuaded from donating to Bernie Sanders Because if we truly want change we have to support him by donating so donate if you can no matter What the amount is put that aside? There's no ethical consumption under capitalism wherever you buy food no matter what you do You are propping up these institutions and entities that hurt you that oppress you so you can't just be selective Especially in this area where we really really need these grassroots donations to help Bernie Sanders like without this his campaign dies So as far as I see, you know the way I see right now It's a necessary evil fuck whatever, you know argument They're making if you got five bucks donate that five bucks who cares about the processing fee right now We're gonna tax them later. This is a long-term investment that we are making in Bernie Sanders campaign So please whatever you do don't let this article turn you off grassroots donations small dollar donations That matters too, right? So if you can only spare three bucks or a dollar to a candidate or Bernie Sanders Donate that don't wait because you know, we have busy lives and More often than not rather than just waiting. We're gonna end up forgetting to donate that money or spend it So donate don't worry. Just do what you can to help Bernie Sanders He needs money. We need money to win and you know, you can't not donate because of this That's what I want to stress donate now