GREENSBORO, N.C. — Former President Trump won the New Hampshire primary. His website makes sure you know it with a flashing banner on the side and then a donation banner pops up right in the middle of the page. If you click the link it takes you to a string of tabs where you can donate.
The amounts at the top are creative. There's one for $20.24 and another for $47 because if elected again he would be the 45th and the 47th President.
Campaign fundraising is how the system works and texts aren't so unusual. But about this text? It reads:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I WANT TO MEET YOU! Contribute in the next HOUR for a GIFTED trip to Mar-a-Lago.
And then it has a link.
Is Trump going to fly you to Mar-a-Lago? Probably not. Is this real? Is it a scam? Here's what 2 Wants To Know found the phone number traces back to an insurance agency, but someone could have spoofed the number. And the link, well, our work computers wouldn't go to the page due to the firewalls we have to keep our systems safe, so you be the judge.
The main takeaway here from 2 Wants to Know is if you want to donate to a campaign or a charity, go to the source to do it. This way you know your money is going where you want it to go.
Are political campaign texts legal?
The short answer is, yes, they are and they are exempt from the Do Not Call list requirements. The Federal Communications Commission has all kinds of rules for these kinds of calls and texts.