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A new super PAC aims to defeat Trump, small donation by small donation

Keep America Great, which opposes Donald Trump, is testing a unique proposition: Can a grass-roots-funded super PAC be a vehicle for amplifying activism aimed at defeating a candidate?

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Lynne Sladky/AP/File
Berta Sandes of Miami, an undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua, is among the nearly 90 percent of Hispanics who oppose Donald Trump. Here she is participating in a protest against him outside the Trump National Doral golf resort in Florida on March 14, 2016.

The 2016 presidential race is shaping up to be a 鈥渘one of the above鈥 election. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton 聽聽鈥撀爏etting up, in a way, the oddest general election in modern American history.聽

Many voters will be casting a ballot against one candidate more than for the other. Others will vote third party, or write in a candidate, or just stay home. But for many Americans, just making sure the brash and often unpresidential Mr. Trump does not reach the Oval Office is the overriding goal.

Republican 鈥渟top Trump鈥 efforts aimed at denying him the GOP nomination have largely聽run aground, having failed to find a credible alternative. And besides, overthrowing the candidate who won the primaries fair and square would infuriate Trump supporters, further splitting the party and guaranteeing a Republican defeat in November.

Enter the Democratic Coalition Against Trump and the super political action committee, Keep America Great, that oversees it. While other super PACs have formed to stop either Trump or Mrs. Clinton, underscoring the negative partisanship driving this election, this one is unique in its attempt to amplify grass-roots activism nationally with grass-roots money.

Keep America Great is hoping to tap into all the Bernie Sanders supporters who can鈥檛 bring themselves to volunteer for or donate to Clinton but still want to do their part to defeat Trump. Clinton supporters are also an important constituency. And it鈥檚 reaching out to anti-Trump Republicans and independents.

鈥淲e are unique,鈥 says Jon Cooper, chairman of both the Democratic Coalition Against Trump and the super PAC. Unlike most super PACs, which typically live on big checks from mega-donors, 鈥渢his is literally a grass-roots 鈥榮top Trump鈥 movement.鈥

Mr. Cooper predicts the vast majority of donations to聽Keep America Great (KAG) will come in online in increments of $10, $20, and $50, as with the Sanders campaign, which has raised more than $222 million on donations averaging just $27. In addition, he says, the group is organizing events with A-list celebrities in New York and Los Angeles. In all, KAG hopes to raise $20 million by Election Day.

鈥淥ur primary mission is to make sure that Donald Trump is not elected president. That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e attracted support not just from Democrats and progressives but from Republicans and conservatives and young and old,鈥 says Cooper, who served as finance chair for the Draft Biden movement last year and fundraised for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

The Democratic Coalition Against Trump (DCAT) plans to produce digital and TV ads, run rapid-response communications to counter Trump鈥檚 public statements, and get out the vote. DCAT also plans to set up chapters on 100 college campuses, aimed at tapping into the Millennial energy that fueled the Sanders movement. Last week, the coalition announced chairs for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

But there鈥檚 a big question hanging over the entire effort: It鈥檚 centered on a negative 鈥 opposition to one person, albeit a highly polarizing one who nevertheless has a shot at becoming the next president of the United States. The group is not proactively for anybody, though Cooper acknowledges that Clinton would be the obvious beneficiary.

And so KAG is testing a unique proposition in this new era of super PACs, the controversial groups that operate independently of parties and candidates and can raise unlimited sums: Grass-roots opposition to Trump is already .聽But can a super PAC be a vehicle for amplifying grass-roots activism aimed solely at defeating a candidate and other Republicans on the ballot who support him?聽

Other progressive groups face the same challenge. Two unions that endorsed Sanders 鈥 the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America 鈥 say they probably won鈥檛 endorse anyone in the general election, .

鈥淭he problem is that Clinton has been a free-trader her whole life, so we鈥檙e not going to endorse her,鈥 Peter Knowlton, president of the electrical-workers union, told the Post. 鈥淲e will be running an anybody-but-Trump campaign. We have many members in swing states, and our major goal is for Trump not to get elected 鈥 not to make a pitch for Hillary.鈥

Separately, in May, the AFL-CIO and three public-sector unions for their own 鈥渟top Trump鈥 super PAC, to be funded by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer.

While also an effort to harness grass-roots energy to stop Trump, this super PAC is backed by a mega-donor and plans to operate only in battleground states. The KAG-run Democratic Coalition aims to defeat candidates nationwide who support Trump, regardless of their state, Cooper says.

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