WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said yesterday he is prepared to spend some of his own fortune on his re-election campaign after his team’s once vaunted fund-raising machine showed signs of trouble.

“If I have to, I will,” Trump told reporters when asked about spending his own cash. “Whatever it takes. We have to win.”

Trump has effectively been campaigning for a second term throughout his Administration, filing the paperwork for a run the same day as his 2017 inauguration.

Since the start of 2019, his campaign has spent some US$800 million, more than twice as much as that of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

But despite that head start and the campaign’s boastful descriptions of itself as a “juggernaut”, the Trump train is reportedly hitting a financial wall.

Biden, who began his quest for the White House with a slow, poorly funded effort, surprised many by overtaking Trump in the fund-raising stakes this August with a US$365-million haul — shattering previous monthly records.

And for all of Trump’s earlier heavy spending, Biden retains a consistent lead in the polls.

With only eight weeks to go until election day, Trump will find the bills piling up as he accelerates travel, voter outreach and — above all — expensive television ad efforts.

A New York Times article published Monday honed in on profligate spending under then Campaign Manager Brad Parscale, particularly two ads aired during the Super Bowl with a reported price tag of US$11 million.

Parscale’s own spending habits, including having his own chauffeur, were emblematic of the operation, according to the report.

His replacement Bill Stepien, who was given the job in July, has made cutting costs a priority.

On Twitter, Trump said any financial woes were the fault of the media, because he’d been “forced to spend in order to counter the Fake News”.

“We did, and are doing, a GREAT job, and have a lot of money left over,” the real estate entrepreneur said.