GOP SuperPACs didn’t give Trump money, but they did help create his juggernaut campaign.

Since the introduction of SuperPACs as a campaign tool in 2010 following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, there has been increasing concern over the role of outside money in US political contests. Melissa Smith writes that past narratives about money’s influence have been turned on their head in the current election season, with the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald Trump, receiving less than $900,000 from SuperPACs compared to the tens of millions raised by his now vanquished GOP rivals. She argues that if there had been fewer than 17 Republican candidates in the 2016 race, and SuperPACs had cut their losses earlier on losing candidates, then Trump might well not have become the GOP’s nominee.