This is what the Tea Party movement is all about: The leaders tap into (and stoke) anger and fear out there, get donations from those angry and fearful people…and then put most of the money in their own pockets. It's very much like what Max Bialystock did, including the part where a lot of elderly people get screwed.
This is, of course, how a lot of politics works in this country. One of my e-mail addresses has been getting a weekly message for something like fifteen years now. The sender recounts some new horrible, evil thing Hillary Clinton has done. If she's done anything in the preceding week, he exaggerates and spins it wildly into horror and evil. If she hasn't, he just makes something up. Then he says something like, "I have access to evidence that will destroy this person and put her in prison where she belongs and if you love your country and loathe this person like any good American does, you will send me money to help me develop my case against her."
And I guess people send him money…at least enough to make it worth his time to write and send out one of these messages every week.
If you are a decent, God-loving/fearing (take your pick) person and you care about America and don't want to see it destroyed and your children enslaved and your pets euthanized, you will help me stop this insidious, deceptive practice. You will send me large cash donations and I will use that money to save this country…and don't think for a minute this is the same kind of thing because I will spend every cent you send me. After I pay myself a fitting salary.