From The Intercept:

Donald Trump is Spending More on Hats and Other Merchandise Than on Campaign Staff

SOME GOP operatives and other political observers are starting to suspect that Donald Trump’s campaign is structured more as a publicity tour than a quest for the White House. Federal disclosures released this past weekend help make the case that the real estate mogul, at the very least, is not conducting a traditional campaign operation.

They show, among other things, that Trump’s organization spent more money in July on the now-iconic “Make America Great Again” red hats, Trump T-shirts, and mugs than on the staff whose job it is to run the campaign.

The Trump campaign paid more than $1.8 million to two vendors — California-based headwear-maker Cali-Fame and Louisiana’s Ace Specialties — for T-shirts, mugs, stickers, and the red hats (which the campaign spent over $400,000 on alone). Compare that to his spending on staff. In the month of July, Trump spent roughly $921,000 on staff and consultants, about half of what he spent on merchandise bearing his own name and slogans.

And, like any good businessman, he's using his own businesses to fulfill his political needs when possible:

...a significant amount of Trump’s campaign spending is going to his own businesses. One analysis of the latest financial disclosures found that the campaign has spent $7.7 million at Trump’s companies, around 9 percent of the campaign’s total spending. This includes money that went for Trump’s private jets, the Trump Tower, and the Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida.

You're read that since the campaign is paying the rent now that he's upped what he's paying for his offices in Trump Tower, yes?Hard to know if this story is just propaganda spun by correcting the record types to make Trump look like a buffoon or not:

From CNN

Campaign defends paying steep rent increase at Trump Tower

Federal Election Commission filings show that the Republican nominee's campaign paid $169,758 in rent last month for space at the Manhattan skyscraper -- a dramatic jump from March, when the campaign paid Trump Tower LLC only $35,458 in rent. The spike in rent, which was first reported by The Huffington Post, is a result of the campaign adding two more levels to its existing space, the campaign said Tuesday. "We calculated the rent based on the average rent per square foot in the area," the campaign said in a statement provided to CNN.

The campaign says that more staff is coming (currently 172 compared to Clinton's 700) and that Trump is donating $2mil per month to the campaign. He is, however, paying for more space - they didn't just increase what they are paying for no reason.

Hard to know if what's reported is true or distortion this season. There's no way I'd vote for the guy, but I still find this considerably less egregious than pay-to-play arms sales.