On Tuesday evening, shortly after Jeb Bush stated that he wasn't sure "we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues" in the federal budget -- and then backed off -- Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains received a donation.
Designer Mike Monteiro, a popular Twitter user whose love of Internet trolling is (or should be) legendary, seized on the idea and encouraged followers to donate in the name of other Republican politicians. One gave in honor of Mike Huckabee, another in honor of Ted Cruz.
Curious about how many donations Planned Parenthood received in honor of 2016 candidates, we reached out to it. The organization's Liz Clark provided us with a breakdown. So, in the money-where-your-mouth-is Republican Trolling Primary, here are the leaders:
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is included on that list because she led the effort to strip federal funding from the organization.
That's not a lot of donations, mind you, and Clark notes that most of the donations were small -- all under $100. That's just to the national chapter, though. Other agencies, like that one in Colorado, likely received some as well.
Clark said that they'd also received donations in the name of David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress, Daleiden's organization which recorded and released the undercover videos that have resurfaced abortion in the political conversation.
Planned Parenthood reportedly saw a sharp increase in donations in the wake of the video releases. "I think it’s important to note that we’re seeing more people writing in with messages of support for Planned Parenthood and the work we do than taking jabs at politicians," Clark said.
From the standpoint of figuring out who's winning the trolling primary, of course, more jabs at politicians are very much welcome.