Donald Trump pledged on Wednesday to pour millions of his own dollars into his presidential bid, in defiance of the seemingly unstoppable momentum building behind Hillary Clinton.
With less than two weeks before polling day, and with early voting under way in some states, the Democratic nominee remains comfortably on course to become America’s first female president.
And Wednesday’s headlines were a telling tale of two buildings: Clinton revealed that she will hold her likely victory party under a vast glass ceiling while Trump unveiled an alternative Washington address – just in case the White House eludes him.
“We are going to have, I think, a tremendous victory,” Trump told CNN.
Pressed on whether he’ll open his own wallet to match an onslaught of Clinton ads, Trump said he will have spent $100mn of his own money by election day, a sum which would imply him digging much deeper than he has so far.
But first he set aside precious time on Wednesday for the grand opening of his new hotel in Washington, the Trump International.
Hundreds of journalists covered the grandiose re-opening of the former post office, a stone’s throw from the White House, but many mocked Trump for focusing on his business so close to polling.
“This election isn’t over before it’s actually over,” Clinton said. “And I was struck today that Donald Trump is actually paying more attention to his business than to the campaign.”
At a speech later, Trump insisted that he had wanted to cut the ribbon on his hotel with his children “who had worked very hard” and boasted the building was “under-budget and ahead of schedule”.