This is incredibly gracious of Lessig, to defend someone who treated him poorly. I donated to both his ill-fated Mayday PAC and his ill-fated presidential campaign last year. He is a selfless guy who is trying to address the root cause of US political dysfunction. I wish him the best of luck in his future projects.
Donald Trump has spent far less money than any presidential candidate in recent history. I am hopeful that this election will finally illustrate to people like Larry Lessig that there are worse things in politics than money. Money is just a tool.
In America, there are two kinds of politicians who can get by without wealthy donors:
1. grassroots candidates who go viral, who can get big social media followings and lots of organic non-ad media
2. independently rich people, who can simply bankroll their own campaigns
Bernie Sanders is an example of #1. Ross Perot is an example of #2. Donald Trump is, to an extent, both #1 and #2!
Most politicians in the US, both in Congress and at the state level, are neither #1 nor #2. They depend on donors who typically write $1000+ checks, every single election cycle. As a result, they spend a shocking amount of their time talking to rich people.
It's called Call Time, and for the average congressperson, it's about four hours per day: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/14/the-m...
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When people like Lawrence Lessig or Bernie talk about "getting money out of politics", they are not referring to third-world style quid pro quo corruption. They are not talking about an envelope of cash passed under a restaurant table.
They are talking about something more subtle that's absolutely pervasive in modern US politics: career politicians whose continued employment depends on their ability to raise money, who every day meet and hear from the wealthiest crust of their constituency.
When you spend four hours every day on the phone with the kind of people who might write a $2700 max-allowable-donation check for some representative's re-election campaign, it affects your thinking. Donor issues are always top of mind. How you vote on that pipeline bill today is going to make it either a lot easier or a lot harder to talk to those twenty or thirty guys you have to call next week, asking for money.