Donald Trump claims he’s given upwards of $100 million to charitable causes over the last five years, but a new Washington Post report reveals that “[n]ot a single one of those [claimed] donations was actually a personal gift of Trump’s own money.” Trump’s “donated” free rounds of golf at “charity auctions and raffles” and made donations through the Donald J. Trump Foundation — but even the foundation that bears his name “didn’t receive a personal check from Trump from 2009 through 2014,” according to the Post.
Trump isn’t the only Republican presidential candidate with a less-than-impressive track record of charitable giving. BuzzFeed News in January reported that from 2006 to 2010, “Cruz contributed less than 1% of his income to charity” — which is far from breathtaking, though it is technically more than Trump’s 0% giving-rate.
The Republican Party complains about “the makers and takers” and claims Democrats win voters’ support with promises of “free stuff.” They’re the “don’t expect us to help you, pull yourself up by your bootstraps” crew. But you’d still expect more than next-to-nothing in charitable giving from two individuals as well-off as Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. This is just embarrassing.
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Published: Apr 11, 2016