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Back in January, instead of attending a debate, Donald Trump held a fundraiser for veterans’ charities. Supposedly, it raised about $6 dollars, with Trump having donated $1 million himself, though until very recently, most of that money had yet to be given to any charities.
Trump’s campaign manager claimed that the money the Republican candidate donated had already been withdrawn and distributed, and that the process would be complete by Memorial Day, but Trump himself has said that he doesn’t know how his campaign manager would know that. Instead, he finally did donate $1 million on May 23rd, to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which helps children of fallen marines and law enforcement officers.
According to Trump, it took so long because “you have a lot of vetting to do” when you donate. That’s actually good advice, and something that donors and nonprofit groups know well, except it doesn’t mesh with the fact that the Donald J. Trump Foundation already donated over $230,000 to that group. So did the Foundation not do a good enough job of vetting them, or is that just an excuse Trump made to avoid admitting that he never planned on actually donating any money in the first place?
The whole issue seems like just another example of Trump grasping for publicity. It’s become clear in the last few months that he is not a generous man, and that most of the “donations” he has made over the years weren’t really donations in the first place, but instead free golf games and the like.
It’s good that a charity finally did get the money Trump pledged, four months later, but some of that money is still unaccounted for, which is pretty amazing considering just how long four months is, and that he already has a foundation, named after him, which could have handled the actual donations in a few days or so.