How Donald Trump retooled his charity to spend other people's money, from theWashington Post's David Fahrenthold (on WADR today)
"Donald Trump was in a tuxedo, standing next to his award: a statue of a palm tree, as tall as a toddler. It was 2010, and Trump was being honored by a charity — the Palm Beach Police Foundation — for his "selfless support" of its cause. His support did not include any of his own money. Instead, Trump had found a way to give away somebody else's money and claim the credit for himself. Trump had earlier gone to a charity in New Jersey — the Charles Evans Foundation, named for a deceased businessman — and asked for a donation. Trump said he was raising money for the Palm Beach Police Foundation."
One of the pressing questions of the 2016 campaign is: Why are so many Americans supporting Donald Trump? Broadly speaking, there are two competing theories, one cultural and the other economic. According to the first theory, the most powerful force motivating Trump supporters is resentment at the liberal, multicultural society that they see developing around them, a resentment largely rooted in racism. The economic theory, meanwhile, argues that what has turned Trumpism into a mass movement isn’t racism so much as the failure of the American economy to deliver rising living standards for much of the population—particularly the working-class and middle-class white households that prospered during the postwar decades.
On Monday, Republican candidate Donald Trump said he considered Clinton’s health a “campaign issue”, and said he would release the results of his own physical exam this week. Running for president is tiring and hazardous and Clinton’s problems with the the press are mounting: Richard Wolffe says Clinton’s “deplorables” gaffe, coupled with her health problems, has thrown her campaign into disarray. Jill Abramson calls for “radical transparancy” to counter Trump.
Pittsburgh near boiling point over water quality
The Pennsylvania city’s water agency is fielding mounting complaints about the quality of its drinking water, while it trades accusations with the French corporation that until recently ran the system. All the while, prices rise and people worry about effects on their health. One grandmother told the Guardian she buys bottled water when she can but other times boils the water, which can concentrate lead. “It looks like dookie water,” said Stephanie Layne, a resident of Success Street. “Shitty water.”
Patriots and Chief raise fists around anthem
Protest against racial injustice spread across the NFL on the first weekend of the regular season, as players from the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs deployed a range of solidarity signals. Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters, who raised his fist as the national anthem played before his team’s opener against the San Diego Chargers, expressed solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has been sitting out the Star-Spangled Banner as a protest over racial oppression. “I’m 100% behind him. What’s going on in law enforcement, it does need to change and it does need to change for everybody, not just us as black Americans,” Peters said.
WASHINGTON POST
House Democrats ask for
Justice investigation as New
York AG looks into Trump
Foundation
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding a $25,000 donation the Donald J. Trump Foundation made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a time when her office was considering whether to open a fraud investigation of Trump University.
The letter, signed by all the committee’s Democrats, alleges that the donation in 2013 “may have influenced Mrs. Bondi’s official decision not to participate in litigation against Mr. Trump,” and asks Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to explore whether federal bribery or other laws might have been violated.
Separately, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on CNN Tuesday that his office was “concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety” and had “been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it’s complying with the laws that govern charities in New York.”
WASHINGTON POST
House Democrats ask for
Justice investigation as New
York AG looks into Trump
Foundation
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding a $25,000 donation the Donald J. Trump Foundation made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a time when her office was considering whether to open a fraud investigation of Trump University.
The letter, signed by all the committee’s Democrats, alleges that the donation in 2013 “may have influenced Mrs. Bondi’s official decision not to participate in litigation against Mr. Trump,” and asks Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to explore whether federal bribery or other laws might have been violated.
Separately, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on CNN Tuesday that his office was “concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety” and had “been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it’s complying with the laws that govern charities in New York.”