With the Donald J. Trump Foundation closing down, whatever will we tell the children? The hungry? The elderly? The poor?
We don’t need to tell them much; the pudgy charitable arm of the man who now serves as president of the United States did precious little to help any of them, and lots to serve the man on its letterhead.
In fact, one of the few children the fund helped was his own: In 1989, it cut a check for $7 to the Boy Scouts. That happened to be the year Don Trump Jr. turned 11; the amount happened to be the cost of a scouting membership.
Other outlays have included $264,231 to the Central Park Conservancy (funding the restoration of a fountain across from Trump’s Plaza Hotel); $158,000 to pay off a lawsuit at a Trump golf course; $20,000 for one portrait of Trump and $10,000 for another.
Plus thousands steered from the foundation during the 2016 presidential campaign — contravening federal laws blocking charities from engaging in political activities.
Under the law, and for damn good reason, tax-exempt philanthropies aren’t allowed to do the bidding of their founders. Which is why, in an agreement reached with New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, Trump’s foundation is folding, with a remaining $1.75 million to be distributed under supervision of a court, to legitimate nonprofits — and, hopefully, hefty fines from an ongoing lawsuit.
Let’s put it charitably: The Trump Foundation was the world’s leading nonprofit dedicated to stroking the ego of a bloviator from Queens. That’s got to count for something.
Editorial by the New York Daily News
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