Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Trending
  • Reader Wire
  • Members
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / How Trump Views Charitable Giving

How Trump Views Charitable Giving

August 5, 2016 at 8:31 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Fahrenthold: “For one thing, he frequently attends charity galas and events, where attendance carries the implication (but not the requirement) that guests have made donations to the cause. I’ve even found galas where Trump was given a title like ‘honorary chairman’ — with the implication of an even bigger gift — but actually gave nothing. In fact, Trump made money on these galas, since they were held at his Florida clubs. Several of the charities said they were glad to have Trump as the honorary chairman anyway, since Trump’s name drew a crowd.”

“Separately, Trump seems to exploit the assumption that the money in the Donald J. Trump Foundation came originally from Donald J. Trump’s pocket. It doesn’t, and hasn’t for years. Instead, the foundation’s biggest recent gifts came from wrestling moguls Vince and Linda McMahon, who gave a total $5 million (and won’t comment about why). Since then, Trump has been effectively giving the McMahons’ money away, but — because his name is on the foundation — the recipients often give Trump the credit.”

FavoriteLoadingSave to Favorites
  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Threads
  • Facebook
  • Email

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump

« Trump Adviser Says ‘No Doubt’ Obama Is a Muslim
Another Strong Jobs Report »

Your Account

Sign in

Members Only

  • Democrats Are Still Searching
  • Democrats Still Don’t Get Working-Class Voters
  • Happy Birthday America!
  • Building a Better Political Wire
  • Halftime
Trial Balloon

Add Trial Balloon to your podcast player to get new episodes each week.

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2026 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC