The Trump Family’s ‘Faux Charity’

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/opinion/letters/trump-charity.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Trump’s Misuse of Charity Costs Him $2 Million” (front page, Nov. 8):

The $2 million settlement of the Trump family’s abuse of the laws regarding charities and making Eric, Ivanka and Donald Jr. attend classes is not “a major victory,” despite what New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, proclaims.

Victory would be a settlement that actually punishes these people. Donald Trump can easily afford to pay the $2 million, and his children will not break a sweat attending their classes. These punishments are a slap on the wrist for the Trumps’ malfeasance, not real justice.

John RossiErie, Pa.

To the Editor:

Re “No Charitable Thought for Donald Trump” (editorial, Nov. 10):

Your editorial taking President Trump to task for his faux charity repeated his lie that he gave away $19 million, implying that it was his own money and that it represented generosity on his part.

Thanks to a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by David Farenthold of The Washington Post, we know that Mr. Trump personally gave $5.5 million to the charity since he established it in 1998. That’s about $262,000 a year.

Mr. Trump listed his net worth as $10 billion on federal election forms. If this is accurate, his annual giving to his charity amounts to roughly 1/20 of 1 percent of his net worth. To put this in perspective, this is like a family with a net worth of $97,300, the American median, giving away about $53.

Your editorial should have included these facts and their context. His charitable giving to his foundation is paltry compared with his claimed net worth. He used charity money for portraits of himself and other non-charitable expenses.

It’s vital that Americans have complete information as we go into the 2020 election season. Fairness in coverage demands no less.

Martha BrockenbroughSeattleThe writer is the author of “Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump.”

To the Editor:

I am a lifelong New Yorker who has spent substantial time in South Florida, President Trump’s new permanent residence. My wife and I, having battled serious medical issues and regularly enjoyed cultural events and the arts in both locations, have consistently searched for the Trump name on the patron and benefactor walls of many, many hospitals, medical facilities, museums, arts centers, performance venues, theaters and nonprofits that depend for their existence on the charity of the populace.

If that name appears anywhere, it has eluded us for decades. The Trump Pavilion at Jamaica Hospital in Queens is named for and was financed by President Trump’s mother. It seems that her philanthropic feelings did not rub off on her self-proclaimed billionaire son.

So while I realize that the president’s tax returns will contain much more important information, I am only interested in a single line on the return, Charitable Contributions.

Howard SchainNew York

To the Editor:

“Welcome, class, to Charity 101. No need to take your seats, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric. All you need to know is this: Collect money, disburse that money to the intended recipients, and, unlike your father, don’t steal it. Class dismissed.”

John DeleryRidgefield, N.J.