Donald Trump is reportedly not the generous billionaire he claims he is
When it comes to donating to charity, it is beginning to appear that Donald Trump is all bark and no bite. Recently, Politico reported that Trump could be charged for breaking fraud laws because he claimed products and services like Trump University, Trump Vodka, and his books donated proceeds to charity — even though they didn't really. In April, Vanity Fair skewered Trump for bragging about his generosity, which ended up merely being donations of things like spa gift cards and free rounds of golf.
The investigation continued on Wednesday when Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold decided to get to the bottom of where Trump's alleged personal donations to charity were going. What he learned was...not so great:
By Red State's estimate, this means that over the course of seven years, Donald "I'm worth $10 billion" Trump donated less to charity than the average middle class family.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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