There were plenty of inaccuracies in Trump’s speech (we are not the most taxed nation in the world; Trump was not a brave, lonely voice against the Iraq war), as well as wild misdirection. For example, Trump said that Clinton had accepted fifty-eight thousand dollars in jewelry from the Sultan of Brunei; as with all such official gifts, however, she turned it over to the National Archives. (The Sultan’s wife gave Michelle Obama an even more expensive piece of jewelry, which she, too, handed over.)
.. At the same time, it is true that the Sultan of Brunei gave between a million and five million dollars to what was originally called the William J. Clinton Foundation, and was renamed, after Hillary Clinton resigned from the State Department, in 2013, the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. It is also accurate that Hillary Clinton earned twenty-one million dollars in speaking fees between the time that she left State and when she announced her candidacy for President.
.. One of Trump’s key moves in his speech was to erase all distinctions between the two Clintons and their Foundation.
.. Trump, though, seems to take it for granted that a charity bearing a person’s name is not much more than a self-aggrandizing, financially convenient vanity project.
.. Clinton’s supporters point out that many of the allegations related to her finances would be better described as politically motivated innuendo and insinuation, and that they come from a man facing a fraud trial who has refused to release even his tax returns.
.. Trump calls Clinton a “world-class liar” while slandering whole communities and exhibiting a very tenuous hold on the truth. This is a disorienting campaign, and one of its many dangers is that a disregard for reality can come to seem normal.
‘Blood money’ supporting Clinton, Trump says
“You know when she raises this money, every time she raises this money, she is making deals. Saying: ‘Can I be the ambassador to this? Can I do that? Make sure my business is being taken care of.’ I mean, gimme a break — all of the money she is raising is blood money,” he said, adding that Clinton has accepted “tremendous amounts” of money from Wall Street, a criticism that has dogged her throughout her candidacy.
Waiting for the new Trump
Changes are underway in the candidate’s operation, but can he change himself?
But many Republicans, both supporters and skeptics of Trump’s campaign, note that the consolidation of power by Manafort and the children does not guarantee any change in the candidate himself
.. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Kushner, whose influence has grown in recent months, had been trying to convince nervous more mainstream Republicans that Trump was just doing what he had to do to win the primary and that a pivot was imminent. “They told people he inherently understood the tone and temperament required of a general election and that the real Trump was sophisticated, charming, successful — a dealmaker who would be able to cut the deal,” one high-level GOP source said.
.. Scott Walker, the former candidate who has hinted he’d be open to receiving the nomination in such a circumstance, said Tuesday the delegates “should be able to vote the way they see fit.”
Donald Trump’s Habit of Lying About Charitable Donations Could Land Him in Legal Trouble
His bait-and-switch scheme of a real-estate school? A large part of its proceeds went to those in need. Same with his terrible vodka company, his branded board game, and his campaign book, Crippled America. Or so the GOP nominee has claimed. In truth, there is no evidence that a man who self-describes as “greedy, greedy, greedy” decided to run most of his business ventures like nonprofits. And that could put him in violation of New York State regulations on deceptive business practices and charitable solicitations, Politico reports.
.. The GOP nominee is extremely good at taking credit for things. So it seems safe to assume that if he’d funneled his book profits into cancer research grants or mosquito nets we would have heard about it by now.
.. Early in his candidacy, Trump boasted about giving $102 million to charity in just the last five years. But when the Washington Post examined the candidate’s 96-page list of contributions, they couldn’t find a single cash gift delivered from Trump’s own pocket.