Teachable Moment by Leigh Scott
I see a lot of people saying “Sure, Trump SAID he was giving a million dollars, but I’ll believe that when I see it. He’s notorious for saying he’s going to pay for things and then not doing it.”
This is a great example of
how dangerous the media is. They post conjecture and misinformation as fact. They push these stories harder than the corrections or news that happens later. So, people are left with part of the story or a fake impression of what really happened.
I can point to three examples where people would be led to think that Trump either doesn’t pay for things like charities that he promises or uses other people’s money to pay for his obligations. None of them turned out to be true, but were widely reported as fact. It takes EFFORT to seek out the truth, and many simply can’t be bothered.
After all, they have Facebook posts to make!
1) Trump said he was putting his own money into the campaign and didn’t. During the campaign Trump pledged to put up his own cash. “Up to 100 million if we need it” he famously said. At the end of the day, he ended up contributing a little more than $50 million. This money was structured as a loan for FEC purposes (he legally can’t just donate that much personally). So, the story goes, Trump promised 100, only put in 50 and it’s just a loan so he will get it back.
In fact, he eventually forgave the loan. It was never paid back. Nobody explained to the readers how the election finance laws worked and why he had to do it that way. And the 100 million was never a full promise, just a promise that he would go that high. Bottom line is that Trump put in $50 million of his own money.
2) Trump never gave the veterans money. Trump had pledged to raise money for the vets. A group of Trump haters in the media started floating stories that “none of the money raised went to the vets”. They left off the “yet”. They gave no frame of reference to the way that charities disperse money or the time it takes. Just that “Trump raised money, we called veterans groups and they haven’t gotten any”.
In fact, Trump held a lively press conference with a group of vets to explain that yes, all of the money was going to vet groups, He outlined them and also explained that he kicked in $1 million of his own money. Again, if you just watched the first half of the story, framed negatively, you might think that he raised money for vets and never gave it to them.
3) Trump used other people’s money to pay off his fines. This one is funny because they had to burry the reason WHY he was fined (he wanted to fly a giant American flag).
In fact, Trump negotiated a deal where INSTEAD of fines, he could have his charity donate to specific groups that the city agreed to. It was never “shady” and it was all above board and understood by the parties involved. The media simply LIED to you and pretended it was the equivalent of Trump getting a parking ticket, and then using money from a charity instead of his own to pay off the fine. Not the case at all.
So, no, we don’t have a “history” of Trump “lying” about donations etc. There is NO reason to doubt him on his pledge of $1 million for Texas. None. Zero. Zip.
Apology line forms to the right, haters.
Follow Leigh Scott on Facebook and Twitter @realleighscott
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