Donald Trump's History of Pretending to Care About Veterans

By now I'm sure most of us have come across at least one item in the media pertaining to Trump's months long failure to donate the promised $1 million to veteran's charities pursuant to the pledge he made back in January when to "punish" Fox News and the RNC (and let's be honest, to avoid another less than lackluster debate performance), Trump skipped the GOP debate immediately preceding the Iowa caucuses in favor of a charity fundraiser for vets.

It bears mention that he wasn't the only one who had trouble coughing up the money when the spectacle was over. Trump himself announced at the end of the night that his publicity stunt had netted $6 million in donations, a claim that was later walked back apparently because some a couple of his wealthy friends who'd promised donations decided later to not right those checks (if you choose to believe Trump).

I'm not going to delve into that any further but if you're interested, Indigo5 put together a good post about it in his thread on the subject today. Instead, I'm going to dredge up a couple of other noteworthy incidents from the recent past.

Back in 2008, Trump announced a holiday program to support wounded veterans and their families. In this case, a percentage of the proceeds from his Trump Super Premium Vodka was to be donated to the Walter Reed Society. Here's a link to the press release published through BusinessWire, which contained the following quote from Trump, excerpted below:

Donald Trump said, “I am pleased that Drinks Americas is launching a holiday program for Trump Vodka that is geared to support such a noble cause for our American Heroes. Our wounded service men and women and their families deserve our support and gratitude. When consumers purchase Trump Vodka they should also know they are in a small way participating in supporting our wounded veterans and their families.”

With nobody really paying all that much attention, there wasn't any real interest in the time in finding out just how "small" this support would be. Decidedly not "yuuuuge" it was instead, rather "tiiiiiny" as it turns out — likely less than the cost of publishing the press release on BusinessWire. CNN contacted the charity's administrator and according to him it amounted to "a few hundred dollars."

The charity's administrator tells CNN the donations amounted to about "a few hundred dollars." "We were expecting more because the name Trump was attached to it, but it wasn't much," the administrator said.

I know what his defenders will say, Trump has no obligation to donate anything or participate in fundraisers for charities — and I agree — but then again, Trump's only real concern with charities and veterans in general sure as hell seems to be the extent to which he can use the appearance of charitable acts and honest concern to promote himself and his own interests.

That is sleazy and dishonest and using veterans/veterans charities in this way shows that not only is he unscrupulous but also, I believe, that he knows his target demographic and exactly which buttons to push to exploit them.

This OP is certainly long enough but there's one more example that I wanted to share, this one from his own home town. The article speaks for itself.

NY Daily News - EXCLUSIVE: Queens veterans ask Donald Trump for donation, receive bumper sticker one year later

Members of one Queens veterans organization said they reached out to the borough’s native son last year before he made a bid for the White House. But they didn’t receive a response until last week when Veterans-in-Command got a letter from Trump’s campaign.

“Unfortunately we are unable to make donations from the campaign,” read the handwritten note signed “Team Trump.” “Mr. Trump is very passionate about giving veterans the best life possible!” added the note, which arrived with Trump campaign bumper stickers.

a reply to: theantediluvian
Mr. Trump is a salesman. He sells himself and what he can do for you. Like a used car salesman. He inflates his own worthiness and over states the product he is selling. It is common practice in the sales game to find some moral position to attach to whatever is being sold in order to worm a way past peoples sales resistance.(Oh, that's a good cause) It's just another sales trick in order to sell the product.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Here's what the Trumpet really thinks about veterans:
Donald Trump Wanted Vets Kicked Off Fifth Avenue

The Trump who now extols veterans spent years clamoring for New York City’s politicians to take action and ban even those street vendors with special disabled veteran’s licenses from the environs of Trump Tower.

As was reported in the New York Daily News, Trump wrote in a letter to the New York State Assembly back in 1991, “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?”

He went on, “Do we allow Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?”

See veterans selling their wares on the street on 5th Avenue is unsightly and damaging to the street. Best to push those eyesores away so you don't have to be around them.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I know what his defenders will say, Trump has no obligation to donate anything or participate in fundraisers for charities — and I agree — but then again, Trump's only real concern with charities and veterans in general sure as hell seems to be the extent to which he can use the appearance of charitable acts and honest concern to promote himself and his own interests.

That is sleazy and dishonest and using veterans/veterans charities in this way shows that not only is he unscrupulous but also, I believe, that he knows his target demographic and exactly which buttons to push to exploit them.

I don't know which is more sleazy and dishonest, Trump claiming to be a devoted supporter of veteran's causes, or your presumption that it's all done for his self-promotion and his self-interests. Of course, your presumption doesn't show anything regarding the exploitation of his chosen demographic, nor the extent to which he uses the appearance of charitable acts to promote himself, but we can pretend it does for the sake of argument.

Assuming he doesn't care about veteran's affairs, and it is all an act, and he's doing so to "exploit" people, what other presumptions can we derive from this presumption? I think it would be easier to give to charity and be charitable than to pretend one does.

Related, that if you were captured, or a POW or anything like that, he doesn't like you. He likes people that weren't captured. Whatever that means. He's a sleaze.

a reply to: TheTory

Haters gonna hate.

How much has Hillary donated to veterans? Bernie?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'm just wondering for comparison sake.

originally posted by: Bennyzilla
How much has Hillary donated to veterans? Bernie?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'm just wondering for comparison sake.

A lot of Veterans love Bernie. He's spent a lot of time working to get them better benefits, especially when it comes to the VA. Hillary, I don't know one veteran that likes her.

originally posted by: Bennyzilla
How much has Hillary donated to veterans? Bernie?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'm just wondering for comparison sake.

Did either of them make a big public stink about donating to veterans? If not then you are comparing apples to oranges. Why should a politician who never promised to send money to a group of people be accountable to send money that group just because some other bag of hot air promised to do so?

a reply to: Bennyzilla

Who knows but since this is a thread about Trump it doesn't matter anyway.

Your boy is a scumbag businessman.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

So nothing then?

I agree no-one should have to donate, but mostly I just wanted to know if the others HAD.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

nvm

a reply to: mOjOm

Your boy is a scumbag businessman.

On the other hand, he is a great guy according to people who know him and have spent time with him. Who's personal assessment should I believe, yours or theirs?

originally posted by: Bennyzilla
a reply to: Krazysh0t

So nothing then?

I agree no-one should have to donate, but mostly I just wanted to know if the others HAD.

Of anyone running in the primaries, even at the beginning when we had 20 or so candidates, no one had a better record of fighting for veterans than Sanders. He's even got accolades from John McCain and many other Republicans.

originally posted by: TheTory
a reply to: mOjOm

Your boy is a scumbag businessman.

On the other hand, he is a great guy according to people who know him and have spent time with him. Who's personal assessment should I believe, yours or theirs?

Not true, I've been reading a lot of business books and articles by people that knew him in the 80s and 90s and overwhelmingly they all basically describe him as being a jerk. The last one I read was by Barbara Corcharan from Shark Tank. I'd believe the business assessments of dozens of prominent business people over Trump and his propaganda machine. He's not a nice guy, he's vindictive, petty and arrogant.

originally posted by: amazing
Related, that if you were captured, or a POW or anything like that, he doesn't like you. He likes people that weren't captured. Whatever that means. He's a sleaze.

He only utilized that phrase to spite McCain, and I agree with him. If I was in a war I would never let an enemy capture me, I would fight that enemy to the death live or die, not hold my hands up and say "Take me to your prison"", but this doesn't mean Trump doesn't like POW's necessarily, or that he despises them. That was just a retort he made to piss off McCain, and McCain deserves it.
I also do not mean that people who have been captured lack honor in any way, it just isn't something I would do.

This entire thread is made from scrapes of fabricated and distorted, out of context junk custom tailored for those that hate Trump, and that's all it really is. If this much energy had been used against the real traitors of this country currently in the White Kremlin in DC, then maybe the country would be doing better, but no, lets just transfer it all onto someone new.

a reply to: TheTory

Yeah I asked about the other two candidates to make a point. At the end of the day I'm going to believe or go with the guy who actually does something over the people who try to spin a good deed into a bad one while doing nothing themselves (amazing did point out Bernie has done a lot of work for veterans so I'm recognizing that here.)

1 million or 6 million it's still greater than 0, and I'm sure those that recieve benefits from the donation will appreciate it all the same.

Is it scummy to oversell? Yeah, but all businessmen do it with almost everything they're trying to sell.

Personally this changes nothing for me when it comes time to vote. I get the feeling many others feel the same way.

originally posted by: amazing

originally posted by: Bennyzilla
How much has Hillary donated to veterans? Bernie?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'm just wondering for comparison sake.

A lot of Veterans love Bernie. He's spent a lot of time working to get them better benefits, especially when it comes to the VA. Hillary, I don't know one veteran that likes her.

here's what Hillary has done for vets...
correctrecord.org...

I guess (according to you) that there isn't ONE VETERAN that likes her for doing this.....

a reply to: amazing

Not true, I've been reading a lot of business books and articles by people that knew him in the 80s and 90s and overwhelmingly they all basically describe him as being a jerk. The last one I read was by Barbara Corcharan from Shark Tank. I'd believe the business assessments of dozens of prominent business people over Trump and his propaganda machine. He's not a nice guy, he's vindictive, petty and arrogant.

What did she say about him?

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

Pretty easy to say from your keyboard...

It was a pretty low blow comment regardless of what you think of McCain imo.