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Trump Donates First 3 Months Salary to National Park Service
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg accept Trump’s donation check from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
During the campaign, candidate Trump promised, “If I’m elected president, I’m accepting no salary.” Today, President Trump began to fulfill that commitment. He has donated his first three months of salary to the National Park Service.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced the move at his Monday briefing, presenting a check for $78,333.32 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. “The President has spoken with counsel and made the decision to donate his first-quarter salary to a government entity,” Spicer said.
Zinke noted that the donation will be directed to maintaining historic battlefield sites.
A question for the Ricochetti: Where should Trump direct next quarter’s donation?
Published in Economics, Environment, General
$78,333.32 must be wrong. Surely our president is paid more than that for three months.
$400k/year. January is a short month because inauguration day was the 20th.
National Parks: specifically to upgrade the water pipe at the Grand Canyon.
Hmm, now what is this about?
Why involve counsel, concerns about conflict of interest?
You know how this will be spun: Trump avoids taxes through charity loophole abuse. Grows budget deficit.
Seawriter
He should return it to the [expletive] treasury. He’ll be long out of office, and I’ll still be paying the interest on the money we borrowed for his “donation.”
Fred, you know as well as I do that you are supposed to eat the red meat that is being tossed to you.
Put it into ethics training classes for the intelligence community.
It is a donation, as the money was earned as wages.
I think he is wise to donate the money to historical preservation efforts. That seems fitting for his current role as chief executive and CinC.
Or for his own White House staff.
Can I call the spin, or what?
Seawriter
Pardon?
(Edited) Yes.
Read Seawriter predicting a response from Trump’s opponents in comment #5, then read your comment #6.
There will be multi-spins. One will be substance-less showboating. “Whoop-de-doo, a paltry $78k. Cheap grandstanding that is meant to enthrall his trailer park base.”
See, you get a healthy dose of cynicism AND elitism out of one jab. Efficient.
Oh.
I didn’t include the tax avoidance angle. So, sorry, @seawriter, I’m not giving you a point for that one.
I don’t care if he avoids taxes. I care that he refuses to release his tax return and that nobody holds him to account for it.
That’s okay, Fred, I understand perfectly.
Seawriter
Come on, Fred. Which “ethical lapses” in particular are you objecting to in the current administration? Failure to disclose taxes? There’s no law mandating that. Jabbering? There’s no law against that either.
The ethical lapses of the Obama administration border on the criminal. Some of them may have crossed that border.
I’m referring to how the Trump transition team cancelled ethics training for the White House staff.
Maybe if they had, you know, done the training, they could’ve avoided the ethical lapses they’ve had so far.
As this is the training that the Obama staff got, I say we can take it as given that the training is ineffective.
Spell them out. Which lapses?
That’s about the cost of equipping four soldiers. He should have a photo op with the G.I.s.
I think they had something to do with the missing strawberries.
Seawriter
I think Trump should donate his next check to the Jon Gabriel Maserati Fund.
Might as well go for a Bugatti Veyron. Live a little.
I am quite certain that the National Park Service is funded by the treasury. Since money is fungible, this is a donation to the treasury.
I’m going to side with Jon, sort of. Donate it to Ricochet. This place could use some new curtains. And don’t get me started on the break room. UGH.
The reality is that after eight years of out-of-control spending, I can’t think of a single Federal Department that could possibly need any more money. How about, find the V.A. hospital in the worst shape, and give it a makeover.
The next check should go to a veterans’ charity or combination of veterans’ charities. The one after that to a pro-life pregnancy center. The one after that to struggling private religious schools. All such recipients should be carefully vetted to inspire maximum leftist outrage.
@hartmannvonaue Donations to Christian bakers would surely inspire some outrage from the left.
Classy!