Posted on 07/16/2015 3:38:22 AM PDT by RC one
The eccentricities and controversies of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign have polarized the Republican Party faithful, just a few weeks after Trump announced his bid.
In a July 2, 2015, appearance on CNN, radio host and author Ben Ferguson joined conservatives critical of Trump, alleging a lack of seriousness and loyalty to the GOP. "Donald Trump is not some big GOP Republican," he said, "and some people are trying to act like he is."
But Ferguson took his admonishment a step further, questioning Trump’s financial commitment to the party and claiming that Trump has "given more money to Democratic candidates than Republican candidates." Trump’s dalliances with different political parties are well known, but we wanted to add up the donation totals to see what they said.
The radio host, when reached for comment, offered a mostly anecdotal defense of his claim, citing big contributions from Trump to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Ferguson also pointed to contributions from Trump to Hillary Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Trump’s loyalties have not been exclusive to Republicans, Ferguson noted. In 2000, he launched a short-lived bid for the Reform Party’s presidential nomination, receiving more than 15,000 votes in the party’s California primary -- a tally that would have won him the state had he not already withdrawn from the race. Ferguson also directed us to his complicated history with party registration.
What the numbers show
We went to two authoritative databases of campaign finance data to examine Ferguson’s numbers: OpenSecrets.org, to find federal donations, and FollowtheMoney.org, for state-level donations.
Trump has actually been relatively evenhanded in doling out cash to the two parties, but since 1989, he’s contributed over $350,000 more to Republicans running for federal and state offices, campaign finance records show
Data from the Federal Election Commission and state elections offices provided by the two websites show that Trump has given $584,850 to Democrats and $961,140 to the GOP over the last 26 years.
The difference in donations is almost entirely captured in Trump’s recent giving. Since 2012, Trump has donated $463,450 to Republicans and just $3,500 to Democrats (California Attorney General Kamala Harris and New York Assemblyman Michael Benedetto).
We’ve included those numbers below, with links to records of the individual contributions.
In short, Ferguson’s claim might have been true had he uttered it just a few years ago. In 2011, a Washington Post analysis of Trump’s donations found the majority of them going to Democrats. But the flow of cash from Trump to Democrats has fallen off; the last time he gave to a Democrat running for federal office was in 2010.
We can’t drill down into local and city politics because there is no single campaign finance database. But we should note that Trump donated $50,000 to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2010, as well as over $25,000 more to other Cook County Democrats, among other donations that he’s made on the local level. (Trump has made his presence known in the Windy City.)
At the same time, however, the real estate mogul’s gifts to Republican candidates and organizations increased dramatically. Since 2010, Trump has donated $124,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and given another $50,000 to American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC.
A mix of politics and business
It’s important to note that just as Trump’s political ambitions and private business interests often seem to overlap, it’s sometimes difficult to parse out the exact motivations behind many of his political contributions over the years.
As an influential real estate developer in the Northeast and in cities around the world, Trump’s contributions may have not have much to do with one’s political party.
From 1996 to 2007, for instance, Trump made 12 separate donations to New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican who represents the Garden State’s Second Congressional District. The district includes Atlantic City, where the Trump Organization used to have significant holdings.
While conservatives like Ferguson have criticized Trump for his donations to Democrats, Trump defended himself as having no viable Republican options in overwhelmingly blue states like New York. "Everyone’s Democratic," he told Sean Hannity in 2011. "So what am I going to do — contribute to Republicans? One thing: I’m not stupid. Am I going to contribute to Republicans for my whole life when they get heat when they run against some Democrat and the most they can get is 1 percent of the vote?"
Our rating
Ferguson said that Trump has "given more money to Democratic candidates than Republican candidates."
We can’t say definitively that his claim is wrong at all levels of government, since we don’t have the local data. But public records show that the real estate tycoon has actually contributed around $350,000 more to Republicans at the state and federal level than Democrats. That, however, is a recent development.
Ferguson’s statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts. We rate it Mostly False.
When he speaks of lobbyists having a say so to the people they contribute to, he was probably speaking from first hand experience in bending politicians to his will in getting out of his way in his various business projects.
No surprise that a businessman big enough to attract the attention of regulators donates to local pols to get them off his back.
?Politifact? Note bene that liberals always want a handle on how the truth is spun. Nobody seriously believes Trump to be a conservative. He’s at best a RINO, yet he’s saying things that a large swath of the public wants to hear or at least wants to believe is being noticed by a politician or elected official. There’s a void he’s meant to fill and he’s filling it.
Trump has actually been relatively evenhanded in doling out cash to the two parties, but since 1989, he’s contributed over $350,000 more to Republicans running for federal and state offices, campaign finance records show
From the same article in the "Our Rating" section:
We can’t say definitively that his claim is wrong at all levels of government, since we don’t have the local data. But public records show that the real estate tycoon has actually contributed around $350,000 more to Republicans at the state and federal level than Democrats. That, however, is a recent development.
THIS is why I never take much stock in anything "Politifact". You can google their liberal Tampa origins and their involvement with AJC for background. What they do is to intersperse a little data/truth in the mix and then make sweeping judgments in their bottom line - that which gets in the headlines or becomes the bottom line.
If you want to build up a 10 BILLION DOLLAR empire, you sure as heck are going to be playing BOTH SIDES.
Maybe the left can come up with another reason to dislike him - but I have no problem with him doing what it takes to legally make money in this country, nor do most Republicans, based on the latest polling.
Donald T. Is to conservatives what Lucy is to Charlie Brown in place kicking footballs. If the man has changed, it’ll take more than a couple years of proof.
That's the nature of the game and NOTHING to do with political leanings.
Regardless, he’s in the game and holding the ball. Blood in. blood out I say.
Businessmen buy access to politicians of both parties wherever they do business. Is it really a surprise that a real estate developer from NY who invests in lots of blue states donated more to Democrats?
Since then this "Democrat" has best I can tell almost exclusively supported Republicans. This person had done a 180 degree turn. They were the last person I ever expected to do what they did but 4 years ago they changed parties.
My friend is the smartest person I have ever met. An absolute and gifted genius.
In the last few years I would expect that a lot of people have changed their mind about the insanity going on in this country. Especially the fiscal insanity. The country has gone nuts in other ways as far as morals and the foundation of this country has been spit on by people that are insane. A case in point was the room that was mostly full of people that gushed over a drag queen at the ESPY awards last night.
It is starting to look like Trump just like my friend got to the point they could not longer support a group (democrats and leftists) who reject God and strangely at the same time rejects science. A group that has turned reality on its head where men are women and chopping the unborn up and selling the parts is worthy of discussion over a nice salad and glass of wine. Pfffffft!!
Sad but true a business has to "buy" their way through politics to get things done.
he’s connecting cause he answers questions. he fights back when people go after him and he shows that he wants America to be great again, acknowledging what most have long known, that other countries take advantage of us and we negotiate fromm positions of weakness on important things. my favorite line from him is when asked about El Chapo he said, You can’t be afraid. This is too important!. I’d vote Trump over ANY Dem candidate, but I prefer Cruz to be the nominee as a Conservative.
Politifact is a left-leaning organization.
Donald Gump
It’s all talk and even Cruz hasn’t accomplished anything except the Shut Down (which I like). We don’t have a real candidate who’s going to please. It’s going to be compromises all the time. That’s the nature of our government and our goal is to move the ball to our side on every compromise.
Yeah.. my question as well.. more important, what the hell is Trump really up to?
“That’s the nature of the game and NOTHING to do with political leanings.”
I see. How about his friendship with the Clintons, his statement in 2004 that he considered himself a democrat, and his repeated support for the Kelo decision.. do those also have nothing to do with his political leanings?
That’s the nature of our government and our goal is to move the ball to our side on every compromise.
We’re not represented in DC now. Corportists and marxists are. So there’s no “our side” to move the ball to.
What’s he up to? I suspect he is just seeing where this all leads, LOL. He probably doesn’t know much more than we do. Gotta admit, his default to failure is not too bad so he could just coast quite a while. I, for one, am going to enjoy watching the establishment heads exploding like fireworks. Need more popcorn.
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