Donald Trump just can’t seem to shut the hell up can he?
I remember just the other day he complained about something that was super-duper important… what was it… oh right! He took the time at a prayer breakfast to whine about Arnold Schwarzenegger and the apprentice ratings.
Well that was then and this is now… water under the bridge!
lol
The whining continues!
As I have mentioned previously (here and here), Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a lot for America… and he embodies the American spirit to a far greater extent than Trump ever has.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is an immigrant, a public servant, a hard worker, a man who tries to do the right thing. And while he has failed at times, as we all have, that just highlights another aspect of American society that you should be proud of… forgiveness.
Did you know that Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he became the Governor of California, released his taxes to the public.
The governor’s re-election campaign released his federal and state returns for 2002-04. It was the first time his forms have been released publicly since the recall election in 2003, when he released returns for 2000 and 2001.¹
Donald Trump still hasn’t released his taxes.
Arnold Schwarzenegger also put his assets into a blind trust.
With his movie career on hold and his assets in a blind trust, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger…¹
Donald Trump still hasn’t put his assets into a blind trust nor does it appear he ever will.
Arnold Schwarzenegger paid his taxes… bigly.
He paid a total of $11 million in federal taxes and $4 million in state taxes over that three-year period. Meanwhile, the forms show he gave $2.5 million to charity, including his church and his children’s schools, his after-school programs, St. John’s Hospital and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for building its new cathedral.¹
And even… verifiably… donated to charity.
Donald Trump on the other hand might not have paid taxes for over a decade.
Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.²
Oh… and the kicker…
A months-long investigation by The Washington Post has not been able to verify many of Trump’s boasts about his philanthropy.
Instead, throughout his life in the spotlight, whether as a businessman, television star or presidential candidate, The Post found that Trump had sought credit for charity he had not given — or had claimed other people’s giving as his own.
It is impossible to know for certain what Trump has given to charity, because he has declined to release his tax returns. In all, The Post was able to identify $7.8 million in charitable giving from Trump’s own pocket since the early 1980s.³
Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have donated much of any of his supposed wealth to charity.
To put that in perspective, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave more to charity in two years than Trump gave on average (in WaPo verified donations) over 10 years.
I can’t help but think that Arnold Schwarzenegger has done more for the world than Trump ever has.
Maybe that’s why Trump keeps whining about him… he’s jealous because Arnold is everything that he isn’t.
Arnold’s Reply to the Cheeto’s tweet – Update 2/4/2017
Arnold replied to the President’s criticism of him… with a link to an article about how he released his tax returns as governor. Something Trump hasn’t done and probably will never do.
Sources:
- http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20060415/arnold-releases-tax-records
- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html