Tag: Trump hypocrisy

‘My whole town practically lived there’: From Costa Rica to New Jersey, a pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back years

At his home on the misty slope of Costa Rica’s tallest mountain, Dario Angulo keeps a set of photographs from the years he tended the rolling fairways and clipped greens of a faraway American golf resort.

Angulo learned to drive backhoes and bulldozers, carving water hazards and tee boxes out of former horse pastures in Bedminster, N.J., where a famous New Yorker was building a world-class course. Angulo earned $8 an hour, a fraction of what a state-licensed heavy equipment operator would make, with no benefits or overtime pay. But he stayed seven years on the grounds crew, saving enough for a small piece of land and some cattle back home.

Now the 34-year-old lives with his wife and daughters in a sturdy house built by “Trump money,” as he put it, with a porch to watch the sun go down.

View the complete February 8 article by Joshua Partlow, Nick Miroff and David A. Fahrenthold on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s golf course employed undocumented workers — and then fired them amid showdown over border wall

Undocumented workers at Trump’s New York golf club speak out after being fired. (Video: Dalton Bennett, Jesse Mesner-Hage/Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)

OSSINING, N.Y — They had spent years on the staff of Donald Trump’s golf club, winning employee-of-the-month awards and receiving glowing letters of recommendation.

Some were trusted enough to hold the keys to Eric Trump’s weekend home. They were experienced enough to know that, when Donald Trump ordered chicken wings, they were to serve him two orders on one plate.

But on Jan. 18, about a dozen employees at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., were summoned, one by one, to talk with a human resources executive from Trump headquarters.

View the complete January 26 article by Joshua Partlow and David A. Fahrenthold on The Washington Post website here.

Former Trump club employee says management kept her off Secret Service screening list because she is undocumented

In the last month, several former employees of Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., have said that they were hired despite their lack of legal immigration status. Credit: Brendan Smialowski, AFP, Getty Images

A former kitchen employee at one of President Trump’s golf clubs in New Jersey said her superiors kept her name and those of other undocumented workers off a list of people to be vetted by the Secret Service before a Trump visit to the club in 2016.

Emma Torres, 43, an immigrant from Ecuador, said that she informed a human resources official at the club that she did not have papers to live legally in the United States when she was asked to submit her information for a clearance check. She said the names of undocumented workers were then excised from a list turned over to the Secret Service.

Torres could not recall the name of the person who modified the list or the exact date of the incident. But she said she continued in her job at the club and was later working in the kitchen when Trump visited the club under Secret Service protection.

View the complete January 3 article by Joshua Partlow, Tom Hamburger and Carol D. Leonnig on The Washington Post website here.

Trump has blasted Mueller’s team for political donations. But attorney general nominee William P. Barr has given more than $500,000.

William P. Barr with President George H.W. Bush in 1991 after he was sworn in as attorney general. Credit: Scott Applewhite, AP

President Trump has repeatedly derided prosecutors investigating potential coordination between his presidential campaign and Russia as “angry Democrats,” pointing to their past political donations as proof of bias.

But William P. Barr, Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department and oversee the Russia investigation, would be by far the most prolific political donor to step into the country’s top law enforcement post in at least a quarter-century, according to a Washington Post analysis. Barr has donated more than $567,000 in the past two decades, nearly all to GOP candidates and groups, federal records show. His wife, Christine Barr, gave more than $220,000 over that time, records show.

Before he was nominated to be attorney general, Barr criticized past donations by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

View the complete December 11 article by Shawn Boburg and Anu Narayanswamy on The Washington Post website here.

The Trump Foundation Donated Generously to Charities — So Long As They Booked Their Lavish Events at Mar-a-Lago

The following article by Alex Henderson was posted on the AlterNet.org website July 6, 2018:

The president himself hasn’t donated to his own foundation in ten years.

The Palm Beach Post in South Florida is reporting that the Donald Trump Foundation in Palm Beach County, Florida donated $706,000 to charities since 2008—and almost all of the donations went to charities that hosted expensive fundraisers at President Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort.

According to the Palm Beach Post, its review of the Trump Foundation’s tax records found a frequent pattern of charities receiving donations after they moved their events to Mar-a-Lago. The donations averaged $25,000.

One of the charities, the Palm Beach Post reported, was the Red Cross. According to the Palm Beach Post, the Red Cross received a $21,000 donation from the Trump Foundation in 2015—which was also the year in which it moved its event from The Breakers (a major high-end hotel in South Florida) back to Mar-a-Lago.

View the complete article on the AlterNet.org website here.

Trump just asked to hire foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue.com website July 6, 2018:

Credit: AP Photo, Carolyn Kaster

Trump blames immigrants for stealing jobs and lowering wages — but now, he’s looking to hire foreign workers to boost his own bottom line.

As Trump rails against immigrants and falsely accuses them of stealing jobs from U.S. citizens, his private golf club in Florida is asking the government to approve a request to hire 40 more foreign workers, new filings show.

Records posted by the Department of Labor on Thursday reveal that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club is seeking permission to hire 40 foreign workers to serve as waiters and waitresses for the winter season.

If approved, the workers would be employed from October through May at a rate of $12.68 an hour.

View the complete post on the ShareBlue.com website here.

When Trump forbade a Christmas tree — and other forgotten stories from the ‘war on Christmas’

The following article by Avi Selk was posted on the Washington Post website December 25, 2017:

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to make America say “Merry Christmas” again. He surely says it a lot himself. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

It’s Christmas, and President Trump is celebrating by repeatedly typing “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” — and by taking credit for having “led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase.”

Ah, the proverbial “war on Christmas,” in which the holiday is under attack — with even the “Merry Christmas” greeting frowned upon — and the faithful fight to defend it. And first among them: Trump. Continue reading “When Trump forbade a Christmas tree — and other forgotten stories from the ‘war on Christmas’”

Trump Benefited From The ‘Chain Migration’ He Blamed For Attempted New York Terror Attack

The following article by Roque Planas was posted on the Huffing Post website December 15, 2017:

The practice of bringing immigrant families together in the United States likely made the president richer and happier.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech on tax reform legislation at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

President Donald Trump used the attempted New York terrorist attack this week to renew his call to end “chain migration.” That’s the term immigration restrictionists use to describe allowing U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to help their family members immigrate to this country.

The president and his allies insist ― without evidence ― that this kind of immigration is a threat to the nation because it lets in suspect people. They argue that limiting Americans’ ability to bring in family members will help prevent attacks like Monday’s incident, which was allegedly perpetrated by a legal permanent resident from Bangladesh whose uncle, a U.S. citizen, had sponsored him to come to the U.S. in 2011. (The investigation so far suggests he became radicalized some years later.) Continue reading “Trump Benefited From The ‘Chain Migration’ He Blamed For Attempted New York Terror Attack”

Video catches Trump on the golf course

The following article by John Bowden was posted on the Hill website October 28, 2017:

Credit: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/GETTYIMAGES

President Trump was spotted hitting the golf course Saturday afternoon as he spends his fourth weekend in a row at his golf club in Virginia.

Trump’s motorcade arrived at Trump National Golf Club shortly after 10:50 a.m. Pool reports stated Trump was greeted by one protester holding a sign reading “impeach” as he arrived.

The president has no public events scheduled for this weekend. His staff says he regularly takes meetings or does work while at his golf clubs and only occasionally confirms that Trump is golfing. Continue reading “Video catches Trump on the golf course”

‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly

The following article by David A. Fahrenthold and Lori Rozsa was posted on the Washington Post website August 7, 2017:

The Washington Post David A. Fahrenthold explores whether President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club’s hiring practices align with his vow for U.S. companies to give priority to American workers. (Video: Peter Stevenson, Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club needs to hire 35 waiters for this winter’s social season in Palm Beach, Fla.

Late last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post, crammed full of tiny print laying out the job experience requirements in classified ad shorthand. “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” the ad said. “No tips.” Continue reading “‘Apply by fax’: Before it can hire foreign workers, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club advertises at home — briefly”