KEY FOUNDATIONS ARE ABANDONING TRUMP BUSINESSES

…This Mar-a-Lago will be losing tens of thousands of dollars just because of the president

 

There is a growing exodus of organizations canceling plans for events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.

 

Everyone is making all kinds of noise about the loss of Stephen K. Bannon from the White House.  However, there are other issue and responses that are still occurring due to Trump’s disgusting press conference after the Charlottesville riots.

 

To start with, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and Susan G. Komen have joined a growing exodus of organizations canceling plans to hold fundraising events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.  This is just more deepening of the financial impact to President Trump’s private business amid furor over his comments on Charlottesville.  Hear, hear!!!!

 

But these are just the latest examples of those organizations that are “Exiting, stage right!”

 

Along with these three groups, a total of more than eight of the club’s biggest event customers have abandoned it, and that was just in this week.  This will likely cost the Trump businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, possibly even more.

 

If you are not aware of who Susan G. Komen is, this group is the nation’s largest breast-cancer fundraising group.  They have already said they would seek another venue after hosting its “Perfect Pink Party” gala at Mar-a-Lago every year since 2011.  (And this was a major event that was also supported by Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.)

 

The Salvation Army, which has held a gala at the club every year for the last 3 years said in a statement that it would not hold its event there “because the conversation has shifted away from its mission of helping those in need.  Yes, instead of dealing with those in need, all the discussion would be that the Salvation Army was supporting an administration that supports the Alt-Right, Neo-Nazi’s and white supremacists.

 

As to the American Red Cross, they said it would cancel its annual fundraiser at the club because “it has increasingly become a source of controversy and pain for many of our volunteers, employees and supporters,” the charity said in their statement.

 

But in their letter to the staff, chief executive Gail McGovern said, “The Red Cross provides assistance without discrimination to all people in need – regardless of nationality, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or political opinions – and we must be clear and unequivocal in our defense of that principle.”

 

Unfortunately, this is also a big money issue for other businesses in the Palm Beach area.  The cancellations hit at one of the area’s top annual moneymakers. The club alone earns between $100,000 and $275,000 from each of these events.  But it affects many local businesses during Palm Beach’s glitzy social seasons.

 

These cancellations also reveal a widening vulnerability for Trump, who, unlike past presidents, refused to divest from his business interests when he joined the White House.

 

There was originally lots of concern that Trump would be making money from being president, but now, due to his latest actions, it’s headed the other way.

 

The Trump Organization did not respond to the requests for comment on this issue.

 

Other groups that have pulled out include: the Cleveland Clinic, the American Friends of Magen David Adom and the American Cancer Society, which cited its “values and commitment to diversity” in its decision to abandon Trump’s club.

 

Some of the club’s most notable local boosters, with long fundraising histories and deep Palm Beach roots, were also in outright rebellion against the club. Lois Pope, who is an actual Mar-a-Lago member and a philanthropist who heads the Lois Pope Life Foundation and Leaders In Furthering Education, said she had told her foundation’s board to move its well-known December gala away from the club.  “The hatred, vitriol and Anti-Semitic and racist views being spewed by Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are repugnant and repulsive,” Pope wrote in a statement. “And anyone who would demonstrate even a modicum of support for them by insisting that there are ‘good people’ among them is not deserving of my personal patronage or that of my foundations.”

 

However, it doesn’t stop there.  One of the cancellations cut close to home for the Trump family. The Big Dog Ranch Rescue said it would no longer hold an upcoming event at the club and would instead move it to the group’s own facility nearby. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was previously scheduled to co-chair the Mar-a-Lago event.

 

The Autism Project of Palm Beach County also said Friday that it is not planning on hosting their event at the club, President Richard Busto told The Post  that the local group has held “Renaissance Dinner” galas at Mar-a-Lago every year since at least 2008.  (That’s 9 years in a row that’s going away.)  The Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation also announced it had canceled its annual medical briefing luncheon at the club and will move it to another venue.  “We stand with the community,” the foundation’s co-founder, Dusty Sang, told The Post. “I think people are standing up for what they believe.”

 

Another group, the Unicorn Children’s Foundation, said it is “currently exploring other options for a previously planned luncheon at Mar-a-Lago and would make its final decision next month.”

 

All of these cancellations follow the many rebukes from business executives who heavily criticized Trump’s comments that white supremacists and counter-protesters equally shared the blame for the deadly weekend in Charlottesville.

 

As with any thing in a capitalistic nation, if you want to get their attention, “go for the pocketbook”.

 

And this attention is happening because as was previously stated and how many Americans feel: “The hatred, vitriol and Anti-Semitic and racist views being spewed by Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are repugnant and repulsive.  Anyone who would demonstrate even a modicum of support for them by stating that there are ‘good people’ among them is not deserving of any personal patronage.”

Yes, Trump’s business should be hit hard after his statements in support of Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists.  If you have watched the 22 minute Vice News documentary on the Charlottesville riots, you will understand.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017