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This image seems to be going around:

Trump image

It states:

  • Donald Trump sheltered Jennifer Hudson rent-free after her family was murdered.
  • Donald Trump sued the City of Palm Beach when he bought a segregated club, Mar A Lago, to open it to Jews and Blacks.
  • Donald Trump paid to ensure a Mexican American boy would graduate from college when he saw a news story about his terminally ill mom.
  • Donald Trump dispatched his plane to fly a sick Jewish boy for special care when he heard no airline would accommodate his medical equipment.
  • Donald Trump sent $10,000 to hero bus driver Darnell Barton after seeing a news story about how he saved a woman from jumping off a bridge.
  • Donald Trump gave the job of constructing Trump Tower to Barbara Res, making her the 1st woman in history to build a skyscraper.

How accurate are these statements?

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    snopes would be a good first resource for answering this question.
    – tim ♦
    Jul 28, 2016 at 17:50
  • @tim I did a reverse image search in Google in hopes of something like that coming up but there were no useful results.
    – David Starkey
    Jul 28, 2016 at 18:54
  • @DavidStarkey I found it while searching for Barbara Res, but it can also be found by just searching for "so you think you know the real donald trump".
    – tim ♦
    Jul 28, 2016 at 19:03
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    Snopes says "mixture", but I'd more go with "mostly true". Three true, one possibly true, and two mixtures. That's more than half true.
    – user11643
    Jul 28, 2016 at 21:12

1 Answer 1

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There is a snopes article about this graphic which I will use as basis for my answer. As it's not all properly sourced I'll add my own sources as well if necessary.

The claims themselves are mostly true. If this represents the "real Donald Trump" or if Donald Trump actually has a "Heart of Gold" is up for interpretation. Many of the claims happened decades ago, and some benefit Trump himself either directly or indirectly by improving his public image.

Donald Trump sheltered Jennifer Hudson rent-free after her family was murdered.

There are at least two sources for this: Donald Trump himself in a People interview and Dana London - who worked for Trump.

Donald Trump sued the City of Palm Beach when he bought a segregated club, Mar A Lago, to open it to Jews and Blacks.

According to the Washington Post Mar A Lago wasn't a segregated club, but a private estate. It is however true that membership is open to Jews and Black people (who can afford the initial cost of 100k$ and 14k$ annually).

According to the Washington Post, Trump did not sue the City of Palm Beach because it would not allow him to grant membership access to Jews and Black people, but because Trump thought that the City was discriminating against the club because of this policy.

Snopes also suggests that this was mainly a business decision.

Donald Trump paid to ensure a Mexican American boy would graduate from college when he saw a news story about his terminally ill mom.

Snopes thinks that this is about the son of Melissa Young. If this is the case, Trump did promote the case, but there is no evidence that he actually donated any money himself.

Donald Trump dispatched his plane to fly a sick Jewish boy for special care when he heard no airline would accommodate his medical equipment.

This is true, see eg here or here.

Donald Trump sent $10,000 to hero bus driver Darnell Barton after seeing a news story about how he saved a woman from jumping off a bridge.

This is true, see eg The Buffalo News.

Donald Trump gave the job of constructing Trump Tower to Barbara Res, making her the 1st woman in history to build a skyscraper.

This is true, see eg a statement by Res in the NY Daily News. She herself ends her statement with: "Donald Trump is not great for women and therefore not right for the United States".

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    Your country club explanation is confusing. If it sells/offers membership, then it is by definition a club, most clubs are based on privately owned land; Really confused with why that is mentioned at all. Do you mean that it was ALWAYS open to Jews and Blacks, or that it is NOW open because of Trump's suit?
    – Jonathon
    Jul 29, 2016 at 18:19
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    @JonathonWisnoski I mean that it used to be a private estate, and Trump turned it into a private club. The club does not prevent Black people and Jews from becoming members, but not because of Trumps suit. The City did not try to prevent him from opening up a non-segregated club - I don't think that this would have even been possible in 1995 - , but Trump felt - or at least said in his lawsuit that he felt - that the City imposed stronger restrictions on his club than on other clubs. For a more in-depth analysis see the Washington Post article as well as the articles it links.
    – tim ♦
    Jul 29, 2016 at 19:08
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    "Snopes also suggests that this was mainly a business decision" does this sort of general speculation have any place on a Skeptics site? Similarly, the odd side comment about what Barbara Res thinks of him seems out of place. TBH you give the impression of a arch-liberal (or Trump hater - whatever) let's say "grudgingly" stating the facts. I only mention this since your answer(s) are otherwise so good, thanks for them. (Purely for the record - I see "Trump", "Clinton" and indeed the USA as risible jokes; no dog in the race.)
    – Fattie
    Sep 8, 2016 at 7:16
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    -1 right now, I think this answers good, except for the obvious political bias. I don't like Trump, but this is a skeptics site. I proposed a change that did nothing but remove the political fluff which you rejected as changing the intent. If you thought it removed too much that's fine but as it stands an otherwise great answer for a skeptics site, sits full of political opinion.
    – Ryan
    Sep 29, 2016 at 21:06
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    I think the additional information is important. The original claim didn't just state that Trump sued the city, or that the club is now open to Jews and Black people, but specifically that Trump sued the city to open the club to them. The original claim also strongly implies that he did this out of moral principles. The Washington Post and Snopes both disagree with this description of events. I could have gone into more depth, but didn't because of the amount of claims. Anyone interested can follow the links to get an even fuller picture.
    – tim ♦
    Oct 11, 2016 at 11:26

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