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This picture states that Trump donated his own money to Puerto Rico and "sent" several types of aid to them actively.

Is this true?

enter image description here

The picture is a "top" thread on his Reddit page with 6000 likes https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/737b57/puerto_rico_comparison/

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    Hillary has no power to do any of those things, except make a donation. One might as well complain that your neighbor didn't send in the marines. Instead, you should focus on timelines; it took the Don near a week to even say anything, and only after being criticized the whole time for not doing so. Clinton reacted the same day without anyone asking her to.
    – Kevin Fee
    Sep 29, 2017 at 22:18
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    The interesting point about this claim is that the people making it obviously think Hillary should be in a position to dispatch FEMA etc., which clearly means they think she should be President. Couldn't agree more.
    – DJClayworth
    Sep 30, 2017 at 17:12
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    I am instinctively skeptical of any statement that says Trump donated money, let alone his own money. He has a long history of making big pledges in public and then never actually paying up, and when he does it usually turns out to be money one of his charities collected -- IE, someone else's money that he's taking the credit for.
    – Shadur
    Oct 2, 2017 at 7:25
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    Completely skipping over the text in the image, the pictures that were used are already broadcasting the author's political leanings, in such a way that it calls the supposed objective nature of their assertions into question.
    – Flater
    Oct 2, 2017 at 13:32
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    @Flater So does the fact that it's a thread found on r/The_Donald.
    – Shadur
    Oct 2, 2017 at 18:24

1 Answer 1

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The relevant claim here seems to be the donation. Regarding the other issues:

  • Trump is president. Disaster relief is in his area of responsibility, while Clinton couldn't send FEMA to Puerto Rico if she wanted to.
  • The complaint about Trump is that he acted too little too late, and only in reaction to intense criticism. Displaying this forced reaction as an achievement is at least misleading.

Claim: Trump donated 1 million of his own money for Puerto Rico

There is no source for this claim, not even a source claiming that Trump claimed that he donated that money to Puerto Rico.

Instead, the claim seems to be a combination of two issues:

  • The announcement by Trump to personally donate 1 million to various charities at the beginning of September in response to hurricane Harvey.
  • The announcement at the end of September by the Trump inaugural committee to donate 3 million to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Samaritan's Purse.

It seems that the 1 million donation did arrive at various charities (although there is at least some unclarity who donated it). As this donation was made before Puerto Rico was hit, it doesn't fit the claim.

There are plans by the Trump inaugural committee to donate $3 million. These donations are not specifically for Puerto Rico, but at least the timing fits. But this is of course not Trumps personal money, but instead donations he received.

One should be skeptical about claims of future donations or claims of personal donations by Trump, as there has been a pattern of Trump claiming to personally donate money, when either no donations had been made, or donations had been made by the Trump Foundation, not him personally.

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    "This case fits into a pattern of Trump claiming to personally donate money" - as you have noted, this is not a claim made by Trump himself (in this case). So it does not fit the pattern of Trump claiming to personally donate money, etc.
    – ff524
    Oct 1, 2017 at 21:32
  • @ff524 I meant the mentioned 1 million donation, not the claim about Trump donating to Puerto Rico. Still, I reformulated to avoid confusion.
    – tim ♦
    Oct 2, 2017 at 7:18
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    As for what the Clintons are doing: clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/…
    – Shadur
    Oct 2, 2017 at 7:28
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    @daniel This question is about Trump, not other politicians. I am also not aware of all politicians having a history of bragging about personal donations which they didn't actually make.
    – tim ♦
    Oct 2, 2017 at 8:30
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    @tim, the way the emphasis is used in your answer, it looks like you are saying that the claim is true. please consider clarifying (either adding "claim:" infront of the boldened claim, or by boldening the "no source available" answer)
    – Federico
    Oct 2, 2017 at 13:39

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