EPIC: Mar-A-Lago Has Lost 9 Big Charity Events In The Last Week
This. Is. Amazing:
Another Palm Beach charity announced Saturday that it was canceling plans to hold a gala at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club — the ninth to cancel a big-ticket charity event at the club this week.
The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, a charity focused on the ritzy island’s architectural landmarks, had planned to hold a dinner dance at Mar-a-Lago next March. The foundation was a new customer for Trump’s club, and a potentially lucrative one: It spent $244,000 on rent and food on a previous gala at another site, according to tax filings.
But on Saturday, the foundation said it would find another venue.
Was there any reason given? Well…
“Given the current environment surrounding Mar-a-Lago, we have made the decision to move our annual dinner dance,” Amanda Skier, the foundation’s executive director, said in a written statement. She did not say which venue the foundation would use instead.
That decision meant that Trump’s club had lost nine of the 16 galas or dinner events that it had been scheduled to host during next winter’s social “season” in Palm Beach. At least three other groups have also canceled charity luncheons there this week.
These losses could reduce the club’s revenue by hundreds of thousands of dollars by each event, and deny President Trump his dual role as president and host to the island’s partying elite. If he returns to the club for weekends next winter, the president could often find its grand ballrooms quiet and empty.
Any pattern here? Well..
These cancellations all followed the president’s remarks on the march of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va., in which the president said their side had included some “fine people.”
On Friday, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and Susan G. Komen joined the growing exodus of organizations canceling plans to hold fundraising events at the club.
Susan G. Komen, the nation’s largest breast-cancer fundraising group, said it would seek another venue after hosting its “Perfect Pink Party” gala at Mar-a-Lago every year since 2011.
The Salvation Army, which has held a gala at the club every year since 2014, 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.
And the American Red Cross 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 a statement.
…
Trump’s club earned between $100,000 and $275,000 each from events of similar size in the past.
But the 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.
The Trump Organization has not responded to requests for comment.
The millions Trump will lose from this is just a small piece of the ill-gotten gains he’s receiving from blatantly profiting off his own Presidency while in office. But it’s an incredibly positive sign that controversy-averse civil society organizations are realizing doing business with Trump will be a cost, not a benefit.
As you might imagine, Twitter has been pretty joyous at the news:
As 9th charity event bows out in a week, Trump's posh Mar-a-Lago looking like a Hall of Shame. https://t.co/j9xUPIpdlk
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) August 19, 2017
Seventh charity cancels fundraiser at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate https://t.co/NJfvEZcZHr pic.twitter.com/qxYNZ42wYM
— The Hill (@thehill) August 20, 2017
ANOTHER: @SusanGKomen withdraws from planned gala at @realDonaldTrump's Mar-a-Lago Club. 4th charity to do so today. 7th this week. pic.twitter.com/RWjfYL3Cxa
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) August 18, 2017
You can purchase a painting by an animal at the @PalmBeachZoo to support their decision to cancel at Mar-a-Lago! https://t.co/8sxwHFswT1 RT!
— Michelle O'Brien ? (@Wolf_six) August 20, 2017
Some charities are still planning events at Mar-a-Lago. Cancel. We all must take a stand, especially groups that strive to do good.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 19, 2017
Charities don't want to associate with known bigots, like @realDonaldTrump.#MaraLago losing events as a result.https://t.co/W8CgMSrYMc
— Mara Jade ?? (@MaraJade_2017) August 18, 2017
Cleveland Clinic cancels plans for gala at Mar-a-Lago. What took them so long? They didn't mind the p*ssy grabbing and nasty woman comments
— ♻️ Christopher Zullo (@ChrisJZullo) August 17, 2017