Trump Now Resorting to Giveaways to Buy Votes

Farmers are continuing to suffer at the hands of Trump's failed trade policies and shortsighted tariffs.  Trump is now so desperate to get the agriculture vote he is resorting to outright giveaways.  In an all-cap tweet, he is basically offering up socialist giveaways to farmers-- funded by the tariffs he foolishly placed on China, Mexico and Canada.  The basic problem with this scheme is that tariffs are actually paid for by consumers and go to the pockets of foreign supplier-- none of that money goes into the Treasury. 

So basically, Trump is putting the screws to farmers and consumers-- and then resorts to government welfare to buy back votes.  But this isn't the first time that Trump is resorting to outright cash giveaways to buy voters.

Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees.

The first giveaway took place in Cleveland, where recipients whose winning tickets were drawn from a bin landed cash gifts in increments of several hundred dollars, stuffed into envelopes. A second giveaway scheduled for January in Virginia was postponed after media reports began surfacing-- but more are said to be in the works, regardless.

The cash giveaways are organized under the auspices of an outside charity, the Urban Revitalization Coalition, permitting donors to remain anonymous and make tax-deductible contributions.  The organizers say the events are run by the book and intended to promote economic development in inner cities. But the group behind the cash giveaways is registered as a 501(c)3 charitable organization.  One leading legal expert on nonprofit law said the arrangement raises questions about the group’s tax-exempt status, because it does not appear to be vetting the recipients of its money for legitimate charitable need.

"Charities are required to spend their money on charitable and educational activities,” said Marcus Owens, a former director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the Internal Revenue Service who is now in private practice at the law firm Loeb & Loeb. “It's not immediately clear to me how simply giving money away to people at an event is a charitable act.”

Asked about the legality of the giveaways in a phone interview with Politico, the Urban Revitalization Coalition’s CEO, Darrell Scott, admitted that most gifts were limited to between $300 and $500, in order to get around federal law requiring fax forms for payments over $600.  He did not respond to follow-up questions about how the giveaways were structured and whether they met the legal standard for a charitable act.  Scott also declined to name the donors funding the effort.