Donald Trump’s economic stance has ushered in a wave of “reverse philanthropy” according to an expert who says the president sets a dangerous precedent.
Molly Jong-Fast wrote that Trump’s second term has made it clear that he will “pay tribute to the greediest” if it means maintaining his power base in the White House. Writing in the New York Times, Jong-Fast shared what she believed were the groundworks of an anti-philanthropy stance from the president.
She wrote, “We’re living in the age of what I call reverse philanthropy: instead of giving, you get (See: his free 747.) And in setting this example, Mr. Trump is making our country’s rich people worse, by emboldening them to embrace his transactional style of governing.”
Later in the piece, Jong-Fast suggested Trump wants tributes from rich members of the public, be it portraits of himself or free 747s. She wrote, “Mr. Trump talks often about how philanthropic he is, but as reporting in The Washington Post and The Times has documented, it appears as if some of those contributions were exaggerated.”
“Instead, he wants you to give to him — or else. This is reverse philanthropy: Instead of the richest helping the neediest, they pay tribute to the greediest.” Jong-Fast cited the ballroom renovation plan of the White House as an example of the rich bowing to Trump to seek his favor.
She explained, “Remember the dozens of people and corporations who gave over a million dollars each to his inauguration? Mr. Trump then went to five crypto firms and eight tech companies, including some that helped fund the inauguration, for help building his ballroom.”
“Which will itself be a place to gather fellow oligarchs and others who seek Mr. Trump’s favor. Think endless lavish fund-raising galas in honor of one recipient who will never truly be satisfied.”
This so-called reverse philanthropy is affecting American institutions too, which according to Jong-Fast are struggling to deal with funding cuts and losses of government grants and contracts.
She wrote, “Mr. Trump also sets an extremely bad example when it comes to philanthropy more generally, at a time when it’s needed more than ever.”
“The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts are under siege, and one-third of American museums report that they have lost government grants or contracts during Mr. Trump’s second term.”
“Philanthropy was always, on some level, a way for people with too much to feel better about that fact, or maybe about how they came to have all that loot in the first place. They need to be reminded of that.”
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