Trump Campaign Duped Donors, Including Ones Who Were Dying

San Francisco CA

Description

Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign duped donors into making repeated contributions when they thought they were signing on for a one-time donation, The New York Times reports. By making the default option for financial support “Make this a monthly recurring donation,” the campaign reportedly put supporters down for multiple donations of the same value as the first—known in internal campaign communications as a “money bomb.” So many donors felt taken in by the scheme that the Trump campaign was forced to make 530,000 refunds worth some $64 million. Donors who claimed they were victimized by the scheme included Stacy Blatt, a 63-year-old cancer patient in hospice who made a $500 contribution then found himself unable to pay his utility bills and rent when the transaction repeated, costing him $3,000 in less than 30 days. His fixed income was only $1,000 per month. A father of three in Texas, who was once involved in organizing rallies against pandemic-related restrictions, is now desperately battling for his life while hospitalized for almost a month with COVID-19. Caleb Wallace, 30, has been unconscious, on a ventilator and heavily sedated in an intensive care unit after his lungs were ravaged by the virus. Jessica Wallace, who is pregnant with their fourth child and set up a Give Me Money page for medical bills, told the San Angelo Standard-Times that her husband had initially refused to get tested or seek medical care, instead opting for doses of Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin, and ivermectin. Last July, Wallace helped organize “The Freedom Rally,” an event where protesters slammed masks and undermined the seriousness of COVID-19. He also founded “The San Angelo Freedom Defenders,” which hosted a rally last year to “end COVID tyranny.” In April, he issued a letter to a local school district railing against masking and pandemic-related policies. A teacher at an elementary school in Marin County, California, infected a dozen students at her school with the Delta variant of COVID-19 in May, according to a CDC report released Friday. The teacher was unvaccinated. The teacher reported symptoms on May 19, continued working until May 21, then tested positive. In all, 27 people were infected, including the teacher. According to the report, students wore masks at the school, the classroom was equipped with an air filter, and students’ seats were spaced six feet apart. The teacher wore her mask most of the time but removed it when reading to the class, the report said. Students in the front two rows of the classroom were most susceptible, with 80 percent of them testing positive.