President Donald Trump has donated over $78,000 – his entire first-quarter salary – to the National Park Service, leaving his critics spluttering about broken promises and the cost of security for his residences in New York and Florida.
Trump, who was a billionaire real-estate tycoon before running for president, initially tried to decline a salary altogether, but it turned out he was legally required to take one. He then said he would donate all of it to a charity, and even invited reporters to give suggestions.
On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that “every penny” Trump was paid between January 20 and the end of March will be handed over to the NPS.
Spicer presented a check for $78,333.32 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg.
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The Center for American Progress, founded by prominent Democratic campaigner John Podesta, quickly blasted the donation as a drop in the proverbial bucket.
Other Democrats estimated the amount would cover just over 12 hours of security for Trump’s New York residence, where First Lady Melania Trump has remained since the inauguration, or the Trump resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where the president prefers to spend his weekends.
One of the “alternative” NPS Twitter accounts, launched after Trump’s inauguration, described the donation as a “damned insult” and a rude gesture to all “alt” accounts purportedly set up by staff that worked under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
The president’s supporters, however, delighted in the gesture – and the effects it had on the opposition.