To quote a wise day-trading baby: “This is my shocked face…”

From the Washington Post:

Since the first day of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has said that he gave more than $102 million to charity in the past five years. To back up that claim, Trump’s campaign compiled a list of his contributions — 4,844 of them, filling 93 pages.

But, in that massive list, one thing was missing. Not a single one of those donations was actually a personal gift of Trump’s own money. Instead, according to a Washington Post analysis, many of the gifts that Trump cited to prove his generosity were free rounds of golf, given away by his courses for charity auctions and raffles….

The largest items on the list were not cash gifts but land-conservation agreements to forgo development rights on property Trump owns. Trump’s campaign also counted a parcel of land that he’d given to New York state — although that was in 2006, not within the past five years. In addition, many of the gifts on the list came from the charity that bears his name, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which didn’t receive a personal check from Trump from 2009 through 2014, according to the most recent public tax filings. Its work is largely funded by others, although Trump decides where the gifts go.

Some beneficiaries on the list are not charities at all: They included clients, other businesses and tennis superstar Serena Williams.

Observations:

1. I know, I know. Normal, rational people don’t need any more proof that Trump is an untrustworthy blowhard, and this is a little like showing that Jack the Ripper cheated at cribbage.  Still, wouldn’t you think at some point the Americans who say they are loyal to Trump because he’s not like all those other lying politicians and because he means what he says and tells it like it is would have to think, “Wait! This guy is a complete and utter con man! What’s the matter with me?” Wouldn’t you? Huh?

2. Res ipsa loquitur: the figured prove that Trump has been lying. No rebuttal. No excuse.

3. Also, signature significance. Only someone whose view of what constitutes facts, truth, and straight-talking is pathologically blurry would claim what Trump claimed with the reality consisting of what is in these records.

4. Trump can’t have it both ways. When he as been accused of repeatedly declaring bankruptcy, he has protested that it wasn’t him personally that did so, but his companies. Yet he has repeatedly described what were corporate contributions as personal gifts.

The Post said it has asked Trump’s campaign for an explanation, but has only received this:

When asked about The Post’s analysis, a top Trump aide acknowledged that none of the gifts had come in cash from the billionaire himself. But, he said, that was because the list was not a complete account of Trump’s gifts. The aide, Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, said Trump had, in fact, given generously from his own pocket. But Weisselberg declined to provide any documentation, such as saying how much charitable giving Trump has declared in his federal tax filings. “We want to keep them quiet,” said Weisselberg, who is also treasurer of the Trump Foundation. “He doesn’t want other charities to see it. Then it becomes like a feeding frenzy.”

Sure, that explains it.