I just got this email from a reader:
"What's wrong with you people? Biggest story of the week and you have no mention of it anywhere. I mean D. Trump's offer of 5 million to Obama's charity (of choice) if he releases certain records."
He's of course referring to Trump's "offer" (sorry, but I'm calling it a publicity stunt) to donate $5 million to a charity of the president's choice if he'll release his college and passport records by the end of October.
Trump made his announcement Wednesday afternoon, where it was met with almost universal derision.
Did it belong in the print edition? It certainly did get a lot of attention. If I were the person who wrote "The Buzz," the Sunday column that looks at the silly and stupid stories trending in the political world, I think that's where I'd park it. But yes, I also agree it probably merited a mention in Thursday's paper as well -- as a brief.
Yes, Trump's grandstanding is newsworthy.
We often read the claim that X amount of dollars spent on this or that policy of the "other" party could have been spent to benefit this or that other group. We often read that claim in the Star, made by the left against initiatives of the right.
For example, 'money saved on prosecuting the wars could go toward infrastructure', and 'tax cuts for the wealthy prevent extending unemployment benefits'.
Trump's offer/challenge puts the lie to both the left (via its surrogate, Obama) and to the media (but I repeat myself).
How many millions of dollars has Obama's team spent keeping his transcripts and applications from seeing daylight? When reporting on each lawsuit brought, has the Star ever given voice to people on the right that question whether that money could be better spent? Here his team even refuses $5 million to charity not spent from their own pockets.
Personally, I believe Obama's citizenship is perfectly qualified for service in office. But his team keeps the issue alive as a distraction, to attract nuts. This in turn gives the Star something else to report other than anything from Obama's relatively poor economic recovery, to his stunning growth in the size of government (employees, private sector wage disparity, food stamp initiatives, disability benefits, free cell phones, czars, etc, etc).
So, Trump has not come out of the woodwork with a unique claim that somehow twists logic, with any debatable standard. You might not like what he is proposing. But he is stating the same proposition the Star makes regularly and without question on behalf of the left.
The people deserve a historical record that includes Trump's challenge. And it deserves to include Obama's non-response.
"silly", maybe, but not
"silly", maybe, but not "stupid". Trump is playing with real money in this game, not just party line buzzwords. It's a legitimate demand and if you were to ask any charity if $5 million would help them out, the answer would be "yes".
People gamble with big money all the time, but since this is a political gauntlet, you should devote some print a story that is less than positive about your chosen candidate for a change.