On Tuesday, reporters asked press secretary Sarah Sanders whether President Trump had contributed to Hurricane Harvey relief. A reporter asked again yesterday:
Q You said yesterday you would check if the President or the First Lady had made a personal donation to hurricane relief. Have you gotten anything back on that?
MS. SANDERS: No, I know they’re looking into some different options.
Today the White House announced that President and Mrs. Trump are donating $1 million to Harvey relief. But there is no satisfying the White House press corps. The Associated Press can’t report on the president’s contribution without taking a dig at him:
The White House says President Donald Trump is pledging $1 million in personal funds to Harvey storm relief efforts.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement at a briefing Thursday.
And she says he’s calling on reporters to help decide which specific organization he will give to.
So far, so good. But now the AP interjects commentary, in a weaselly passive voice:
Trump has been criticized in the past for giving far less of his income to charitable causes than many other multi-billionaires.
Did the AP ever criticize miserly contributions to charities by Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or John Kerry, or ever report on the fact that conservatives are consistently more generous, on the average, than liberals with similar incomes? Of course not. Trump pledges $1 million, and for the AP it is just another opportunity to take a partisan shot at him. In other words, it’s business as usual.
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