There is nothing like trying to make a buck, or $45 bucks to be exact, off of a dead man. Regular people have a hard time imagining the depths this president will reach to guarantee himself a November win. Plus, a significant percent of Donald Trump’s campaign funds finds its way into his own pocket.
An opinion piece ran in The Washington Post on Sunday that had Donald Trump up in arms. It appears The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which runs President Ronald Reagan’s presidential library caught a con. It demanded that the president and the Republican National Committee (RNC) stop raising campaign funds on the 40th president’s name and likeness.
Trump’s tweet was all about deflecting the blame to The Washington Post CEO and Publisher and Reagan Foundation Chair Frederick Ryan Jr and former House Speaker “Rino” Paul Ryan who is on the Fox Board:
‘So the Washington Post is running the Reagan Foundation, and RINO Paul Ryan is on the Board of Fox, which has been terrible. We will win anyway, even with the phony @FoxNews suppression polls (which have been seriously wrong for 5 years)!’
‘Hmmm…”Frederick J. Ryan Jr., who chairs the Reagan Foundation board, is also publisher and CEO of The Washington Post. He declined to offer a comment for this column.”‘
Chief Marketing Officer for the Reagan Foundation Melissa Giller sent an email that read:
‘It was simply handled with a phone call mid-last week to the RNC, and they agreed to stop.’
No wonder the foundation was not happy. Trump’s campaign people sent out a fundraising letter under Trump’s name, but the subject line was pretty nervy. It was signed:
‘Ronald Reagan and Yours Truly.’
Even worse, the email was asking for “$45 or more.” That would get the donor a “limited edition:”
‘[C]ommemorative set featuring two gold-colored coins, one each with an image of Reagan and Trump. The coins were mounted with a 1987 photograph of Reagan and Trump shaking hands in a White House receiving line — the type of fleeting contact that presidents have with thousands of people a year.’
The campaign wrote in Trump’s voice:
‘I just saw our new Trump-Reagan Commemorative Coin Sets and WOW, these coins are beautiful – I took one look and immediately knew that I wanted YOU to have a set. These aren’t any ordinary coins. They symbolize an important time in our Nation. This year, in addition to being re-elected as YOUR President, it also marks the 40th anniversary of our Nation’s 40th President, Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately, we already sold out of the first batch we had in stock. But I liked these coins so much that I asked my team to rush order another batch for my TOP SUPPORTERS ONLy.’
The con was obvious, and the campaign wanted to make sure its questionable activity was kept secret:”
I’ve authorized a very limited production of these iconic coins, which is why I’m ONLY ‘offering them to our top supporters, like YOU. This offer is NOT available to the general public, so please, do NOT share this email with anyone.’
That probably had something to do with President Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan legally signing all rights to “their names, likenesses, and images” over to the foundation.
On the Joint Committee website where the coins were hawked read:
‘The President only authorized the production of 5,000 sets of these iconic coins, which is why we’re ONLY offering them to our TOP supporters.’
The RNC said okay to the foundation. However, Giller said the foundation still has to find out how many emails were viewed and how many coin sets had been sold:
‘[W]e still have a lot of additional work.’
Before this con, Trump shared a “‘Cute!’ fake quote by Reagan:”
‘For the life of me, and I’ll never know how to explain it, when I met that young man, I felt like I was the one shaking hands with the president.’
The foundation told PolitiFact:
‘[Reagan] did not ever say that about Donald Trump.’
RNC Communications Director Michael Ahren emailed a statement:
‘Given that the Reagan Foundation just recently hosted the Trump family to raise money for its organization and has not objected to us using President Reagan’s likeness before, their objection came as a surprise. Even though we believe our use of the image was appropriate, we will stop emailing this fundraising solicitation as a courtesy.’
As of Saturday afternoon, it appeared that the coin sets were still available on the joint fundraising committee website. Mrs. Reagan said years earlier, according to CNN:
‘While I can understand the intentions of those seeking to place my husband’s face on the dime, I do not support this proposal and I am certain Ronnie would not. When our country chooses to honor a great president such as Franklin Roosevelt by placing his likeness on our currency, it would be wrong to remove him and replace him with another.’
