Politics Corner and Intern Profile

By: Duane Paul Murphy

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is accused of using more that a quarter-million dollars from his own charity fund, The Donald J. Trump Foundation, to fund his legal problems and other properties for himself. According to Washington Post’s David A. Fahrenthold, based on interviews and legal document findings, Trump apparently used the money from his own charity, which came from the donations of other people, for his own self-interests through a system or function called self-dealing. Cornell University Law School defines it as an “action taken by a corporate fiduciary done for that person’s personal gain, rather than for the benefit of the corporation.” Trump utilized this system in order to pay legal fines such as sending a check for approximately $100,000 from his own charity to pay off some unpaid fines for his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also accused of using the foundation’s money for purchasing high priced products, which includes a painting of himself for $10,000 and a football helmet signed by NFL football player Tim Tebow for $12,000. Recently, his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway dodged questions regarding the issue on CNN. While stopping in North Carolina, Trump said that there is “nothing like” using other people’s money just hours after the report was published.

According to the latest poll aggregators, which averages published and prominent national polls, Fiverthirtyeight.com’s Polls-plus forecast, Polls-only forecast, and Now-cast systems have Hillary Clinton with a 55% to 56% chance of winning the presidency in November and Trump has a 43% to 44% chance of winning. The New York Times aggregator indicates that Clinton has a 75% chance of winning the presidency and Trump has a 25% chance of being elected. Real Clear Politics Average polling has Clinton at 45% and Trump almost 44%. Huffington Post Pollster has Clinton at 46% and Trump at almost 42%.

In the swing states, polls are fighting in traditional swing states such as Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Ohio as well as potential swing states such as Georgia, Missouri, and Arizona due to diverse demographics amongst the national electorate.