February 25, 2016

Donald Trump Not So Gung-Ho About Hiring Americans After All

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We all know that nothing hurts the Teflon Don, but I guess we have to go through the motions anyway. Today the New York Times reports that Donald Trump’s club at Mar-a-Lago isn’t on board with the whole idea of hiring Americans:

Since 2010, nearly 300 United States residents have applied or been referred for jobs as waiters, waitresses, cooks and housekeepers there. But according to federal records, only 17 have been hired. In all but a handful of cases, Mar-a-Lago sought to fill the jobs with hundreds of foreign guest workers from Romania and other countries.

….Asked why his club must seek so many foreign workers when Americans have applied for the same positions, Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview from Mar-a-Lago this month: “The only reason they wouldn’t get a callback is that they weren’t qualified, for some reason. There are very few qualified people during the high season in the area.”

Roger that. In fact, the labor pool of Americans is so thin that apparently it’s easier to fly in guest workers from Romania and then go through the whole process of applying for H-2B visas rather than simply raising their pay a few dollars or recruiting a little bit harder. Imagine that. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that guest workers on H-2B visas are all but indentured servants to whoever sponsored them.

Anyway, that’s the latest. As always, Donald Trump is the champion of the little guy. As long as the little guy is from Romania.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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