OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump does not do many things the same as others.
And that can be said for his and former first lady Melania Trump’s portraits that are to be displayed in the Smithsonian Museum.
Normally the portraits are funded by private donors, but the Trump’s portraits are mainly being funded by the Trump Save America PAC, Politico reported.
The $650,000 donation last month from the Save America PAC — an organization controlled by Trump himself — was unprecedented, as no other political action committee has funded a presidential portrait in the past, Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas said. An additional $100,000 was given by an undisclosed donor to support the portraits, she said.
The funds, which total $750,000, will go to the artists, events and other fees associated with the two Trump portraits.
An artist has been commissioned for each portrait, and “the creation of the portraits is underway,” St. Thomas said.
Save America’s donation was labeled as a charitable contribution to the museum institution, Insider reported earlier Monday. As a political action committee, the organization is subject to few regulations on how it spends its money.
It has been a fantastic week for the former president.
The Tuesday elections were a victory for Trumpism as the candidates he backed swept their primaries.
“26 and 0 tonight, turning numerous tight races into big and easy wins. Overall for last 4 years, 98.4% on Endorsements!” he said on his Truth Social account.
“Looks like a fantastic evening of ALL WINS – Great Candidates!!!” he said in another post.
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One of those wins came for Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz who defeated FedEx executive Mark Lombardo.
It was days ago when the former president gave his endorsement to Rep. Matt Gaetz, Fox News reported.
“Rep. Matt Gaetz is a relentless Fighter for the incredible people of Florida’s 1st Congressional District!” he said. “Matt is a Champion of our MAGA Agenda, who tirelessly works to Drain the Swamp, Secure the Border, Support our Brave Veterans and Law Enforcement, Defend the Second Amendment, Stand Up to the Woke Mob, and Fight the Never-Ending Witch Hunts from the Radical Left that are destroying our Country!”
He said that Gaetz “puts America First” and “has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Gaetz touted his relationship with Trump and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in a recent campaign ad.
“He’s always working and he does indeed fight for all of us,” Trump says about Gaetz in the campaign ad.
“President Trump endorsed Congressman Gaetz at his home on April 12th,” a Gaetz spokesperson said. “Congressman Gaetz proudly reposted President Trump’s gracious reminder of that endorsement on Twitter today. He was slightly delayed in doing so as he was waiving signs on the side of the road in Crestview, Florida.”
Other Trump endorsed candidates who won on Tuesday included Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Gus Bilirakis, Neal Dunn, Anna Paulina Luna, Kat Cammack and John Rutherford.
Rubio did not have any opponents in the GOP primary on Tuesday, but Democrats have made his seat a top priority going into November’s general election.
During a recent appearance on Fox & Friends, Rubio slammed President Joe Biden for his immigration policies, arguing that America’s southern border has been overrun because the Biden administration is “listening to radical left-wing activists.”
“Let’s talk about the border now, because DHS has outlined this plan to secure our border, they say, after Title 42 is lifted. The plans include increasing resources, personnel, transportation, medical support facilities to support border operations, more agents, more personnel. What’s your reaction to that? Is that enough?” host Ainsley Earhardt said.
“It’s a joke. It’s a joke. The border has been overrun. It’s as simple as that. And the reason why is because this administration is listening to radical left-wing activists that are basically arguing for an open border. They’ll talk about legal process and all that, but they basically believe — there’s this group of people out there that basically believe that people should be allowed to live wherever they want and any country they want, they should be able to come across the border and when they do, they should receive benefits from the government, benefits that people that have worked here their whole lives don’t get. And so they’ll say, ‘Well, we’re not doing that,’ but if you notice, one of the six points that he lays out is they’re going to give a bunch of money to non-government organizations,” the senator said.
“What do those non-government organizations do? They buy people plane tickets, they give them cash assistance, they give them — in essence, you’re just transferring government money into the hands of a non-government entity so they can give benefits to people. But we have an overrun border and we are luring people to come here. Let me just say this thing. This is not about immigration. We admit a million people a year into this country. Green cards, that’s the most generous immigration program on the planet and we’ve done that for decades. This is about an overrun border where people and drugs, fentanyl, is flowing into our cities, flooding into our cities and this administration is encouraging it. They don’t want to do anything about it. And last point about the border guards, it wasn’t that long ago they were telling us border guards were whipping people. Remember that? The President of the United States. Well, of course, that turned out not to be true. Where’s the apology? Who wants to be a border agent right now knowing the President, if something goes wrong, is going to come after you or say you don’t work for them like they did about this gentleman that lost his life in Texas,” he said.
