Democrats skewer Trump's past in Cleveland 'museum'
Nova Safo
CLEVELAND, UNITED STATES, Nova Safo- Call it the clash of the billionaires.
Democrats bankrolled by the business magnate George Soros crashed the party in Cleveland Tuesday with a pop-up "museum" that spotlights aspects of Donald Trump's life which the Republican convention would rather keep quiet.
As Republicans endeavor to reshape their White House candidate's image as someone with the temperament and experience to lead, the "Trump Museum" takes a less flattering look at the presumptive nominee's past.
"We wanted to take a step back and look at the decades" of Trump's life, said Kevin McAlister, a spokesman for the project which is currently open only to journalists, but will open to the public by appointment later this week.
On display are a collection of articles and photographs dating back to the 1980s and dozens of Trump-branded items.
Course materials from Trump University were in prominent display -- a reminder that Trump is being sued by former students of the real-estate training venture who say they did not get their money's worth. Trump retorts that many students gave the program positive evaluations.
The "Trump Museum" is backed by a Democratic Super PAC, or campaign finance group, named American Bridge 21st Century and largely funded by Soros, a prominent philanthropist and supporter of liberal politics.
- 'Hypocrisy' -
As part of the normal course of election campaigning, the Super PAC spent the last year gathering opposition research on Trump, McAlister said.
Located on the sixth floor of a mostly-abandoned former printing house near the convention, the pop-up museum offered no real surprises.
Its aim, said McAlister, is to highlight contradictions between Trump's rhetoric and his actions, and to draw attention to the derogatory remarks he has made -- about women and immigrants in particular.
The one-room exhibition includes framed photos from Trump's past, such as a press event with 1996's Miss Universe Alicia Machado. In the photo, Machado is exercising for the cameras as Trump -- who owned the beauty pageant -- looks on.
In a television interview earlier this year, Machado said she felt bullied by Trump. "For sure, he's not a good person," she said.
Featured Trump merchandise included T-shirts, a board game, and a suit made in Mexico -- intended to highlight the candidate's inconsistency in denouncing the off-shoring of American manufacturing.
"Reeks of hypocrisy," McAlister charged.
But the museum was not without at least one gaffe. In one display case lay a folded vest -- purple, with shiny decoration. It was worn by valets at Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The vest was intended as yet another example of off-shoring, but the label inside said it was made by a company in Chicago.
American Bridge received much of its funding this year from unions and wealthy progressive supporters.
Soros donated $1 million according to the group's latest filings with the Federal Elections Commission. Tech entrepreneurs Phillip Ragon and Paul Egerman donated $250,000 and $300,000 respectively.
The unions AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers have also contributed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We wanted to take a step back and look at the decades" of Trump's life, said Kevin McAlister, a spokesman for the project which is currently open only to journalists, but will open to the public by appointment later this week.
On display are a collection of articles and photographs dating back to the 1980s and dozens of Trump-branded items.
Course materials from Trump University were in prominent display -- a reminder that Trump is being sued by former students of the real-estate training venture who say they did not get their money's worth. Trump retorts that many students gave the program positive evaluations.
The "Trump Museum" is backed by a Democratic Super PAC, or campaign finance group, named American Bridge 21st Century and largely funded by Soros, a prominent philanthropist and supporter of liberal politics.
- 'Hypocrisy' -
As part of the normal course of election campaigning, the Super PAC spent the last year gathering opposition research on Trump, McAlister said.
Located on the sixth floor of a mostly-abandoned former printing house near the convention, the pop-up museum offered no real surprises.
Its aim, said McAlister, is to highlight contradictions between Trump's rhetoric and his actions, and to draw attention to the derogatory remarks he has made -- about women and immigrants in particular.
The one-room exhibition includes framed photos from Trump's past, such as a press event with 1996's Miss Universe Alicia Machado. In the photo, Machado is exercising for the cameras as Trump -- who owned the beauty pageant -- looks on.
In a television interview earlier this year, Machado said she felt bullied by Trump. "For sure, he's not a good person," she said.
Featured Trump merchandise included T-shirts, a board game, and a suit made in Mexico -- intended to highlight the candidate's inconsistency in denouncing the off-shoring of American manufacturing.
"Reeks of hypocrisy," McAlister charged.
But the museum was not without at least one gaffe. In one display case lay a folded vest -- purple, with shiny decoration. It was worn by valets at Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The vest was intended as yet another example of off-shoring, but the label inside said it was made by a company in Chicago.
American Bridge received much of its funding this year from unions and wealthy progressive supporters.
Soros donated $1 million according to the group's latest filings with the Federal Elections Commission. Tech entrepreneurs Phillip Ragon and Paul Egerman donated $250,000 and $300,000 respectively.
The unions AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers have also contributed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------