And then we have the Clinton Foundation. Charity Navigator, a rating service for charities, refused to rate the Clinton Foundation “because its atypical business model doesn’t meet our criteria.” It did put the Foundation on its “watch list.” As senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation said, “It seems like the Clinton Foundation operates as a slush fund for the Clintons.” In 2013, the Foundation paid $30 million in payroll and benefits; $8.7 million in rent and office expenses; $9.2 million on conferences, conventions and meetings; $8 million on fundraising; and $8.5 million on travel. It did give $9 million in direct aid. So much for Mrs. Clinton's claim in the third debate that the Foundation spends “90%” of its money on aid. Too bad there was no follow up on that question. But, of course, Mr. Trump probably has a questionable, shady foundation too, so let’s move on. Well, before we do, let’s remember that Mr. Trump was a private citizen; During Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State the Clinton Foundation raked in hundred of millions of donations from governments and others who were doing business with Mrs. Clinton – in every sense of the word.
One of the most recent revelations concerns a $12 million gift to the Foundation from the King of Morocco. The king had one condition: that the Clinton Foundation would hold its 2015 convention in Morocco, with Hillary as the keynote speaker. The Foundation got the money, but Hillary did not attend – her husband Bill and their daughter Chelsea did. Now, this was not when Mrs. C. was Secretary of State, she was a private citizen, running for President. Foreign donations to an American election campaign are explicitly illegal, although the Clintons have raked in millions from the 1990s to today. Again, nothing to look at here.
The final scandal on our plate today is Mr. Trump’s “refusal” to accept the outcome of the election. To hear Mrs. Clinton tell it, he practically threatened armed rebellion in the streets. Of course he did no such thing, and said nothing beyond what Barack Obama said in 2008, or John Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000. No one should "accept" an election in which one thinks the count is crooked or the process is illegitimate. Mr. Gore did not; Mr. Kerry and Mr. Obama speculated that they might have to overcome shenanigans. When Mr. Trump expresses such a belief, it is seen as subversive; when the others say it, everyone understood what they meant.
All of this boils down to: the Trump campaign is called to account for every mistake, error, blunder or offense; the Clinton campaign is