Trump is Toxic Beyond Politics: West Palm Beach Charities are Fleeing Mar-a-Lago

Unforeseen political fallout is starting to have a direct affect not only on the President politically, but professionally.

Given the controversies, contradictions, and the growing number of firings and defections, it is perfectly excusable if you felt compelled to describe Trump’s administration as a zoo. What is rather stark is when this description becomes unacceptable to an actual zoo.

In light of many of the inflamed controversies of the past month, as well as numerous other potentially disturbing events, the upper crust of West Palm Beach Florida is seeing the effects. The President’s personal resort Mar-a-Lago has witnessed an exodus of posh events staged by non-profit organizations over the past few months, with many joining in within the past couple of weeks..

On Sunday an announcement came down that the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society has decided it would no longer stage a fundraising event at Donald Trump’s resort in West Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago. The zoo’s president/CEO Andrew Aiken made the decision official on August 20.

• “We have an unyielding commitment to inspire people to act on behalf of wildlife and the natural world,” said Aiken. “After thoughtful consideration by zoo leadership, we have decided it is important that we not allow distractions to deter us from our mission and culture. It is critical that the focus of this special night remains on saving species and raising awareness and money for the hundreds of animals, many of them endangered, in our care.”

On the very same day another charitable group – Morse Life – declared that it would also seek out alternate venues to stage its fundraising luncheon. This is the second event Morse Life has relocated, following the December dinner-dance fundraiser it moved to The Breakers Resort. These events had been held annually at Mar-a-Lago for the past ten years.

To date this has brought the total of charities who have relocated fundraisers, galas, and balls from Trump’s exclusive resort to nineteen. This number may in fact swell further. Two additional groups — Palm Beach Habilitation Center, and The Kravis Center — had meetings slated for this week, deciding to also stage their fundraisers at locations apart from Trump’s club.

While the cost of these defections is tough to pinpoint, the Washington Post found some significant figures.

They can pay up to $275,000 for a single night’s revelry. The big gala events seem to bring in more than $100,000 per night each, according to a survey of charity leaders and tax documents. The luncheons can bring in anywhere from $24,000 to more than $80,000.

Another two groups who used Mar-a-Lago last year have not yet scheduled reservations at the resort.

The post Trump is Toxic Beyond Politics: West Palm Beach Charities are Fleeing Mar-a-Lago appeared first on RedState.