June 2011 Politico article:
Trump has given more on a federal level to the GOP than Democrats over past 20 years, 1991-2011: $508,000 to $392,000, including $50,000 to Karl Rove's group in 2010 [per FEC database]. "On a single day in July 1996, four Trump companies gave a total of $250,000 to the Republican National Committee."
6/3/2011, "Trump out of race, but not his money," Politico, Molly Ball and Lucy McCalmont
"A Politico analysis of Trump's history as a donor sheds light on the way the New York developer could shape coming elections-much more so than by lashing out on cable news or appearing at events like the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in D.C. on Friday.
Despite his sharp rhetoric during his brief time on the campaign trail, Trump’s donations signal he has no particular partisan bias....
At the state level, he gave more than $680,000 to Democratic candidates and committees and less than $420,000 to Republicans.
At the federal level, however, Trump’s gifts to GOP candidates and committees exceeded those to Democrats, $508,000 to $392,000, and he has also donated to Republican-focused PACs like American Crossroads, to which he gave $50,000 in October 2010. [Per FEC database]
These totals include gifts by Trump’s companies, which gave large sums of unlimited soft money in the 1990s. On a single day in July 1996, four Trump companies gave a total of $250,000 to the Republican National Committee. At the same time, he donated to more individual federal Democratic candidates (47) than to Republican candidates (38).
The POLITICO analysis found Trump heavily involved in politics in his native New York but also making contributions in state-level campaigns in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“Like a lot of very wealthy businesspeople, Trump has not only donated to one political party but to both, in an attempt to curry favor with both sides of the aisle,” said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which has tracked Trump’s federal donations.
There is a different model for business magnates who give generously in politics — that of Charles and David Koch, wide-ranging funders of economically conservative causes, or George Soros on the left. Trump, it is made clear from his donations, isn’t that kind of political businessman....
The bulk of Trump’s giving to politicians and to party committees has been where he has the most business: New York. His New York donations total about $850,000 at the state level going back to the mid-1990s, plus another $61,500 to federal candidates from New York since 1990. Of that, $660,000-more than 70 percent-went to Democrats and Democratic committees....
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Trump defended his giving by noting that the Democratic Party is in power in his home state. In New York, he told Fox News, “Everyone’s Democratic. So what am I going to do, contribute to Republicans?…I’m not stupid.”...
While Trump ranks among the Empire State’s biggest political donors, Mahoney said, the pattern of his giving reveals no consistent philosophy but, rather, a businessman hoping to stay in government’s good graces."...
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Added: It would be nice to believe a donation to NY State Republicans would do any good. A "Republican" in NY State managed to get elected and rise to NY State Senate Majority Leader, but now Republican Dean Skelos is expected to be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison after conviction on
12/29/2015, Front page of New York Daily News for Dec. 12 (2015) featuring, from left, Dean Skelos (R-NY), Adam Skelos, his son, and Sheldon Silver (D-NY)
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12/29/2015, "Dean Skelos files retirement papes after corruption conviction, could get pension of more than 95G a year," NY Daily News, Glenn Blain================
2/17/2016, "Corrupt ex-NY Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will receive $96G pension, despite likely prison term on horizon," NY Daily News, Glenn Blain
"Disgraced ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is likely headed to the big house, but not the poor house. Skelos, who was convicted in December on federal corruption charges, will receive an annual pension of $95,832 regardless of whether he’s sentenced-as expected-to prison later this spring, the state controller’s office confirmed Wednesday.
The Nassau County Republican put in for his retirement just days after a federal jury in Manhattan convicted him and his son Adam on eight counts of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. They face up to 120 years in prison."...
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