I had a dear friend once — a pastor who told me, “Everybody has a god. It is what they believe will do them the most good.” In America, today, for the overwhelming number of people, I believe that god is money.

Certainly, the god of Donald Trump and his family is money. The power of the office of president is seen as a means of using the influence of his office to amass more money. He saved 70,000 Chinese jobs at ZTE — a company sanctioned by the Trump administration itself — after China invested $500 million in a Trump-connected resort. Ivanka received several new brands from China and made nearly $4 million last year in profits from her small stake in the Old Post Office in D.C., a Trump hotel, which it is illegal for Trump (as a government official) to make any profits from. He said he would donate said profits, but there is no evidence he has done so. Russian connections have been a financial boon for him, which is why Michael Flynn was on the phone to Russia telling them sanctions would soon be lifted while Trump was giving his inauguration speech. Flynn (and Trump) expected to be rewarded financially for lifting those sanctions, but then Flynn was publicly exposed and Trump was forced to fire him.

Trump created a charitable foundation he is now alleged to have used as a personal piggy bank. He, himself, gave no money to the foundation between 2008 and 2016. People donated to his charity thinking their money was being used to do good works. He paid a $100,000 business fine from his charity, bought two portraits of himself for $30,000, paid his son’s $7 Boy Scout fees, decorated a golf club, etc. He hosted a “veterans event” during his campaign. He said he was donating $1 million to veterans organizations, but he did not actually write the check until months later after reporters revealed he had not actually donated any money. Most damning, it appears he used his charity to finance his campaign. As a guest on Chris Hayes’ show said, “It is like these people were raised by wolves. They have no regard for or interest in the law. They have gotten away with thumbing their noses at the law their entire lives.”

I do not write these letters to benefit Trump supporters. They only believe what “der leader” says. They know Trump is a crook and a liar, but they don’t care. I write for those who do care. Manafort lived in Trump Tower for many years. He worked on the campaign 144 days — not the lie of “49 days” Trump claimed. Manaford was around long enough to influence the Republican platform to appease Russia. Trump said Kim Jun Un “loves” his people and they love him. He said “thousands and thousands” of the 101-plus-year-old parents of American soldiers killed in Korea begged him to bring home the bodies of their sons.

Lonna Gooden Van Horn

Northwood