OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The media loves to report on the bombastic things that former President Donald Trump says, but Speaker of the House and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy told a previously unknown story about when the former president did an act of kindness for a gold star family.
The Speaker appeared on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast and told the story of what happened when the families of two of the people who were killed during President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan specifically sought his hotel to stay at during their trip to Washington DC, Western Journal reported.
McCarthy said he phoned the former president to tell him of the two families and what they had done.
“[Trump] gets on the phone with me and this is what he says: ‘I’m going to go call the manager. You tell them I’m picking up their tab.’ He didn’t want anybody to know. He didn’t put it on Truth. He didn’t put out a tweet. He told me privately, and he pays for it. And that’s the thing nobody sees about him,” the Speaker said.
On @DonaldJTrumpJr’s podcast, @SpeakerMcCarthy says that President Trump paid the hotel tab for a fallen Afghanistan withdrawal soldier’s gold star family who came to visit McCarthy in his office. pic.twitter.com/JDXYLTnTM3
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 27, 2023
There was a ton of responses on Twitter.
“From the beginning- when I was NOT at all sure about DJT & was simply voting against Hilly, I saw many stories like this . My response was ‘ actions speak louder than words’ A person who does these things CANNOT be a bad guy,” one Twitter user said.
From the beginning- when I was NOT at all sure about DJT & was simply voting against Hilly, I saw many stories like this . My response was ‘ actions speak louder than words’ A person who does these things CANNOT be a bad guy.
— Diane Hardwick (@DianeHardwick) January 27, 2023
“Trump has actually done a lot of things like that, even prior to being President. I heard he paid off the mortgage for a guy that stopped and helped change a flat tire on his limo, and he had an entire ER refurbished in NYC within a month of saying he would do so,” another said.
Trump has actually done a lot of things like that, even prior to being President. I heard he paid off the mortgage for a guy that stopped and helped change a flat tire on his limo, and he had an entire ER refurbished in NYC within a month of saying he would do so.
— Chrissy, RN (@Rycher614) January 27, 2023
“Trump does this kind of stuff all the time,” another person said.
Trump does this kind of stuff all the time
— Loukukumo (@Louise89763771) January 27, 2023
“My best friend was friends with an employee of Trump who traveled with him all the time. This was before Trump got into politics. He told my friend that Trump often would help people in this way,” another said.
My best friend was friends with an employee of Trump who traveled with him all the time. This was before Trump got into politics. He told my friend that Trump often would help people in this way.
— Mary L Nelson (@Marylife) January 27, 2023
In 2016 a woman named Betsy Sharp spoke at a Trump rally and told a story about how he paid off her family’s mortgage for their farm after her dad committed suicide, The Daily Mail reported.
The man believed that his life insurance would pay the remainder on the mortgage so the family could keep the property that had been in his family around a century so he killed himself on the morning the property was to go to auction.
What he did not know was that his insurance had an exemption for suicide.
“Trump heard about the case in news reports and paid off the last $77,000 owed on a $300,000 bank loan himself, showing up in Burke County, Georgia to burn the mortgage papers with Mrs. Hill in a photo-op that locals still talk about,” The Mail reported.
“Today my brother lives on the farm and he has one of his daughters, they have built a house. But if it wasn’t for his generosity, his kind heart – he didn’t know us from Burke County at all,” the woman said.
“’And he saw the story and he couldn’t believe that the bank was forcing my father to go to that depth,’ she said.
“What I want you all to know is how kindhearted and caring he is. He cares about America. He cares about farmers, He cares about veterans. He truly wants to make America great again, and I think if we help him, we can get there,” she said.
The former president said he thought he would have been able to do it cheaper than he did but that the banker would not budge.
“I figured I could do it a lot cheaper than paying off the mortgage,” the former president said. “I found out the name of the bank. That was a mean banker, I want to tell you.”
“I called up: ‘We’re gonna take you through hell, we’re gonna this, we’re gonna that.’ I couldn’t get the guy to cut! So I bought the mortgage and I said, ‘The hell with it,’” he said.
