Donald Trump wants others to vote for him in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, but he hasn't cast a vote in a presidential race himself in the last six elections,
National Review reports.
The billionaire real-estate developer and TV personality didn't even vote in 2000, 2004 and 2012 when he flirted with running for president himself, according to National Review, which looked through voting records.
In some instances Trump wasn't eligible to vote in primaries because he had changed his party registration, but he also sat out general elections all while donating to candidates and urging others to vote.
Trump has given hundreds of thousands to candidates over the years, and though he is now running as a Republican, he has given more to Democrats than Republicans. He even gave to Friends of Hillary Clinton during her 2002 successful Senate run, and would likely face her in the general election if he became the GOP nominee.
Trump has given $476,000 to Democratic candidates and committees compared to the $452,000 he has given Republicans, National Review said, citing New York State Board of Elections and Federal Election Commission records.
Trump said in 2011 he had few options in the blue state of New York since hardly any of the candidates there are Republican,
The Washington Post reported at the time.
But investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, who wrote a book on Trump in 1992, told National Review he no longer needs to try to curry favor for his real estate developments.
Trump, Barrett said, "is not playing the same kind of game he once played in New York politics because he’s not doing projects that [New York politicians] have discretion over. . . . You don’t have to buy a politician to put your name on a project."
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