Ross: Trump ‘lot of good’, ‘lot of bad’
Dolphins owner feels some regret over fundraiser in New York Times interview
Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross tip-toed around his political support for President Donald Trump and expressed some regret for hosting a campaign fundraiser last year in a Q&A published by the New York Times on Thursday.
Ross, the Dolphins’ owner since 2010, said the goal of the Trump luncheon fundraiser was to “help raise money for New York with the people that I know in Washington.”
The remorse Ross has from the event — which was held at his home in the Hamptons last August with entrance fees of $100,000 and $250,000 — stems from the negative effects the fundraiser had on his business partners, he said.
When asked why Ross is supporting Trump’s reelection campaign, Ross tells the New York Times: “I mean, first of all, who said I was?” before the fundraiser is mentioned during the interview.
“I’ve known President Trump for a long time. I’ve known him and I’ve liked him,” Ross said, according
to the Times. “I don’t agree with a lot of his policies. I believe there’s a lot of good, and I believe there’s a lot of bad.”
While Ross seems to vehemently disagree with the President’s stance on the environment and climate change, he praised Trump’s
business policies and work for the economy.
“I think he’s been a little divisive,” Ross said in the article. “But I think there are a lot of great business policies he’s enacted that have been fantastic and nobody else could have done it but him.”
Ross added “You have to put it all together, and no one’s perfect.”
Ross also said, with hindsight, he “feels terrible” his business partners lost money after the Trump fundraiser, which former Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills openly criticized shortly before being traded away from the team.
“If I would have known the impact of what happened last year, would I have thought about it differently? Of course,” Ross said in the article. “I mean, here I am being called a racist when I’ve set up and spent more money as an individual in dealing with racism than anybody in the country.
Added Ross: “A lot of money was lost from people who were complaining about me. It makes me feel terrible. But I know who I am and I will continue fighting for those causes that I believe need to be dealt with. I will fight for climate control. I will fight against racism. I’m probably the biggest advocate in the country on both of them.”
Ross, the real estate mogul who developed the Hudson Yards area of New York, also emphasized during the interview that more than half of his net worth will go to philanthropy work when he dies through The Giving Pledge organization.
Ross recently pledged $3 million for the Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program, which is committed to distributing 1,000 meals each weekday for a year in the South Florida community.