Politics - News Analysis

Trump-Loving Televangelist Got $4M Covid Relief Bailout and Bought Himself Private Jet

These stories seem to pop-up two to three times a month. It would seem that one of the reasons that the hard religious right is so attracted to Trump is that he is just like them, always on the take. The amazing part is that some of these leaders do not even try to hide any of this, and yet the money still flows in. It flows in despite the fact that everyone knows that it’s to subsidize the lifestyle of the guy at the top.

This time the guy is Marcus Lamb, the head of Daystar TV, which is a tax-exempt religious network. Despite the fact that Daystar doesn’t pay a dollar in taxes, they had no problem applying for the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help pay employees’ salaries. They received $3.9 million from the program.

Yeah, except, no. According to Inside Edition:

Inside Edition has learned that just two weeks after being approved for millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, the church bought a private jet — a multimillion-dollar 1997 Gulfstream V. The luxury aircraft, which Lamb says they got for less than half the market value, holds up to 14 passengers. Lamb says Daystar was able to buy the jet with proceeds from an investment and the sale of its old jet, not by using government PPP money. 

Remarkable timing. And one would think that paying people would be the primary duty ahead of purchasing a Gulfstream but one would have to be a Christian to think that way. Of course, Lamb says that the jet is used for ministry purposes and that could in fact be true if his personal ministry involves praying from Key West in January and Jackson Hole Wyoming in July. A guy has to refresh himself and all, and flying coach is just sooo pagan.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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