CORRUPTION
Trump Talked to Billionaire Owner of Equinox and SoulCycle – a Top Donor – Day Before He Called to Reopen America’s Gyms

President Donald Trump’s “plan” to re-open America amid the global coronavirus pandemic includes re-opening gyms across the country. Health and medical experts found that strange, given that gyms can be filled with people working out, often close together, breathing heavily – the perfect conditions for, say, a virus that’s transmitted by droplets in the breath to spread.
But as The Daily Beast reports, President Trump spoke to the billionaire owner of Equinox Sports Clubs, Stephen Ross (photo), who is also a top donor to the Trump campaign, just one day before unveiling his plan to re-open America – which includes re-opening gyms in “phase one” of the “plan.”
“Gyms are like a petri dish,” Laurence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, told The Daily Beast. “People are close to one another, they’re sweating, they’re coughing and sneezing, they’re touching multiple surfaces, they’re sharing equipment, they’re indoors. Literally all of the heightened risk factors for COVID transmission are all entwined together in a gym.”
Ross is the founder and chairman of the Related Companies, a massive $50 billion corporation that serves as the parent company for among many other businesses, the Equinox Group. Equinox includes Equinox Sports Clubs, SoulCycle, PURE Yoga, Blink Fitness, Precision Run, Equinox Hotels, PROJECT by Equinox, Equinox Explore, and Equinox Media.
Last summer Ross, who also owns the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, faced a firestorm after hosting a $250,000 a plate fundraiser for President Trump.
The Related Companies happens to also be the largest landlord in New York City.
Outrage over Ross raising a reported $12 million to help Trump get re-elected was huge. Many boycotted Equinox and SoulCycle.
Celebrities are calling for a boycott of SoulCycle and Equinox after owner Stephen Ross planned a fundraiser for Trump pic.twitter.com/9ypm3hLA9a
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 10, 2019
$12 million in one night. All the canceled Equinox and SoulCycle subscriptions? Any threats to boycott his @MiamiDolphins? The clear fact that you can’t support a white nationalist president and claim that you are personally a champion of racial justice? Ross just didn’t care. https://t.co/dGh10EWOdc
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 12, 2019
Trump’s changes to the estate tax are with $4.4M to Stephen Ross, who hosted this wknd’s fundraiser.
That tax cut is 40 times > average American’s total wealth.
This is how Trump gets away with destroying our country.
Boycott @Equinox & @soulcycle! https://t.co/TEOPvRWTYn
— Liuba Grechen Shirley (@liuba4congress) August 10, 2019
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
![]() |