New York City

Brooklyn man campaigns to house Muslim refugees in Trump Tower

‘Not only will it remind America of its founding ideals, it will piss off Trump’

February 13, 2017 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn resident Jonah Bliss has started an Indigogo campaign to raise money to house Muslim refugees in Trump Tower. AP photo
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A Brooklyn man wants to help house Muslim refugees by sheltering them in — of all places — Trump Tower.

Social entrepreneur Jonah Bliss has started an Indigogo campaign to raise the roughly $60,000 it will cost to do this.

“We’re fundraising to house a Muslim refugee couple or young family in an available unit of Trump Tower,” Bliss explains on his Indiegogo page.

“Not only will it remind America of its founding ideals, it will piss off Trump, while helping put a well-manicured roof over needy refugees.”

Bliss aims to house refugees from one of the seven predominantly Muslim countries barred from entry to the United States by Trump in a recently-stayed executive order.

“The President has spent years boasting about the luxurious amenities of this address. Who would be more befitting of those benefits than a refugee who has spent the last months and years of their life fleeing a war torn nation?” Bliss asks.

Amenities at the gilt-covered tower include a 24-hour concierge, doormen, a fitness facility, onsite landscaped atriums and views of Central Park. With round-the-clock NYPD and Secret Service protection, Trump Tower might just be the securest place in New York, Bliss says.

There might be a few drawbacks for the Muslim refugees, however, Bliss adds.

“We’re taking the utmost care to make sure this project beneficiary is secure, and is someone who is not only comfortable living in Trump Tower (the building seems like it might be full of a**holes), but will be comfortable with the media scrutiny such a life may entail,” he warns.

“Naturally, anyone that chooses to live there will have to be comfortable with this heavy handed approach, as well as the presence of nearby protestors and gawkers,” he says.

Bliss told the Brooklyn Eagle that he is “just trying to make the world a slightly better place.”

The idea for the campaign came to him pretty quickly after Trump announced his travel ban, he explained.

“His executive order was an act so unprecedented and outlandish, that I figured we needed something equally provocative to fight back. So, the campaign not only ensures that all the money goes to house refugees, it serves as a reminder of the American ideals that our President is trying so hard to rebuke,” Bliss said.

Blass says he is working with a few advocacy organizations to source volunteers to live in the housing.

“Ultimately, the number of people we can help depends on how much we raise.”

The money raised will not even benefit Trump, Bliss said, because “the available units have long since been purchased from him, and are now owned individually.”

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