As Michelle Wolf so expertly pointed out a few years ago, the only thing that seems to cause Donald Trump to feel a modicum of shame is noting just how poor he really is.
The so-called billionaire developed his legendary inability to tell the truth in the world of American business, where he was known for inflating the values of his properties and his own net worth. But, much like a turd that’s been painted gold, that poorly constructed veneer was bound to fail eventually.
The former president and notorious con man is known for not paying people on time and trying to cheat at everything from golf to elections. He’s also currently in court for so many different things that it would actually be impressive if it wasn’t such a damning indictment of the broken nature of the U.S. political system. Indeed, American conservatism has been so abundantly highjacked by corrupt Republicans that they wouldn’t be out of place as Marvel villains.
One major result of all this legal action is the fact that the former Apprentice host now owes the courts a lot of money, which he is trying to weasel out of paying. If he were actually a billionaire, as he has claimed for most of his life, Trump would probably be able to pay it by liquidating some assets or securing a loan. After all, the thing about money is that when everyone thinks you have enough, you can easily get more. Trump’s problem is that everyone now knows he doesn’t have enough and even his favorite Russian sources appear to have dried up. It seems that having a Manchurian candidate is only viable when they’re actually in power, and Putin would rather spend his cash on a Ukraine offensive than a glorified puppet.
One of the major fines that Trump has to pay is related to the case that the New York Attorney General brought against the Trump Organization, which for years has secured loans based on inflated property values. The overall cost (which includes judgments against his physically adult but mentally not sons Don Jr. and Eric) of the bond is set to be $464 million, with around $10 million of that being the result of the disgorgement for his adult offspring. His legal team has claimed that they’ve gone to 30 underwriters to back the bond only to receive no positive feedback. Trump needs to pay before the end of the month, although as we’ve learned over the past eight years, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll actually face any consequences for not doing so.
None of this takes into account that Trump has to pay, E. Jean Carroll tens of millions of dollars, an amount that seems to increase every time Trump opens his mouth. As per CNN, insurance broker Gary Giulietti confirmed that securing the full amount of the bond is “a practical impossibility.” So is building a southern border wall that will actually end illegal immigration, but that didn’t stop Trump from trying.
Trump’s legal team has attempted to get the appeals court to delay the date the bond needs to be posted, stating that the value of his properties is way higher than the judgement, so he’s, like, totally good for it. And, if you like gold-plated toilets made of shoddy materials, you might agree with that assessment. In theory, Trump has had to pay this fine since last month, when Judge Engoron confirmed that the GOP nominee was liable for conspiracy, fraud, and issuing false business records as well as false financial statements. The gist of all of this was that Trump’s team had inflated the value of his assets so it could get better rates on loans and insurance policies. He is currently appealing the ruling, but as part of that, he needs to post a bond of what he owes, which will be held in an account until the matter is settled. It could take years to untangle the complex mess of financial lies that the Trump Organization has woven, which means that money is as good as gone when Trump needs it most as he tries to keep his stuttering campaign for election alive.
The MAGA messiah has backed down from some of his hardline stances against following the rule of law, posting the $91.6 million bond he was required to pay as part of the defamation case E. Jean Carroll bought against him. However, as the amount owed to New York is almost five times larger, insurance companies tend to require cash or stocks as collateral in helping to post the bond rather than the properties Trump is seeking to leverage. Perhaps all of that dodgy accounting is finally going to come back to bite Trump, and we’ll see a rare but much deserved case of consequences.
