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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Explaining the Trump crime empire is difficult because Reality Is Unrealistic. It's such a terrible money sink it's difficult to believe he's managed to keep the plates spinning for 40+ years.
However, the basic way it functions is a very simple, "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." Donald Trump borrows massive amounts of money from banks using the assets of his late father and the Trump business properties to gain cash. Then he uses this cash to pay the interest on all the previous loans he's taken out.
"But Charles, doesn't that mean that Trump is mortgaged up to his eyeballs?"
Yes, citizen, it does. Donald Trump in fact went bankrupt as a whole to the extent of BILLIONS of dollars in debt in the Nineties. He stole 600,000,000 dollars from his late father's estate (he claimed he only got 60 then 200 million—both lies) and lost all of that covering his existing debt's interest. Trump proceeded to switch his business strategy to no longer making any business investments of himself but serving as a money launderer for foreign powers.
Say, the dictator of Kazakhstan wants to build a hotel in Mexico City. Mexico's government does not want to do this because of money laundering for a dictatorship. Donald Trump proceeds to sell the name of his company for their hotel for, 20,000,000 dollars, instead of a portion of the business but a flat cash payment. This is then used to make, "Trump Hotels - Mexico City" which Mexicans think is an American business.
https://www.ft.com/content/33285dfa-9231-11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923
Trump then takes the 20,000,000 and uses it to pay off the interest to all of his loans. Trump steaks, Trump vodka, Trump University and so on are all designed to generate as much liquid capital as possible because that's all Trump cares about. Sometimes, he also takes out MORE loans like those German banks or China granted him, despite most of the business world being wise to his scam.
He did this sale of his name to HUNDREDS of businesses and kept himself somewhat afloat until Russia started buying his debt like buying his 10,000,000 Malibu home for 40,000,000 and other suspicious payments. All of this basically just designed to get Trump out of his massive debt. Even then he's STILL hemorraghing money en masse because he didn't STOP borrowing.
This is why Trump is the first completely bought and paid for President.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 27th 2020 at 3:55:07 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.That's one way to look at it. Another is that he's a spoiled rich kid who learned to behave like a mob boss from his rich dad. He's an ideal example of the ultimate outcome of corrupt capitalism, but he himself is far from a capitalist.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"He's not just a bad businessman.
He is quite possibly the worst businessman of all time.
Which is impressive.
Or he is the greatest con man of all time, surpassing Bernie Madoff.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 27th 2020 at 4:15:41 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.If he's such a bad businessman, then HOW THE [long bleep] WAS HE ABLE TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO KEEP GIVING HIM THEIR [bleep]ING MONEY? (rhetorical question, I know the answer to that question already)
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.He's an awful businessman and also pretty shit as a con man given how transparent his cons are. He is a man who has created an apotheosis of selling his brand. He makes it prestigious to "do business with Trump".
Edited by Fighteer on Sep 27th 2020 at 7:21:12 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Suckers. Trump's all about them. As PT Barnum said, "There's one born every minute," and for every person who wises up to Trump's schemes because they got burned, there are ten more waiting to get taken.
Look at all the people who play the lottery. Statistically speaking, they'd do better to burn their money. But they keep playing nonetheless, and this is the mentality that Trump preys on. Except in his case it's the lottery mentality among the rich.
Edited by Fighteer on Sep 27th 2020 at 7:26:44 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"This is actually a worthwhile answer to explore as Donald Trump's debt is lucrative as he's never able to pay the debt back but he is quite good at paying the interest and as any bank knows, that's where the real money is. He's not running a con on the banks, they're running a con on him.
Donald Trump keeping up appearances has made him the largest debtor in history. The lengths he's willing to go to keep the plates spinning has also shown he's completely willing to engage in mass fraud as well as international conspiracy. That allows him to reach further and leave people holding the bag even when he's not paying construction workers and pocketing their pay until he settles for half the cost in a lawsuit.
Certainly, the dictators and oligarchs he's worked with aren't dissatisfied with what they pay for. There's also foreign pressure involved once Donald started befriending dictators. THE APPRENTICE actually helped rescue Donald from obscurity as his offices were a pig sty and almost no one in New York was willing to work with him anymore.
After the Apprentice, "new money" billionaires and investors of less genius intellects get pulled in by the allure of Donald Trump's mystique that he is one of the world's richest men. Because Donald is smart enough to never let his property get repossessed and thus he always has more collateral for his loans.
Right up until Russia consolidated his debt.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 27th 2020 at 4:33:54 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.It's almost humorous because you'd expect the Corrupt Corporate Executive to be one of the intelligent forms of evil. "Almost" is the key word, of course.
My musician pageDonald Trump's entire life can be summarized as being like Homer Simpson maxing out a credit card, applying for two more, and using them to pay the previous one's debt before repeating it.
Expect throw in being Monty Burns' son and then inheriting his fortune and using it to pay off the first few hundred cards...interest.
And then getting Fat Tony's help making a new nuclear plant.
Okay this Simpson's metaphor is wandering...
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 27th 2020 at 4:39:39 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Yes, the New York Times just published a huge article about them.
I would say “disgusted, but not surprised”, but honestly this is such old news that I’ve already used up all my disgust for it.
I look forward to watching him squirm Tuesday night, though.
Oh God! Natural light!You kind of have to wonder what is wrong with a system that allows such a terrible businessman as Trump to succeed for so long. He somehow keeps turning failure into success despite himself.
No wonder he is delusional about his own abilities.
Trump is pretty good at making the fascists come out of the woodwork. So perhaps he is indeed like a leech.
Edited by Redmess on Sep 27th 2020 at 3:23:53 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest times

Well, Trump has unmistakably used his influence as President to get lots of fresh income for his companies, but that's going to dry up when he leaves office, especially if it's in a failed reelection bid. Also, his Doral resort is still losing money even with all the business he's been sending its way, and the IRS is holding a potential $100 million repayment in claimed tax refunds over his head.
Apparently, the reason that audit is still pending is that the IRS board is split 50/50 between Republican and Democrat members over it.
Edited by Fighteer on Sep 27th 2020 at 6:38:37 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"