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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums[A very satisfying read] Trump Is on the Verge of Losing Everything
By Jonathan Chait
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But now, finally, the end is at hand. Trump is suffering a series of wounds that, in combination, are likely to be fatal after Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20. Trump is obviously going to surrender his office. Beyond that looming defeat, he is undergoing a cascading sequence of political, financial, and legal setbacks that cumulatively spell utter ruin. Trump is not only losing his job but quite possibly everything else.
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One crisis, though the most opaque, concerns Trumps business. Many of his sources of income are drying up, either owing to the coronavirus pandemic or, more often, his toxic public image. The Washington Post has toted up the setbacks facing the Trump Organization, which include cancellations of partnerships with New York City government, three banks, the PGA Championship, and a real-estate firm that handled many of his leasing agreements. Meanwhile, he faces the closure of many of his hotels. And he is staring down two defamation lawsuits. Oh, and Trump has to repay, over the next four years, more than $300 million in outstanding loans he personally guaranteed.
Trump has reinvented his business model before, and he may discover new income streams, probably by monetizing the loyalty of his fanatical base through some kind of Trump-branded news organization, as has been predicted since before the 2016 election. But starting a media property is difficult and hardly a guarantee to make money. (Its not as if conservative alt-news fans have nowhere else to find an angry white man shouting about antifa, socialism, and Black Lives Matter protesters.) One Republican who speaks to Trump hopefully suggested Trump can make money holding more rallies: If you can [get] 30,000 people to show up and you charge them $5, thats real money, he told the Post two months ago. Actually, a $150,000 gross payout, before deducting the costs of renting a venue, staff, security, and travel, is probably a negligible or even negative profit, not real money, and the fact its being considered reveals a certain desperation.
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If this were still 2015, Trump could fall back on his tried-and-true income generators: money laundering and tax fraud. The problem is that his business model relied on chronically lax enforcement of those financial crimes. And now he is under investigation by two different prosecutors in New York State for what appear to be black-letter violations of tax law. At minimum, these probes will make it impossible for him to stay afloat by stealing more money. At maximum, he faces the serious risk of millions of dollars in fines or a criminal prosecution that could send him to prison.
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https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/donald-trump-after-presidency.html
musette_sf
(10,202 posts)CentralMass
(15,265 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Initech
(100,080 posts)But you know what? Since Trump has literally insulted everyone and everything in his four years, fuck it! I will delight in watching him suffer and squirm!
RainCaster
(10,884 posts)PJMcK
(22,037 posts)... there have been few people who deserve to be repeatedly kicked when they're down.
Trump is decidedly one of those creatures.
dutch777
(3,023 posts)I really want him to stop being THE story of the day.
Aussie105
(5,401 posts)and then some more, to undo problems from the past, only to make them worse.
But negative thinking or the possibility of failure isn't part of Trump's thinking.
Becoming POTUS would solve all his problems money wise, he'd be worshipped by young and old and a second term with others to possibly follow, were a certainty.
Impeachment Version 1 should have been a danger signal all was not going to plan, but Trump ignored that, as he does with everything negative that happens to him.
The power of positive thought, fueled by his Bigly Brain (TM) and Genius Status (TM) would win the day!
Seems not.
But viewed from that perspective, the 2020 election certainly was 'stolen' from him.
He feels the loss of his plans, and needs to blame others - so it was stolen, by devious people, people who won't let him be who he is. (Or thinks he is)
At his age though, he cannot adjust his internal value system to explain and adjust to the losses. He will just go insane, quietly (loudly, actually) complaining how much of a undeserving victim of other peoples' evil he is.
The 25th won't be invoked. But when he is a private citizen, any lawyer could build a good case for an insanity plea on all the things he will be prosecuted for.
ProfessorGAC
(65,076 posts)Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)he's indicted. Rudy And Sidney would be eaten alive.
SunSeeker
(51,571 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,609 posts)Bill Clinton had huge debts from legal fees. His book helped him a lot financially. Of course he wouldn't pay for attorneys anyway.
Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Most people I knew thought his impeachment was bullshit, over a sleazy but consensual affair that should never have been treated like a matter of so much national importance.
Trump has a 29% approval rating now. Even a lot of his fanatical base is turning on him. If he put out a book now (which would have to be ghostwritten just like The Art of the Deal was), it would be remaindered really fast. There's not that much money in it. Nowhere near enough to bail his ass out now that even Deutschebank has dumped him.
BigmanPigman
(51,609 posts)I want him to be miserable after doing this to our country.
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,602 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,967 posts)SunSeeker
(51,571 posts)My favorite passage:
Jon King
(1,910 posts)Like I keep saying, destroy everything Trump legally and financially. The day must come when Trump's grand kids grow up and change their last names to distance themselves from the shameful legacy. The entire Trump 3rd generation crime family must be crushed.
Brother Mythos
(1,442 posts)Thank you for finding and posting it.
moonscape
(4,673 posts)the night just as I am.
Sweet dreams.
wnylib
(21,487 posts)about something he doesn't want to hear?
keithbvadu2
(36,829 posts)Wonder how his political donations are pulling in for him?
NJCher
(35,685 posts)Gave him money before he died. Dont know how much.
OneBlueSky
(18,536 posts)that since the election, Trump has squeezed over $400 million from the suckers and losers who still think that he's some kind of King Shit . . . and most of it undoubtedly went straight into his own pocket . . . should be enough for him to live on for awhile . . .
DENVERPOPS
(8,835 posts)Trump, Ivanka, and Jared made a fortune that they grifted off the pandemic supplies that is probably stashed in some off shore account.
And all three of them probably collected a TON of U.S. Intelligence info to sell to other countries, in their life after the presidency !!
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)He has nobody to blame for his public perception than himself and I for one, am happy with the result.
He could have stayed home in NY and just lived his life (however sorry it was) but NO. He HAD to run for President and expose his sorry ass to the world.
Serves him right. I didn't hate the man when he ran for Potus, I laughed at him.
I'm not laughing anymore. He deserves everything that comes his way. Fuck him.
ailsagirl
(22,897 posts)I don't have a shred of sympathy-- never have. I always knew (hoped?) he would end up destroying everything around him-- and so he has.
Honestly, if I never heard his name again it would be too soon.
malaise
(269,054 posts)I just hope the Obamas are having a good laugh.
Withywindle
(9,988 posts)"The easiest way out of the self-pardon dilemma would be for Trump to make a deal with Mike Pence, under which he would resign before leaving office and Pence would grant him a pardon. Unfortunately for Trump, Pence is still sore about the whole whipping up a paramilitary mob to lynch him episode."
Reading this actually made me ever-so-briefly relate to Mike Pence.
safeinOhio
(32,688 posts)The perfect con for him. He would have no trouble playing the Son of God, only a little ruff around the edges.
I can see it.
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)safeinOhio
(32,688 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,829 posts)Apocalypse Chow: We Tried Televangelist Jim Bakker's 'Survival Food'
(It did not get rave reviews)
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/03/456677535/apocalypse-chow-we-tried-televangelist-jim-bakkers-survival-food
C Moon
(12,213 posts)like they have to Trump. And that appears to be worldwide.
This guy is screwed.
The way the FBI is going after the jackasses who tried to overthrown our government is sending a powerful message to the MAGAs. Trump's DOJ can try to water it down, but we are just beginning to see what they were trying to do, and who was involved.
Blue Owl
(50,423 posts)DesertRat
(27,995 posts)Quixote1818
(28,946 posts)Won't that be an eye opener.