For those of you who can’t seem to understand why so many Americans are hesitant to trust our current president, here’s a look back at the decades that shaped our opinions. Turns out he didn’t just appear out of nowhere on The Apprentice!
Trump in the 50s
Caught by neighbor tossing rocks at a toddler in a play pen.
First becomes a millionaire even though he won’t turn 14 until the end of the decade, he’s on the family business’s payroll to the tune of $250,000 per year. This fairly common method of legal money laundering/tax evasion isn’t unique to the Trumps, but it does fly in the face of the “self-made” myth our trust fund baby president seems to like repeating.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6232985/Trumps-DADS-tax-returns-revealing-president-earning-200-000-year-aged-THREE.html (see also The Economist, later in this thread)
Trump in the 60’s
Five-time draft dodger – again, not unique to the Trumps since many families with money attempted various forms of it, but a pattern is clearly starting to emerge. In fact, Joe Biden’s draft record includes 5 deferments as well (asthma as a teenager). The difference is that Joe Biden doesn’t denigrate or belittle the sacrifices of our troops, and his own son paid the ultimate price serving our nation.
https://www.archives.gov/foia/donald-trump-selective-service-draft-card.html
Trump in the 70’s
DOJ sues Trump Mgt. Co. for illegal, racist rent practices. Trump counter-sues for $100 million, (loses) settles with DOJ, agrees to provide Urban League with listings of all vacancies, and to offer every 5thvacancy to minority applicants in any buildings with less than 10% minority occupancy …but does not admit guilt. TMC is defended by Roy Cohen, of McCarthyism and mafia notoriety. Cohen becomes firmly established as TMC lawyer over a 13-year period.
First marriage (Ivana). Estimates of the cost of the wedding are tough to find, but the divorce settlement was $25 million.
Trump in the 1980s
Trump tells Rona Barrett the US should have invaded Iran, using US hostages as an excuse to take over the sovereign nation, to get oil and “respect.” Also predicts a president with “no great brain, but a big smile” could get elected. Says he wouldn’t ever run because it’s “too mean a business,” but he’d like to help select a president.
During a break in his affair with Marla Maples, Trump dates tennis player/model, Gabriela Sabatini, all while still married to Ivana.
Misrepresents his share of his family’s $200 million estimated worth in order to appear on 1982 Forbes List of wealthiest Americans, claiming to be worth $100 million. Later investigation revealed Trump’s personal worth at the time may have been $5 million. (this, after receiving an estimated $413 million from his father)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-wealth-fred-trump.html
https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/28/news/trump-apartment-tenants/index.html
In 1985, New York City brought a lawsuit against Trump for allegedly using tactics to force out tenants of 100 Central Park South, which he intended to demolish together with the building next door. After ten years in court, the two sides negotiated a deal allowing the building to stand as condominiums.
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/09/opinion/new-york-doer-and-slumlord-both.html
In 1988, the Justice Department sued Trump for violating procedures related to public notifications when buying voting stock in a company related to his attempted takeovers of Holiday Corporation and Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1986. On April 5, 1988, Trump agreed to pay $750,000 to settle the civil penalties of the antitrust lawsuit.
https://apnews.com/54ea0dc590fc97d9e9e86c65336649a1
Trump in the1990s
Trump’s dad sends an attorney to buy $3.35 million worth of chips at Trump Castle Casino in order to prevent the casino from missing an interest payment on a bond and going into default. The move to hide the loan was investigated resulting in a $30,000 fine, but successfully completing the loan. Fred Trump was later licensed by New Jersey to be able to make loans to casinos. Good thing, because Donald’s casinos would soon need more loans like this to avoid default.
Trump’s first bankruptcy (1991) as Trump Taj Mahal is unable to service its debt. Forbes says this is the ONLY bankruptcy (of 5) involving Donald’s personal assets. While there is some debate over that, it’s clear Donald doesn’t like to put his own skin in the game.
https://time.com/4343030/donald-trump-failures/
Trump, now long associated with Cohen, uses mafia connected construction firms to build Trump Plaza and Trump Tower, grossly overpaying for supplies like concrete (money laundering?) and cutting corners/breaking the law, while other firms in the city pleaded with the FBI to be freed of mafia control.
According to a Newsweek source who asked not to be identified because his family is well-known in the construction business, the asbestos and concrete were dumped near abandoned docks in Brooklyn and other discrete places instead of prescribed sites farther away—saving time and money. The White House referred Newsweek to the Trump Organization, which did not respond to an inquiry.
"On paper," as one of several news accounts put it, the demolition workers were members of Local 95, a Genovese-controlled union. But in reality, they were undocumented workers from Poland and South Korea. Ronald Fino, son of a Buffalo, New York, Mafia capo, told Newsweek they were known as "the sneaker brigade" for "remov[ing] the asbestos illegally." (Through the years, Trump denied knowing about the illegal workers, but in 1998, after years of litigation, he quietly paid a total of $1.38 million "to settle the case, with $500,000 of it going to a union benefits fund and the rest to pay lawyers' fees and expenses," The New York Times revealed in 2017.)
Trump’s 2nd bankruptcy. Trump Plaza Hotel, Trump lost his 49 percent stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump received more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his position as “chief executive,” though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.
Donald attempts to rewrite his father’s will in 1997, without Fred’s knowledge or consent, in order to use family business assets to get out of debt, attempts to name himself executor so he has full control of family assets. Fails. Denies any of it ever happened.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-trump-tried-change-fred-trump-will-2018-10?op=1
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/donald-trump-tried-scam-father-removed-executor-will-nyt-report/
Divorces Ivana in 1992, marries Marla Maples in 1992, divorces her in 1999, although he is rumored to have begun dating Melania in 1998.
Trump in the 2000s (this was a busy decade, so here’s just a sampling)
Trump pays $250,000 fine (3x the largest fine ever issued) for illegal lobbying trying to persuade NY Commission to deny a casino license for an Indian-run casino in the Catskills.
https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/trump-250g-fine-lobbying-article-1.885295
https://nypost.com/2000/07/17/trump-probed-in-casino-lobbying-blitz/
In 2001, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. consented to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's cease-and-desist order regarding fraudulent statements in the company’s reports, said the culprit had been dismissed, and that Trump had personally been unaware of the matter.
https://www.sec.gov/news/headlines/trumphotels.htm
In 2003, Trump sued A LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT in Palos Verdes, CA, in order to get out of paying fees to the district per the terms of the lease he bought from the golf course’s previous owners.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/oct/12/insults-lawsuits-and-broken-rules-how-trump-built/
A failed 2004 Trump Organization/Bayrock Group venture defaulted on a $139 million loan in 2010. The failed project resulted in at least 10 lawsuits, including accusations of fraud from initial investors, some of which were still not settled in early 2016.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article63879697.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/nyregion/17trump.html
In 2005, the German state attorney prosecuted Trump Deutschland and its partners for accounting fraud. This followed Trump suing the city of Stuttgart (losing,) and Trump’s German partner suing Trump for the return of a EUR 200 million pre-payment. (oh, and he marries Melania)
https://www.dw.com/en/donald-trumps-castles-in-the-german-sky/a-36472081
https://www.newsweek.com/all-women-trump-has-dated-married-or-been-linked-sexually-783370
2008-Deutsche Bank attempts to collect $40 million Trump personally guaranteed against their $640 million loan for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. Rather than paying the debt, Trump sued Deutsche Bank for $3 billion for undermining the project and damage to his reputation. Deutsche Bank then filed suit to obtain the $40 million. The two parties settled in 2010 with Deutsche Bank extending the loan term by five years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/business/05norris.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/03/the-lawsuits-of-donald-trump/273819/
In 2008, Trump filed a $100 million lawsuit for alleged fraud and CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS![78] against the California city of Rancho Palos Verdes, over a landslide-prone golf course in the area, which was purchased by Trump in 2002 for $27 million.[78]
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/20/local/me-trump20
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/technology/20110113/trump-loses-round-in-a-local-lawsuit (obtained from archive)
2009-Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico investors sue for the return of deposits for condos in the failed project, claiming Trump misrepresented his role in the project. After its failure Trump claimed he had been little more than a spokesperson for the entire venture, disavowing any financial responsibility. Trump settled with over a hundred investors in 2013.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-07-fi-trump7-story.html
Trump in the 2010s
The Economist reports that Trump’s business performance since 1985 is “mediocre compared to the stock market and New York property values.” Suggesting he’d be better off had he invested his estimated $100 million net worth in 1985 into a standard retirement account, which would be worth $6 billion in 2016.
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2016/02/20/from-the-tower-to-the-white-house
2011-Trump tells Good Morning America he’s skeptical of Obama’s birthplace, and that we shouldn’t dismiss such sceptics as “idiots.” (his word, not mine)
https://www.politico.com/story/2011/03/donald-trump-birther-051473
2012- Trump offers to donate $5 million to the charity of Obama’s choice if Obama will publish his college and passport application records.
2016-Trump finally concedes, “President Obama was born in the United States. Period.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/16/trump-president-obama-was-born-in-the-united-states-period.html
In 2018, the Trump Charitable Foundation agreed to shut down, facing a civil lawsuit by the New York attorney general that alleged "persistently illegal conduct" including self-dealing and funneling campaign contributions. Furthermore, it had never been properly certified in New York and did not submit to the annual audit that would have been required. The foundation did give away $2.8 million during the 2000s, or about 1/3 of what Trump had promised. He stopped contributing to the fund in 2008, but continued to accept donor funds, at least once claiming them as his own by taking a tax deduction.
…and you know the rest.
Luth,
Out.
