Trump's Obsessions - his Net Worth and the 2020 Election
or what makes a poor loser
Resumes are built on half-truths, puffery, and braggadocio. Just ask Madison Cawthorn or Donald Trump.
Trump lied1, bullied2, and conned3 his way onto the Forbes 400 without really having the actual net worth required to make it onto the list. He used the Forbes 400 list to burnish his business credentials, to get bank loans, and to misrepresent his finances.
The truth about Trump’s finances is more indebted, extrapolated, and exaggerated than imagined; and yet it is central to his public persona. For nearly four decades, Trump’s penchant for publicity and self promotion came with a caveat — no interviewer could talk about his finances. Affairs, alleged mob connections, ex-wives, and even his weird relationship with his daughter were all okay — just don’t talk about Donald’s net worth.
As a presidential candidate and then as President, his taxes were a center stage spotlight for the Left; while Donald Trump spent millions on lawyers keeping the subject of his finances and his taxes hidden behind the curtain. The payoff of litigiously protecting his financial status paid off when Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan D.A., expressed his doubts about indicting Trump for tax fraud. The doubts cost Bragg two expert prosecutors, staff morale, and public trust — a key point as Bragg got elected on indicting Trump. Bragg has backpedalled, but it’s mere window dressing for fearing Trump’s legal bluster and bluff4.
In 2005, the lid came off on Trump’s wealth with a New York Times article detailing how Trump fell off the Forbes 400 from 1990-1995. His AWOL status is more notable in that upon his return in 1996, Forbes itself had begun doubt Trump’s papered wealth5.
In 2021, Donald Trump fell off the Forbes 400 for the second time and likely permanently so. Trump’s accountants’ disavowal of his tax filings and finances means only one thing - Trump was never well-moneyed.6
The timing, nearly a year after losing reelection, could not have been more fitting.
Trump’s obsession over his taxes is easily supplanted by his obsession over the 2020 election. Both subjects, however, have become part of his public persona. In 2016, successful billionaire Donald Trumps wins the presidency. In 2020, business fraud (and likely tax cheat) Donald Trump loses reelection.
Donald Trump is currently sitting on well over $120 million in political money ostensibly for a 2024 presidential run, but its political purpose has been frustrating the GOP for months now. Donald Trump’s fundraising was for him, the GOP generally, and its various campaign entities. The money has become Trump’s checkbook and personal slush fund and that’s why the Republican National Committee and other entities have been grumbling more and more over its purpose7 — a reasonable inquiry insofar as less than $300,000 has been used to help GOP candidates.
If Donald Trump were actually running for President, it wouldn’t be a big deal. If the political funds were not apparently being used for rallies so Trump could grouse about 2020, it wouldn’t be a big deal. And if Trump had cash flow outside of his political slush fund, it wouldn’t be a big deal at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-lied-to-me-about-his-wealth-to-get-onto-the-forbes-400-here-are-the-tapes/2018/04/20/ac762b08-4287-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-forbes-rich-list-removed-history/2021/10/06/4dbdfdc8-26a1-11ec-8831-a31e7b3de188_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-alter-ego-barron/2016/05/12/02ac99ec-16fe-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?asdfk&itid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_8
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gutted-inside-the-manhattan-das-unraveling-donald-trump-probe
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/business/yourmoney/whats-he-really-worth.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/politics/mazars-trump-letter-letitia-james/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/21/trump-donors-millions-00019002