When Donald Trump chose Orlando, Florida for the kickoff of his 2020 campaign, the city demanded up-front payment of the costs it would incur.
They were smart.
Because this President doesn’t pay his bills–never has. According to multiple media reports, 10 cities are still waiting for Trump’s campaign to pay $841,000 in bills from previous rallies. Some of those bills go back to 2016.
Ironically, Trump often gushes at rallies about police officers and other brave first responders, but his campaign is apparently stiffing police and firefighters across the nation.
“Do we love law enforcement or what?” he asked at a rally in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in October. Apparently, his campaign didn’t love them enough to even bother to respond to a $16,191 bill for city police and other safety costs, according to the report by the nonprofit CPI in conjunction with NBC and CNBC.
According to the Washington Post,
President Trump’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial on the Fourth of July is expected to drive up security costs for an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the nation’s capital.
But the president has still not fully paid the bill for the last time he addressed a massive crowd on the Mall: his 2017 inauguration.
The Trump administration and Congress owe D.C. more than $7 million in expenses from Trump’s inauguration, according to federal and city financial records. The total cost of the four-day celebration, which culminated with a parade and gathering of roughly 600,000 people on the Mall, was $27.3 million.
As a result, the District has been forced to dip into a special fund that covers annual security costs for protecting the city from terrorist threats and hosting other events such as demonstrations, state funerals and the visits of foreign dignitaries. That fund, which for years was adequately replenished by federal dollars, is now on track to enter the red by this fall, records show.
As the article noted (in what may have been a subtle dig), the expenses of the inauguration were “formidable despite the fact that attendance was far more sparse than at Obama’s Inauguration.”
It’s no secret that Trump has been a deadbeat throughout his career. I remember television interviews during the 2016 campaign with vendors he’d stiffed over the years, and reports of the numerous times he’d been sued. (As I recall, the number of lawsuits was in the thousands.)
Evidently, the D.C. liquor board understands that business history. According to The Washington Examiner, a group of Washington, D.C., residents are being permitted to challenge the Trump Hotel’s liquor license on the basis of President Trump’s character. The group is asking to have the hotel’s liquor license revoked, citing a D.C. law that requires license applicants to be of “good character and generally fit for the responsibilities of licensure.”
“Donald Trump, the true and actual owner of the Trump International Hotel, is not a person of good character,” the residents wrote in their complaint, because of “certain lies he has told, his involvement in relevant fraudulent and other activity demonstrating his lack of integrity, and his refusal to abide by the law or to stop associating with known criminals.”
Instead of denying the complaint, the board issued a ruling allowing for the complaint to move to mediation or a hearing before the board.
There’s so much more the group can point to. The multiple bankruptcies. The fraud that was Trump University (he settled those claims for 25 million). The unwillingness of American banks to do business with him and his subsequent coziness with–and dependence on– Russian oligarchs. His use of the office of President to line his and his children’s pockets, arguably in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause. Etc.
Some “businessman.” No wonder he doesn’t want to disclose his tax records; according to knowledgable observers, they will show (among other things) that he has grossly inflated his net worth.
It all begs the question: how did this crude and classless deadbeat come to occupy the Oval Office? And is there anything–other than White Nationalism, fragile masculinity and misogyny–that can explain why anyone would still support him?
Fake news? How about a fake individual? Absolutely worthless in every way one can measure character and contribution.
I know I’ve said this here before, but whenever one of his supporters tells me he’s a business genius because the Trump organization has over 500 LLCs , I just tell them that’s what’s known as the “rinse cycle.”
And those of you who watch TV programming, other than the news and political channels, do you remember the many time Donald Trump’s name, or “The Donald”, was casually tossed into conversations in dramas and comedy sit-coms? Can’t remember where long ago I read the trivia fact that when you see actual brand names on your screen and including movies; the companies pay to have their products used, it is good advertisement which reaches millions of viewers. “The Donald” was a product; primarily of his own creation, I wonder if he paid for those casual name-dropping bits of advertising or are they still waiting?
Those of us who are regular viewers of local news broadcasts have been kept apprised of Trump’s sexual and business fiascoes for 40 years…it has been considered news worthy nationally. To return to that old hit song “The Snake” by Johnny Rivers; “You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.” And what is that old adage, “Even bad publicity is good advertising.”
“It all begs the question: how did this crude and classless deadbeat come to occupy the Oval Office? And is there anything–other than White Nationalism, fragile masculinity and misogyny–that can explain why anyone would still support him?”
“Like seeks like”, “water seeks it’s own level”, “it takes one to know one” The only answer I can come up with to Sheila’s question is that they voted for their peer…other than the vast amounts of money he has always had at his disposal…much of it coming out of our pockets at this time. Never lose sight of the fact that; should he lose every penny of his ill-gotten gains, he will be supported by us, our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on and on, the rest of his life because he was called “president”.
Trump’s a wannabe con artist. A second rate Billy Graham.
Prof K asked the question:
“.. is there anything–other than White Nationalism, fragile masculinity and misogyny–that can explain why anyone would still support him?”
I would say NO
Back in the early ’60s, in Jacksonville, after graduating from law school I was studying for the Florida Bar Exam. I received a call from an old friend, asking me would I mind studying for the bar exam with a friend of his from out of state, who had just married one of his relatives whose father was a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE. Reluctantly, I said yes. However, after a few sessions, I had to separate from him because he was so DUMB.
After moving to Dallas a few years later, I picked up a copy of a magazine, it might have been U.S. News and World Report. Low and behold, the young man I had rejected, with the help of the funds from his father-in-law, had now created the largest bankruptcy in American history.
Doesn’t that have a familiar ring?
Marv,
I can’t agree with that. He’s at best a third rate Billy Graham.
BTW how many of the plaintiffs in the Trump University settlement have actually been paid?
Are Trump voters aware of this business deal made by Trump at their expense? This information is copied and pasted from Wikipedia:
“By law, former presidents are entitled to a pension, staff and office expenses, medical care or health insurance, and Secret Service protection.
Pension
The Secretary of the Treasury pays a taxable pension to the president. Former presidents receive a pension equal to the pay that the head of an executive department (Executive Level I) would be paid; as of 2017, it is $207,800 per year.[4] The pension begins immediately after a president’s departure from office.[5] A former president’s spouse may also be paid a lifetime annual pension of $20,000 if they relinquish any other statutory pension.[1]
Transition
Transition funding for the expenses of leaving office is available for seven months. It covers office space, staff compensation, communications services, and printing and postage associated with the transition.[1]
Staff and office
Private office staff and related funding is provided by the Administrator of the General Services Administration. People employed under this subsection are selected by and responsible only to the former president for the performance of their duties. Each former president fixes basic rates of compensation for persons employed for him, not exceeding an annualized total of $150,000 for the first 30 months and $96,000 thereafter.[1]
Medical insurance
Former presidents are entitled to medical treatment in military hospitals; they pay for this at interagency rates set by the Office of Management and Budget. Two-term presidents may buy health insurance under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; a GSA legal opinion ruled Jimmy Carter ineligible.[1][6]
Secret Service protection
Former presidents were entitled from 1965 to 1996 to lifetime Secret Service protection, for themselves, spouses, and children under 16. A 1994 statute, (Pub.L. 103–329), limited post-presidential protection to ten years for presidents inaugurated after January 1, 1997.[7] Under this statute, Bill Clinton would still be entitled to lifetime protection, and all subsequent presidents would have been entitled to ten years’ protection.[8] On January 10, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012, reinstating lifetime Secret Service protection for his predecessor George W. Bush, himself, and all subsequent presidents.[9]
Richard Nixon relinquished his Secret Service protection in 1985, the only president to do so.[10]”
Trump will not be off of our tax budget payroll till he is dead.
Peggy,
I’m sorry you’re right. Back in the ’50s when I was at Penn, I was on the golf team. After the summer break, one of my team members came back after spending three months with the Billy Graham Crusade. He had become the most sacrilegious human being I’ve ever been around. The coach almost kicked him off the team when he started “praying” before teeing off on the first hole. He couldn’t help mocking religion.
Nevertheless, I must say Billy Graham did, eventually, apologize for his anti-Semitism, whatever that was worth.
I am looking forward to the day when New York puts this criminal behind bars where he belongs.
“It all begs the question: how did this crude and classless deadbeat come to occupy the Oval Office?”
He soundly defeated 20+ other Republican candidates. According to Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton and John Podesta used their media connections to help Trump because he’d be easier to defeat than a traditional Republican. Of course, when the strategy backfired, they blamed it on the Russians.
Then we have eight years of Fox News drumming racism during the Obama years and Obama’s multi-trillion bailout of Wall Street which fueled the ires of many voters. Trump was supposed to blow up the rotten government dealing, so the pledge went.
He lied.
Traditional Democrats and Republicans have been having problems for a decade — 2016 was tagged, “The Year of Populism.”
Trump was the perfect fit, and so was Bernie Sanders. The DNC rigged it for Hillary Clinton and the voters returned the final verdict.
That’s how the “crude and classless deadbeat” made it in the WH. One could more easily blame the DNC for Trump than Russia. LOL
Marv,
Trump IS a con artist and Billy Graham Was a con artist. No wannabes at all.
Trump’s appeal is much like that of a cult leader. His adoring people follow blindly ignoring his fraud, sexual assaults, cheating, business failures, and lining his pockets at the public’s expense.
Great comments this morning. Trump will follow his pattern of gypping and stiffing the cities that put on his schtick shows. “Let ’em sue.” It’s pathetic.
Trump supporters are him and he is them. It’s that simple. Everything in their miserable lives that went wrong is because they were treated unfairly. Oh dear. There were a lot of overweight people at the those rallies. How unfair can their lives be? And why did 92 million voters stay home? A crook and a lousy campaign/candidate spelled the outcome. Or as George Will puts it: “The Democrats nominated the only biped on Earth who could lose to Donald Trump.” Perfect.
No, Todd, the Russians were absolutely involved. You forgot to mention the terribly timed utterance of Jim Comey too. THAT sent more people home than the Russians or Hillary’s campaign. Trump is the result of the perfect storm of cheating, lying, cyberattacks, a flawed opponent, a lousy campaign strategy and 62 million fools.
You know, I’ve understood Trump from the beginning. Some of it comes from the fact that we both were graduates from Penn. When I was at Penn, the Wharton School of Commerce was over 50% Jewish. The other Ivy League schools all discriminated against Jews, but Penn was a Quaker School founded by Benjamin Franklin. Some called it: “the democratic bus.” Similarly, Philadelphia was called the “City of Brotherly Love.” Haverford and Bryn Mawr were also founded by Quakers.
Nevertheless, Penn still had outward anti-Semitism. There were two honor societies. One didn’t allow Jews, the other did. When I was there, John Huntsman, the Mormon philanthropist, was President of the one that discriminated against Jews. John and I traveled together. He was on the Penn tennis team.
Playing psychoanalyst, I can understand the effect of this strange environment, as it has worked out, in the “third rate mind” of our President. He hates Jews, but uses them to his fullest advantage, just like his idol, Senator Joseph McCarthy.
We have a President who obstructs the powers of the House Oversight Committee chaired by Elijah Cummings. But then it seems with all other abuses of power to obstruct and simply ignore legitimate claims is the work of a defiant socially maligned psychotic tyrant who entertains a latent depressed following who regales in his behavior to drain the blessed swamp. We are awakening to a divided US. And it is dangerous to the core. Who among the 24 is a war horse to defeat the tyrant?
How did he get there – there are many to thank. I would start with the 10M young people who did not vote and their 4M colleagues who voted for third/fourth party candidates. You don’t get change by opting out of the system – no matter how much you despise it.
Norris,
I agree with everything you have said. But first, Trump must be put on the defensive with his own followers. Then one of the 24 will be able to take care of him in a worthwhile victory, not one that only brings on brutal VENGEANCE.
venge-ance (ven’jens) n. [< L vendicare, avenge] the return of an injury for an injury, as in retribution; revenge— 1. with great force or fury 2. excessively
Marc … Could not agree more. Vengeance got us here and vengeance in return only further advances decline. We look to an androgenous Desmond Tutu on a war horse. ?
None of what is said here today will turn the True Believers of President Agent Orange and Pastor Pence.
While sitting in a Doctor’s Office I started to read an Evangelical type of magazine that some one had left. One article caught my attention. Socialism was slammed as as anti-biblical. How you ask??? Via the ten Commandments was the Bible Thumping answer: Thou shalt not steal – Taxation by the Government is considering stealing. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Once again taxation by the government is viewed as theft or stealing.
Thus, the wealthy are protected by the bible from taxation by the government according to the bible thumper’s. The article in keeping with a “simple” message for “simpletons” does not address how we should meet the needs of a society as whole, other than charity.
Trump did not win the 2016 election – he stole it with the help of the Russians, non voters, working Democrats in the Rust Belt who believed his phony blather about “bringing good-paying jobs back from China,” firing up the anti-woman sentiment of Abrahamic males and the racial fear and hatred of red states whose rural areas continue to empty into liberal urban enclaves. He covered his abysmal moral and business record by aggressive framing that would have (in isolated context) have made George Lakoff applaud. He should be not only impeached but imprisoned in order to maintain some semblance of dignity in the high office of the Presidency, perhaps joining Kellyanne, Falwell, Graham and others on Elba.
Norris,
I’ve been a participant on this blog for four years. Other than Betty, especially Betty, you’re the only other person who, continually, admits to agreeing with me, I must admit it really feels good. I don’t believe you’re from Indiana. That’s a good starter.
But, why is that? I think there is a really good reason. It’s an understanding that Mike Pence and Indiana are not at the center of the problem. They are at the periphery. The problem is centered in the “bible belt.” Indiana has pockets of extreme racism but it’s not in the “bible belt” and thus is not where you will find the CENTRAL NODE.
Dallas is the COG, center of gravity and Jacksonville is the Ground Zero of the spread of hatred throughout evangelical Christianity, more specifically, the Southern Baptist Convention. DAL/JAX act as the TWIN SHOULDERS of the BIBLE BELT. The CENTRAL NODE IS DIVIDED, and thus almost impossible to envision.
The problems of German in the ’20s and ’30s emanated from the rural areas with Munich being the center. It took many years before Berlin was, finally, transformed.
Munich was the CENTRAL NODE, not Berlin.
Hey Vernon — you hit the nail on the head!!
I have repeated very often the phrase that I believe now defines the business environment of the world. Make more money now regardless of the impact on any others ever. The US is one of the world leaders in that transition.
Present legal company excepted, that extends to what we use to call “professionals” too, like many lawyers and Doctors and, as unfortunately, most marketeers.
Trump Inc is merely an equal opportunity employer of many of those who epitomize that philosphy. He’s a product, a brand much more than he is a person. He is the Kardashian’s.
This transition is a regulatory nightmare that makes the job of government protecting we the people as the “others impacted” infinitely more challenging and much of what used to be product and customer focused business now is courtroom business managing regulation.
This fall from grace came because business found the connection between entertainment and the practice of greed and sold people with way too much time on their hands a diversion from boredom through screens to build their lives around that metered out dubious entertainment in exchange for their attention to messages that brainwashed them using the latest “marketing” technology (including the aforementioned “rinse cycle’ which further empowers greed).
We have gone from consumers of products to slaves to them. Trump, while a mediocre at best example of product gone wild, is nevertheless one with a following not unlike “Game of Thrones”, but of course much smaller, like his, ahh, hands.
There we are. Is there an excape route?
Pete,
“There we are. Is there an escape route?”
Not a visible one. Like the Seabees in W.W. II, we will have to hack it out of the “jungle.”
The use of entertainment media intimately installed in our lives for advertising/fake news/propaganda/brainwashing is a very formidable enemy in a democracy. It makes the job of protection of we the people from the greed of others challenging in the extreme. While Trump and Pence and McConnell are great examples of those who’ve gone to the “other side” they are legion in today’s society and all trying to beat government and capture all of the wealth that workers create.
Pete,
There is no escape route. You have to stand and defend yourself. It’s not impossible.
Purchase a copy of “Break Through: Epic Story of The Battle of the Bulge-the Greatest Pitched Battle in America’s History” by Franklin M. Davis, Jr. (Monarch Books, Derby, Connecticut, 1961).
Pete,
“The use of entertainment media intimately installed in our lives for advertising/fake news/propaganda/brainwashing is a very formidable enemy in a democracy. It makes the job of protection of we the people from the greed of others challenging in the extreme.”
We have to “turn the tables” and use the entertainment industry to our advantage.
Pete,
That’s why I purchased the URL: TRUMPCARD.VIDEO, 7 days after Trump announced his run for the PRESIDENCY. He’s vulnerable.
Trump is beloved by Trumpsters because:
1. He pretends to hate abortion
2. He pretends to love God, who wrote the second best book ever
3. He genuinely hates Jews and non-whites
4. He despises and looks down on women except as they prove useful to him
5. He agrees with supporters that “in your face” is a powerful diplomatic and personal relations tool
6. He lies like the best of them
7. His is roughly as thoughtful and inclined to critical thinking as most of his supporters
8. Like many of them he celebrates cruelty, especially against indigent or defenseless people
9. Like them he can’t distinguish between smart, dumb, lying, cheating, cajoling, duplicitous, or self-serving
10. He is abusive, scatological and dull in his speech
11. He is self-indulgent to the point of narcissistic
12. He is able to make them feel special (which they know they really aren’t)
13. He persuades them that the Dunning-Kruger Syndrome is not really a problem
14. He is a living, breathing insult to all that their parents tried to teach them
15. A massive failure, he is able to project an image of success
16. He is able to demean his betters with impunity
17. He is able to ignore the law with impunity
18. He is able to locate large numbers of willing sycophants
19. He will do anything for money, ethics be damned
20. He is in a position to spend public money for his personal amusement
21. He never forgets or forgives a grievance
22. He never met anyone he wouldn’t throw under the bus for profit or self-gratification
23. He despises the science they (and he) could never understand
24. He disguises cowardice with bullying and feigned toughness
25. He coerces people who despise him pretend they are loyal
26. Und so weiter ad nauseum.
In other words, they mirror his worst qualities and he, in return, encourages them to forgive themselves for being so reprehensible and unprincipled. What a guy!
Pete,
No doubt we still have one overriding problem. Our minds are divided, not only outside of this blog, but also inside. It goes back a long way.
The best I’ve read on this problem was by a former professor at Indiana University, Carol Polsgrove. She’s retired. The name of the book is “Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Right Movement.” Maybe Sheila knows her.
Well,there is no reason to vote. Since “The Russians’ hacked into the voting system, what’s the point? When a foreign state has “stolen” the election of a super-power,it’s apparent that super-power has been defeated. It’s obvious Putin doesn’t want the US to have socialism and socialized healthcare. It’s also obvious Putin wants the wealthy to have tax-breaks.Putin wants the wages of the wage earner to stay stagnant (as they have for 40 years). It’s only a matter of days when Russian Music will precede at every US venue prior to sporting events. Damn,the Communists won. If only China could save us? Gosh darn that Putin! Put Comey in prison!
I found Carol Polsgrove’s “Divided Minds.” At one time, I was on her website defending Jim Silver’s position. The following is one paragraph from her book:
“By summer’s end, Jim Silver, Howard Zinn, Staughton Lynd, and Robert Coles–engaged intellectuals all–had left the South. That fall [1964] Alfred A. Knopf published Zinn’s “The Southern Mystique.” In it Zinn put forth a thesis that directly countered Silver’s point in “The Closed Society.” Silver had described Mississippi as set apart from the national will–so set apart that the nation would have to force change on it. Zinn argued that the South was not so special, so different. Americans ought to shrug off the idea of “Southern Mystique.” The South only exaggerated some of the characteristics of the nation, including racism. The South was “a distorted image of the North.” The southern mystique–the idea that white southerners were innately violent or xenophobic–was only an excuse for inaction. The truth was that “compromise and vacillation on the race question are intrinsic parts of our national political heritage.” If national leaders failed to act now, they followed a long tradition: “The Negro has always been a hitchhiker in American history.” p. 233
“Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement” by Carol Polsgrove (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2001).
Howard Zinn is to be admired, but he grew up in Brooklyn and taught at Spellman College in Atlanta. His vision of the “deep South” was extremely limited. James Silver grew up in the “deep South” he knew what he was talking about. He had been a professor at the University of Mississippi. That was not the case of Howard Zinn.
Unfortunately, James Silver died at an early age and Howard Zinn’s vision has had little opposition through the years. All of which has caused many unfortunate problems.
Gerald, Putin won a battle. Our choice in 2020 is to win the war.
Pete,we will win the war. We will obey the commands of the DNC leadership and dutifully vote for Trump Version 2.0…. which is Joe Biden.
Joe Biden has a manifesto. His endorsement of Clarence Thomas is proof that he has an unassailable acumen and mind that is superlative to all of the other candidates. In the past,he lobbied for and embraced MBNA. That should mean something. He has earned our total allegiance. He has earned our support. We will name our dogs after him.
I’m sick of seeing the Trump family make off with millions and millions. I want to see the Biden family make billions from the family’s dealings with the Bandarists within the Ukrainian government and business world.
Resist! Biden 2020!
WADR Gerald, there is not a chance in Hades that Biden “endorses” Clarence Thomas now. Biden, unlike many pols, has grown and changed and admits most of his mistakes – he is HUMAN.
Trump earned the NY moniker of “Don the Con” rightfully. His MO was to contract with craftsmen or contractors for goods and services at a certain price, and then refuse to pay, forcing them to sue him. Then, he “negotiates” for a lower price and crows about how successful a negotiator he is. I believe he is truly a sociopath with no conscience. He tried his usual MO when he shut down the government to try to bully Congress, but learned that government doesn’t work like his little Trump fiefdom. He is trying to do the same thing by eschewing the Iran nuclear deal and threatening war. The same with Mexico: he calls them “rapists” and “criminals”, and threatens sanctions to try to bully them into stopping migrants. He used to threaten journalists all of the time, but he backs down, just like he did with Mexico and Iran. We in the US don’t do business that way.
I just hope that the Democratic candidates don’t attack each other and give Don the Con fodder to use against the ultimate nominee.
It’s interesting that the only defence Republicans have left is claiming with zero evidence that Democrats are as bad. We got Trump because Republicans ignored copious evidence of corruption and incompetence on his part and now they hope that we will fall for no evidence.
I guess they believe that zero evidence beat Hillary when in fact it was Putin pure and simple.
Reconsidering today’s blog topic; I must ask, do we really believe any of Trump’s voters actually THOUGHT?
Lester Levine:”WADR Gerald, there is not a chance in Hades that Biden “endorses” Clarence Thomas now. Biden, unlike many pols, has grown and changed and admits most of his mistakes – he is HUMAN”
Welp,Trump isn’t exactly an extraterrestrial. He’s human as well(you made the argument). It’s good to know that racism, misogyny,being creepy,Bandarist business dealings and just being stupid can be changed. Powerful,Caucasian men should be given the benefit of a doubt. And,you’ve obliged. I guess with your influence and by your given example I should become sanguine that Trump will change his ways as well. If Joe Biden can change his mind overnight after 40 years of supporting the Hyde amendment…..Welp,gosh durn it,anything is possible. Moreover, after decades of the resonance from Biden’s bad decisions,it’s nice that you’re willing to give the Thurmond Groupie your unwavering support. Come to think of it,Strom Thurmond was human. ((((DNC Group Hug))))