“No American President has ever been charged with a criminal offense. But, as Donald Trump fights to hold on to the White House, he and those around him surely know that if he loses – an outcome that nobody should count on—the presumption of immunity that attends the Presidency will vanish.”
– Jane Mayer, Chief Washington Correspondent at The New Yorker
More than a dozen investigations and civil suits involving Trump are currently under way. The Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said of Trump, “If he loses, you have a situation that’s not dissimilar to that of Nixon when he resigned. Nixon spoke of the cell door clanging shut.”
Trump has famously survived one impeachment, two divorces, six bankruptcies, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and an estimated four thousand lawsuits. Even if Trump wins, grave legal and financial threats will loom over his second term.
"His properties have become bazaars for collecting money directly from lobbyists, foreign officials, and others seeking face time, access, or favor."
– The New York Times
Jane Mayer of The New Yorker explains Trump's current financial problems:
“Two of the investigations into Trump are being led by powerful state and city law-enforcement officials in New York. Cyrus Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, are independently pursuing potential criminal charges related to Trump’s business practices before he became President.
“During the next four years, according to a recent New York Times report, Trump – whether reelected or not – must meet payment deadlines for more than three hundred million dollars in loans that he has personally guaranteed; much of this debt is owed to such foreign creditors as Deutsche Bank. Unless he can refinance with the lenders, he will be on the hook.
“The Financial Times, meanwhile, estimates that, in all, about nine hundred million dollars’ worth of Trump’s real-estate debt will come due within the next four years. At the same time, he is locked in a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over a deduction that he has claimed on his income-tax forms; an adverse ruling could cost him an additional hundred million dollars.
“To pay off such debts, the President, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be two and a half billion dollars, could sell some of his most valuable real-estate assets – or, as he has in the past, find ways to stiff his creditors. But, according to an analysis by the Washington Post, Trump’s properties—especially his hotels and resorts—have been hit hard by the pandemic and the fallout from his divisive political career. “It’s the office of the Presidency that’s keeping him from prison and the poorhouse,” Timothy Snyder, a history professor at Yale who studies authoritarianism, told me.”
(Jane Mayer. “Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/09/why-trump-cant-afford-to-lose The New Yorker. November 01, 2020.)
The Times also details how Trump uses those deep-red losses to avoid paying federal income tax, at least in the U.S. There was a two-year period in which he made too much money to avoid paying taxes, thanks to his share in NBC's “The Apprentice,” but he then filed for a refund when the opportunity presented itself after the 2008 financial meltdown.
That $72.9 million in refunded taxes plus interest is under audit and has been for years, The Times reports. Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017, the most recent years in the data The Times obtained.
(David Leonhardt. “18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records.” The New York Times. Updated September 27, 2020.)
(Peter Weber. “Trump literally can't afford to lose the election.” The Week. September 28, 2020.)
Trump leans hard on Attorney General William Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to protect his personal finances. Barr and Mnuchin are not above tipping the scales. Mnuchin's refusal to hand Trump's tax returns over to congressional investigators, and the Justice Department's half-successful defense of that decision, are the reason we are learning what's in Trump's tax filings from The New York Times.
“The tax data examined by The Times provides a road map of revelations, from write-offs for the cost of a criminal defense lawyer and a mansion used as a family retreat to a full accounting of the millions of dollars the president received from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
“Together with related financial documents and legal filings, the records offer the most detailed look yet inside the president’s business empire. They reveal the hollowness, but also the wizardry, behind the self-made-billionaire image — honed through his star turn on “The Apprentice” – that helped propel him to the White House and that still undergirds the loyalty of many in his base.”
– Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire, The New York Times
The available data just scratches the surface of "the actual and potential conflicts of interest created by Mr. Trump's refusal to divest himself of his business interests while in the White House," The Times reports.
(Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire. “Long-concealed records show Trump's chronic losses and years of tax avoidance.” The New York Times. September 27, 2020.)
Trump is the same man who bankrupted two Atlantic City casinos, launched a short-lived airline and was recently charged with fraud surrounding his “Trump University.” Yet, he continues to market himself as the financial genius who saved the U.S. economy.
For Trump, the presidency has always been a performance. How Trump makes and spends his money is indicative of his personal taste and his willingness to use the office of President of the United States for personal enrichment.
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