Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

Almost certainly not.

His pattern was buying off people who sued on the one hand and on the other trying to hide in plain sight in terms of his own dealings. He wanted the fame ticket, he got it, and here we are.

This may already be old news to US readers, but for this Britishes I found it a pretty useful summary of Trump's finances and his ability to pay out:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68175846

who gets to be the court-appointed monitor who has to look after all of Trump's finances in New York? that oughta be a fun job! maybe they give it to someone in nyc government as punishment.

i must have missed this but that monitor - a former judge - played a big role in the ruling today. proving that that Trump was just going to keep doing his lying thing.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-organization-monitor-flags-errors-financial-misstatements-ahead/story?id=106737467

that would be most (all?) major banks right?

NY and London are the financial capitols of the world and any bank willing to grant an individual loan of that magnitude is almost certainly going to have a license to operate in NY. All this will become clearer as the ruling takes full effect. This won't destroy him, but it will hurt him in a very real way.

greasy crappy people yelling chants

because throwback hilarity/applause is whenever you get to it, i hereby entype this standing LOL

deutschebank you fuckin bitches, we’re waiting

You just know that from now to the day he dies, Trump will call NY Attorney General James several bad names every time he opens his mouth in public, and probably in private, too.

adjusting for inflation that's almost the entirety of his original inheritance, the poor fella. how unfair

he had, like, zero dollars before he did his reality game show. he's just going back to his 90s roots of penniless grifter windbag who pretends to be rich.

ready for the NFT of him as a penniless hobo with fingerless gloves and a cigar stub

I'll believe he's actually suffering financially the day I see the dumb ass huge "TRUMP" sign come off his tower here in Chicago.

Mitchell Epner's Bluesky reply thread starting here of interest in terms of the likelihood of the appeals going anywhere. (In sum, small.) C/P for ease:

1. Trump can appeal without posting security, but that would allow immediate enforcement of the judgments (ie - seizing over $400M in disgorgement and interest. If he wants to stay enforcement, he will have to put up cash or a supersedeas bond in the full amount (including accrued interest).

2. The three year ban would run from the day that it was first imposed. If the trial court (or appellate division) stays enforcement of the ban on serving as an officer/director of a NY Corp pending appeal, then the 3 year ban would only start when the stay was lifted.

3. In a bench trial, the Court's findings of fact are given full deference & can only be overturned on a finding of "clear error". On my initial read, Justice Engoron did a thorough job supporting his factual conclusions, including making credibility judgments that are NEVER reversed on appeal.

4. On p.6, Justice Engoron to care to appeal-proof his fact finding: "This Court listened carefully to every witness, every question, every answer. Witnesses testified from the witness stand, approximately a yard from the Court, who was thus able to observe expressions, demeanor, and body language."

So basically Trump wants to appeal, his lawyers are playing along, but they also know they're fucked (whether Trump knows, frankly that's an open question at this point!)

i still can't get over the chutzpah of continuing to go after hunter biden for trading on his father's name when lara trump was just appointed co-chair of the RNC while the DOJ indicted the star witness against hunter biden. and that's nowhere near the top ten most consequential things surrounding these trump republicans in the past three days

Via WaPo:

Donald Trump’s campaign is trying to raise money off the judgment against him in the civil fraud case. “DEMOCRAT JUDGE JUST RULED AGAINST ME!” Trump wrote in a text message, seeking donations. He added, “We need a MASSIVE PEACEFUL PUSHBACK right here, right now.”

Roffle at the 'peaceful' bit, which of course he's had to do plenty of times now in the past few years.

I dunno, I'm starting to lean classic.

has there ever been anything like him? i guess only actual panamanian strongmen. or al capone or something.

P.T. Barnum, maybe? But Barnum surely was much smarter.

Don King?

this is my favorite historical comparison

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169159

Oh, yeah, I also thought of Commodus.

i guess if huey long had lived and become president we would have seen something similarly bizarre.

AG James is rubbing it in live right now. gotcha, asshole!

Injecting that Schadenfreude directly into my veins.

Jeffrey Clark's disciplinary proceeding in DC continues not to go well for him and his X timeline is positively deranged.

Just a snippet from last fall:

The committee rejected the motion two days after it was entered, writing that Clark "has continually misrepresented [the] disciplinary counsel's theory of the case to manufacture imaginary defenses."

Is it a parody account? I cannot tell.

I've said this more than once in this thread, but I am still amazed by Trump's ability to get people to immolate themselves for him. It's as though he taps into their secret desire for power, celebrity or recognition, gives them a little taste, then discards them when they have ceased to be of use. And at this point, everyone who gets on board the Trump Train knows they are going to be thrown off at some point.

Does Dancing With The Stars pay a lot? I assume people trip over themselves to join the Trump team in order to set up some kind of eventual reality TV payoff.

do you know what's going to be really sad? that first time that eric trump goes into a new york bank and reaches for the basket of lollipops and they slap his hand away. that's going to sting the most.

Lol

And at this point, everyone who gets on board the Trump Train knows they are going to be thrown off at some point.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux)

I can't help but think many of them are convinced that *they'll* be the one to come out on top.

tbf cozying up to powerful people is usually a pretty good plan

Trump wants to appeal, his lawyers are playing along

I have probably said this, but it remains moderately amusing that he is probably never going to pay any of his lawyers.

suspect theyre demanding the money up front at this point

Supposedly Kise demanded 3 million up front. Smart.

Trump's not going to pay his lawyers but his donors are.

In 2023, Trump spent $54.2 million raised almost exclusively from donors who gave $5 or $20 or $50 a month ― a vast number of them retirees ― to pay lawyers defending the former president in the various civil and criminal cases, a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings found.

350 + 83 for the Jean Carrol case, is 433 million a lot

― a (waterface), Friday, February 16, 2024 3:47 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think Musk will pay off 13 million so Trump will only owe…

I'm so tired about caring about this man.

Truth.

I remember thinking, in (say) December 2020, “soon I won’t have to ever think about this asshole or his family again.”

He's the stinking fish that keeps being delivered to our doorsteps by the Republican Party and our many compassion-impaired compatriots.

Classic.

https://bsky.app/profile/ygalanter.bsky.social/post/3klnhhpxe7o27

“Bold, gold, and tough, just like President Trump.”

What’s the matter, no rhyme for orange?

I just can’t even with his grifts anymore. But I’m not the audience; they’re sold out already.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:ccrabc6xdnjx4l7btvynnng4/bafkreiaqiqtykzfopfucdm4nb4h67nnmocui5x7fmmvyvc4z32ctotwx7e@jpeg

saucy!

Somebody at last is allowing their underling to get drunk at happy hour and post on the job.

The future of Trump's gold shoes? Everything old becomes new again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3Z_Kskl_U

not a yuge surprise, but...

Donald Trump ranked as worst US president in history, with Joe Biden 14th

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/presidents-ranking-trump-biden-list

yeah, questioning the election results and inciting an insurrection really sunk him from a Harding/A. Johnson type of corrupt horrible president to sub-Buchanan levels