Monday, 28 September 2020

The President Is Stony Broke

Would all those first time Tory voters have been quite so eager to vote for alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson if they had known that, less than a year later, he would be pleading poverty and claiming that he was unable to live on £160,000 a year? Maybe some of them still would: after all, there are plenty of voters Stateside still willing to back Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, despite him being rather worse off.

Donald, where's yer tax-deductible hairspray?

How much worse off was laid bare by the New York Times, revealing “Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in the year he won the presidency, and in his first year in the White House he paid another $750. The Times said Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years, largely because he reported losing much more money than he made … the records revealed ‘chronic losses and years of tax avoidance’”.

At least Bozo pays his taxes. Not The Donald. As the Guardian has reported, “In the US, people who derive their income from company dividends rather than salary only pay tax when the company records a profit and pays a dividend”. As Richard Murphy put it, “Trump is not a successful business person, at all. Instead he is an arch-manipulator of borrowed funds, using them to give the appearance of a successful business career when he is, in fact, simply accumulating debt that he might well be unable to repay”.

How much debt might that be? The NYT has asserted that “the president is personally responsible for more than $300m in loans, which will come due in the next four years”. The possibility of the President of the USA going bust - which, if Trump were re-elected, is a strong possibility - would be unthinkable. For anyone other than Trump.

And while many of his fans will brush off this latest series of revelations, blaming them on that mythical “swamp” which was going to get drained, but never does, some may stop and think. They value the sacrifices made by the military: Trump has dismissed those who serve as “losers” and “suckers” already. Now it has been revealed that his contribution to federal income tax, which is how the military is funded, has been minimal.

Full of hot air, and very little else

Worse, those natural Trump supporters are all for protecting the USA’s borders. This, too, is paid for out of federal income taxes. They applauded four years ago when he said that paying less tax made him “smart”. They might not be applauding now.

Even worse, the NYT story has blown apart the idea of Trump the successful businessman. He isn’t, and he hasn’t been: he took all that money his father left him and effectively sprayed it up the wall. His desperation is such that campaign events harvest data from supporters in order to get them to part with money for merchandise - and cash donations. Small wonder Piers Morgan has been silent on the matter.

What will be the effect on the Presidential race? As Anthony Zurcher of the BBC has observed, “The Times story … is yet another unwanted distraction for the president. Every day spent on it is one the Trump campaign can't focus on changing the dynamic in a race that appears tilted against him”. So he’s going to get even more paranoid.

Our PM is only pretending to be skint. The US President really is - he’s stony broke.


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8 comments:

  1. Andrew Barker28 September 2020 at 16:44

    Even worse. He appears to have only made money from 'The Apprentice' and the licencing deals resulting from it. That was probably the easiest job in town, requiring little intelligence, or business acumen. As you say, he sprayed the rest up the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous28 September 2020 at 16:45

    So the " Stable Genius" is flat broke. Who would of thought.He is also a flat out liar. The reverse of King Midas. All he touches turns to sh*t.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous28 September 2020 at 17:19

    What's the problem?

    It's capitalism in action.

    It's what "the people" vote for.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Andy McDonald28 September 2020 at 17:26

    Cracked, of all places, ran an article pointing out that his resorts, with a few exceptions (Mar a Lago etc) are largely dilapidated and falling apart. He's essentially a time share spiv.

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  5. Anonymous28 September 2020 at 17:30

    Would definitely recommend Sarah Kendzior's Hiding in Plain Sight which dishes the dirt on the Don & mentioned his shady tax arrangements in several places.

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  6. Nigel Stapley28 September 2020 at 19:16

    It won't make very much difference, if it all. A large part of the support for Donald J. Fart-Euphemism is - like that for Br*x*t - tied to a quasi-religious mindset, where being a True Believer is the most important thing, and where logic, reason and even observable reality are excluded from consideration as being inimical to The Faith. Not even the proceeding final collapse of the Republic around their ears will sway those caught up (largely willingly) in the cult. They are also blind to his weapons-grade hypocrisy for the same reasons.

    The historical/fictional figure onto which Trump may most appropriately and accurately be mapped, therefore, is Elmer Gantry.

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  7. Jonathan28 September 2020 at 23:37

    What Trump demonstrates is the shallowness of American Society, a society where money and status are king.
    A society so shallow and selfish, they refuse to stop individuals like Trump ruining lives and other people's businesses and livelihoods.

    Trump like all populists Inc our own Blonde Buffoon only is create a persomality much like a method actor (De Niro, Pacino), except Trump and his British counterpart become the alter ego and can no longer return to their original selfs.

    Trump, may likely need to be so heavily defeated, to force the Republicans to tell him and his dysfunctional family to leave asap before the troops arrive to put him in chains.

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  8. Steve Woods29 September 2020 at 12:22

    Republican presidential candidates, as easy to buy as a gun over the pond.

    ReplyDelete