Financial condition: the fall of Trump

“I am really rich.” It was with this phrase that Donald Trump recommended himself to Americans when he announced his candidacy for president at his Trump Tower in New York in June 2015. To emphasize this, he had descended a gold-plated escalator on the way to his speech. However, how rich Trump is actually is a mystery. His company, the Trump Organization, largely keeps his financial data secret. Contrary to what is customary for presidents, Trump does not release his personal tax returns. He himself boasted in a statement in capital letters during his campaign that his fortune comprised “TEN BILLION DOLLARS.” But he has given reason enough to doubt his words.

Not least with a comment that became famous during a legal dispute in 2007. At the time, he said: “My wealth fluctuates. It goes up and down, with the markets and with the points of view and with the feelings, even with my own feelings. Forbes magazine puts Trump’s fortune at at least $ 2.5 billion. That would also be a good amount, but certainly less than he would claim himself. Recently, during a television appearance, when asked about alleged debts of more than 400 million dollars, he said that this was only “a small percentage” of his wealth, a “peanut.”

Yet US media revelations in recent weeks shake up Trump’s self-image. So you are in a difficult financial situation. The situation could get worse in the coming years, all the more so if, as it is now shaping up, he has to leave the White House. And without your current privileges, legal battles could turn into a formidable threat. History professor Timothy Snyder recently told the New Yorker: “It is the president’s office that keeps him out of jail and out of the poorhouse.”

Entrepreneurial ability?

The New York Times caused quite a stir a few weeks ago when it published details of Trump’s secretly wrapped tax returns. Not only was it unflattering that, according to the report, Trump only paid $ 750 in taxes in his election year and the year after. The newspaper also described his financial situation as worrying. Consequently, the loans of more than $ 400 million, discussed later on television, would mature in the next four years. Trump personally guaranteed it, a sign of doubt about his solvency. In the event of re-election, donors, including Deutsche Bank, may have to ask the uncomfortable question of whether they are confiscating the assets of a sitting president. If Trump were no longer in office, that would be less sensitive.

The report also mentions a dispute with the US tax authority, the IRS, that could result in a tax refund of more than $ 100 million. As his most lucrative project of the last two decades, his reality television show “The Apprentice” is described, which has earned him more than 425 million dollars. But he invested most of this money in things that turned out to be deficit, for example golf courses. The newspaper’s conclusion: “Ultimately, Trump was more successful playing a business mogul than he was one in real life.”