At various times, Donald Trump has claimed to be worth anywhere from $2 billion to $6 billion but don’t believe it — he’s the perfect example of the quote by wealthy oilman J. Paul Getty, “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” As David Cay Johnston points out, it’s immaterial what Trump says he’s worth if he owes more than his assets, and he always owes more than his assets, but makes deals with his bankers to allow him to live high on the hog — his false front of wealth helps bring in money to pay them back. The only thing Trump has ever really been good at is self-promotion, kick-started by high-priced PR flacks and an indolent media willing to elevate this cartoonish oaf to the status of ‘national icon of wealth’ based on his press releases and public boasting. In fact, most of Trump’s ‘assets’ have lost money, and he’s had businesses, buildings, yachts and homes confiscated in bankruptcy judgments, but thanks to our goggle-eyed celebrity ‘journalism,’ most of America laughably thinks he’s a success in business. (A perfect modern Republican.) As a prefers-to-remain-anonymous Wall Street insider once said of the man who has referred to himself as ‘The Donald,’ “In any well-run corporation where you wanted to turn a profit, the first person you’d fire would be Trump.” It’s a testament to Mitt Romney’s vapidity and ill-suitedness for the presidency that he would tie himself to this farcical fraud. (Note: This cartoon is a reprint from last year, but the info is still pertinent, except that Obama did release his long-form birth certificate while Trump’s tax records remain hidden.)
