Donald Drumpf
David Cay
Johnston (DCJ) is a Pulitzer Prize winner (2001) known for investigative
reporting and specializes in economics and tax related matters. He has been investigating
Donald J Trump (DJT) and has followed his career for last 4-5 decades. He has
crossed swords with DJT over a number of issues and has been at receiving end
of threats of legal action from DJT for what DJT has perceived to be unfair
representation of his affairs. DCJ’s book “The Making of Donald Trump” putting
DJT through a detailed scrutiny was published in August 2016. DCJ wanted the
book to be available to the US citizens well before the 2016 Presidential
elections so that they could make an informed choice when they went to the
voting booths on November 8th. Unfortunately he failed to influence
the voters sufficiently.
Following
are excerpts based on his book (and suitable paraphrasing wherever required).
Comments and observations on various points are mentioned in parentheses. The
story makes a compelling reading and throws light on the complex Machiavellian
personality that is the 45th President of US of A.
FAMILY HISTORY
1.
Trump family originates from Germany and their
original family name was Drumpf which was changed to Trump way back in 1648.
2.
DJT’s grand-father Friedrich left his home in
Kallstadt in southwest Germany in 1885 at the age of 16 years faced with the
prospect of imminent mandatory military service. (The history would repeat with
a twist when DJT avoided getting drafted in 1960’s under one pretext or other).
3.
Friedrich settled in Seattle and opened an
establishment The Dairy Restaurant. It also served as a low-rent pleasure
house. He became a citizen in 1892 by mis-representing that he had arrived in
US two years before he actually had. (This art of mis-representation of facts
seems to be a trait fine-tuned by his grand-son as openly stated by DCJ a
number of times in the book.)
4.
Friedrich (now Americanized to Fred) went across to
Canada during the Klondike gold rush to repeat his formula for success. To
quote DCJ, “He set up a bar and grille calling it The Artic. It offered hard
liquor and “sporting ladies” as the prostitutes were called”. (True to his form
he wound up the operations in time when the gold rush bubble burst and came
back to US with a good amount of profit).
5.
Hi son Fred, DJT’s father, got arrested by New York
police in a clash between police and Ku Klux Klan demonstrators but was let off
without any charges. (DJT has constantly denied this going to the extent of
stating that his father never stayed at the said location in spite of there
being documentary evidence to the entire episode).
6.
Fred got into real estate business and during WWII
won government contracts of construction of apartments and barracks for naval
shipyards. With this experience he got contracts for post war housing of
returning GIs. Fred was neither known for good construction or being a good
landlord. (Again the similarity with DJT the developer and landlord).
7.
When he was
under investigation for profiteering from the government contracts, Fred agreed
that he had 4 millions dollars in bank which were excess of income over
costs but claimed that these were not profits as he had not
withdrawn them from the bank. (This
sort of fuzzy understanding of financial matters is also a common thread among
the Trumps. DJT has used it to obfuscate every enquiry about his net worth and
value of any specific asset he holds with this sort of funny reasoning.)
EDUCATION
1.
DJT spent two years at University of Pennsylvania studying
towards a major in economics. He has always claimed that he also did his
masters at Wharton School which is also a part of U Penn. There is no record to
back that claim.
2.
During a legal enquiry where DJT was asked if he
knew what Net Present Value (NPV) stood for, his response: “The concept of net
present value to me would be the value of the land currently after debt. Well,
to me the word ‘net’ is an interesting word. It’s really - the word ‘value’ is
the important word. If you have an asset that you can do other things with but
you don’t choose to do them - I haven’t chosen to do that”.
3.
After hearing that gibberish the lawyer asked “Do
you know what ‘generally accepted accounting principles’ or GAAP is?” Trump’s answer
“No, I am not an accountant”
4.
At another point during another legal proceedings,
the court noted that he had declared net worth which fluctuated very widely
over a short period of time while the economic conditions in general had not
varied much. e.g. as he was preparing to run for presidency he indicated his
net worth as $ 8.7 billion, $ 10 billion and $ 11 billion on three different
days. On an earlier occasion, an attorney asked him if his net worth goes up
and down based upon his feelings. His response “Yes. Even my own feelings
(among other things) as to where the world is going, and that can change
rapidly from day to day………..So yeah, even my own feelings affect my value to
myself”.
The lawyer continued: “When you
publicly state what you are worth, what do you base that number on?” Trump
relied “I would say it’s my general attitude at the time the question may be
asked. And as I say it varies.”
(It is certainly difficult to
imagine that a business man running an empire of 400 companies and with smartest
of financial consultants at his call can have no fundas about elementary issues
and standard terms in finance like above; so it has to be just his way of blustering
through things with every intention of not letting outside world get close to
reality regarding the state of his financial affairs).
FRIENDS AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES
1.
Roy Cohn – a notorious lawyer, a close friend and mentor
to DJT, had strong links to mafia families operating in New York - Gambino and Castellino.
He ensured that even in the times when the transport workers were on strike the
supplies for trump companies went on unhindered.
2.
Johny Weichselbaum who was a twice-convicted felon
ran a helicopter service for Trump casino for years. He was convicted in one
more case of drug trafficking and sent to jail. Once he came out he resumed
services as helicopter consultant and DJT rented him an apartment (owned by DJT
personally) in Trump Plaza at an extremely concessional rate. Trump had also
written a letter to the judge on Weichselbaum trial asking for leniency citing
Weichselbaum as a ‘credit to community’.
3.
Robert (Bob) Libutti was a con man who had been
penalized for a number of scams in the horse –racing industry. He was a friend
of DJT’s and the biggest patron of Trump’s casino in Atlantic City. He also has
the distinction of being the biggest loser at Trump casino. DJT gave him many
lucrative gifts including luxury cars. (One might be tempted to classify this
as a ‘business expenditure’ but Libutti also had a few other connections which
no doubt enhanced his value to DJT).
4.
Trump made a deal to put his name on Trump Golden
Series and Trump Executie Series limousines. The Cadillacs were modified by
Dillinger Coach Services. Only problem was Dillinger was owned by convicted
extortionist Jack Schwartz and a convicted thief John Staluppi who was a member
of a mafia family.
MEMORY
1.
DJT has always boasted that he has the greatest
memory, better than anybody else. But whenever he is questioned on his ties
with most of his ‘shady’ friends and business associates, he flatly
acknowledges even having known them earlier with a standard excuse “I don’t
remember”. This has happened with most
of the friends mentioned in earlier section.
2.
At a later date DJT claimed that he hardly knew
Johny Weichselbaum and even denied writing a letter to judge asking for
leniency although the letter is part of records. Ultimately Trump had to acknowledge
that the letter indeed bore its signature.
3.
Once Bob Libutti ran out of money to gamble, he was
banned by Atlantic City on pretext of racial bias and Trump flatly refused to
acknowledge that he knew him even when there were videos showing them together
at birthday party of Libutti’s daughter.
4.
The same theme recurs whenever DJT finds it
inconvenient for him to be linked up with people who are known to have bad
records.
BUSINESS PRACTICES
1.
DJT’s association with Roy Cohn has ensured ‘amicable’
relations with construction workers’ unions to the extent that construction of
Trump Towers in New York was done through what has now come to be known as Polish
Brigade, bunch of workers who had just been got in from Poland and made to work
without adequate safety equipment (no hard hats, no face-masks or gloves) and
working tools (no power tools, the construction required demolition of an
existing 12 storied building. This was done manually by the workers using
sledgehammers). The crew was underpaid and not even given adequate living
quarters at site which made them sleep on bare floors during the New York
winter. This was all brought out during a trial which was decided in favour of
workers.
2.
DJT had been sued for $ 20 million by a woman who
claimed he had received kick-backs from contractors – a criminal act. DJT, who claims that he never settles a suit,
promptly settled for $ 500,000.
3.
The circumstances under which he procured a license
to run a casino in Atlantic City are also dubious as he failed to give complete
information about the past investigations he had had undergone at the hands of
law. His subsequent business dealings with associates who had a criminal record
were also in contravention of the law but were not questioned by the
enforcement authorities who prided themselves for being extra vigilant to
ensure that the owners had no connection with organized crime.
4.
Trump University which was promoted by him in
2005 exemplifies the way in which he has carried out his various activities.
Within a week of this, the New York authorities asked him to stop using
the word ‘university’ as it had not been authorized by the state to do so. DJT
brazenly continued to ignore that for 5 years and only in 2010 it was changed
to ‘Trump Entrepreneur Initiative’. It was located at 40 Wall Street, a
building owned by Trump. It happens that the address is so notorious that DCJ
says it is “the address of choice for stock-market swindlers and penny stock
scams”.
The ‘university’ conducted short term courses in
real estate with exorbitant price tags eg a 3 day ‘Gold Elite’ course would
cost $ 35,000. DJT had personally
declared in the promo videos that he would select the best faculty but the
faculty chosen ultimately had no real experience in real estate which was to be
the sole strength of the university. A couple of years later when DJT was sued
for civil fraud in California, he could not identify a single faculty member
from the photographs and videos of live events at the university.
5.
The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences has
bestowed nineteen of its topmost awards to Trump golf courses, Trump Tower,
Trump Taj Mahal Casino and even a lifetime award on DJT. All very great but for
a small fact that The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences is run by a trust
controlled by DJT. DJT himself holds a title of “Ambassador Extraordinaire”.
Other trustees include DJT’s employees, relatives including his daughter Ivanka
and son Donald Jr. Another trustee has been Anthony Senecal, DJT’s long time
butler. The President of the Society at whose hands DJT has received his wards
was Joseph Cinque whom DJT praised in a video as a “special guy”. Joseph Cinque
was also a judge at Trump – owned Miss Universe pageant and a regular visitor
to DJT’s New Year Eve parties at Mar-a-Lago. The only issue is that Cinque is a
convicted art thief and a fence apart from having absolutely no experience in
hospitality industry.
During his presidential campaign DJT was asked about
Cinque’s past criminal record only to have DJT respond that he hardly knew the
guy. !!!
6.
Trump Ocean Resort in Mexico just across the border
from San Diego was advertised as a Trump Portfolio property and listed on
trump.com the official web-site of Trump companies. Trump himself and his
children Ivanka and Donald Jr were the part of promotion campaign which
attracted a number of buyers for the luxury resorts. Over a period the
narrative changed and Trumps proclaimed that the Trump name had been only licensed
to the actual Developers and Trumps have absolutely no responsibility towards
the project beyond that. A number of buyers sued the Trumps and they had to
settle with the buyers.
A similar story seems to have unfolded in Hawaii for
Trump International Hotel and Tower at Waikiki Beach Walk where Trump was
projected as co-developer and partner in the project. It was only later that
the buyers discovered that Trump had merely licensed his name to the project
with the Trumps claiming that although they were developing the resort
they were not “the Developers” and here too, the Trumps had to settle
the suit filed by disenchanted buyers. Similar tales have been repeated in a
number of projects.
Comments:
Perhaps more shocking is his attitude towards debt. During his campaign
in 2006 DJT told CNBC: “I’ve borrowed knowing that you can pay back with
discounts. And I’ve done very well with debt.” (No one should be surprised to
find out that Trump has filed for bankruptcies under Chapter 11 a total of 6
times – Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City (1990), two more casinos in Atlantic
City (1992), Plaza Hotel New York (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts
(2004) and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).
If US wanted to have someone who could run the country like a corporate
enterprise, Donald J Trump should have been the last of its choices. I could
not get a figure about how many billions the investors in Trump’s companies have
lost as a result of his six bankruptcies but his seventh bankruptcy could be by
far the worst of them all and it would cost all of us in trillions of US$.
His Income tax returns have generated a lot of debate. Trump has not
released his returns for the last few years under the excuse that they are
still under audit. With a slew of 400 companies where he has interests and each
with some complication or other, it is doubtful if the world will ever see
these returns to confirm or dispel the doubts that everyone has about his
businesses and his net worth.
This then is the man who is now the President of USA, arguably the most
powerful position on the globe today. I don’t know how many of US citizens
still find him honest and trustworthy but I wonder if even 1% of unbiased
readers of this piece would still harbor any illusions about him. God save the
USA and frankly God save the world.
LazyBee
22nd April 2017
Remarks:
1.
The author David Cay Johnston has provided necessary
links to the documents in his book on which the information presented here is based (The Making of Donald Trump by Melville House, Brooklyn and
London). Moreover he has offered to send links to any relevant documents that a
reader may not be able to obtain. He is contactable on davidcayjohnston@me.com
2.
The information about Trump’s bankruptcies are from www.washingtonpost.com
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