Donald Trump's refusal to give up his business when he entered the White House in 2016 ensured he earned more money as commander-in-chief than any other in U.S. history, a Forbes financial analysis revealed Monday.
Trump's massive yet elusive earnings between 2016 and 2020 amounted to more than $250 million, according to Forbes' analysis of his tax returns, bond filings and credit reports, writes senior editor Dan Alexander. "For Trump , who earned even more before becoming president, the money was critical," Alexander writes, "allowing him to service his debts, improve his properties, pay his kids and live like a king — all while governing the nation." Alexander breaks down the gains and losses of each of the four years Trump held residence in the White House and reveals first how Trump turned around an apparent loss in 2017.
" Shortly after winning the 2016 election, Trump agreed to a $25 million settlement to resolve allegations that his for-profit education enterprise was a fraud, wiping out 15% of his estimated annual profit," writes Alexander. "The good news? He got to list a $25 million loss for Trump University on his tax filings." ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast In 2018, commodities that did not bear Trump's name reportedly fared well.
Two buildings at 1290 Sixth Ave. in New York City and 555 California St. in San Francisco , in which Trump held a 30 percent stake, brought him $55 million, or a third of estimated operating income, Forbes reports.
"Trump’s business stabilized in the middle of his presidency, though weak spots remained, especially in liberal-leaning city centers," Alexander writes of 2019. "In New York City, income dropped at Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street. At Trump’s Chicago hotel, a slight profit flipped to a loss.
And in D.C., losses mounted at the most polarizing hotel in the world.
" Trump would also see profits tank in 2020 as COVID ransacked the nation and he mounted an increasingly desperate and ultimately unsuccessful bid to reclaim the White House in 2021, Alexander notes. Trump’s hotels lost about $23 million and his management business shrank from about $29 million in 2017 to just $4.5 million, the Forbes analysis concludes.
"Office buildings acted as a short-term savior," writes Alexander, "collecting rent from marquee tenants locked into long-term leases." Donald Trump may have cost himself and other Republicans a winnable state over the weekend by attacking the popular Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, according to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough.
The former president unleashed a Truth Social tirade against Kemp on Saturday and then attacked him as a "bad guy" onstage at an Atlanta rally, at which he falsely claimed that his own supporters had been prevented from entering after Vice President Kamala Harris packed the same arena earlier in the week. "This is one of these things where you ask, are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?" said the "Morning Joe" host. "The fact is, the Harris rally was packed.
There was a lot of excitement, there was more excitement than we've seen at a Democratic rally in a very long time, certainly reminded a lot of reporters there of Barack Obama in 2008. "Again, excitement that a lot of people have been saying has been bottled up for quite some time for Democrats. They're out there now.
I've always told people running for office that campaigns are about the future, they're not about the past. I could add to that, they're not about crowd sizes. They're not about grudges and resentments, all the things that fuel Donald Trump's campaign.
" "People say, well, he won,' Scarborough added. "Yeah, he won in '16. I'm not going to go through the litany of years Trump Republicans lost – 2017 all the way through 2023.
It's because it's always resentment, it's always crowd sizes. It's always who he is going to, you know — who is treasonous. It is praising Vladimir Putin.
It is these really weird things – weirdos, insurrectionists and freaks, far out there, pushing a lot of the crazy stuff. It's just, again, that's not where Middle America is." The next president will likely need to win Georgia, which Trump lost in 2020 and then drove down turnout in a runoff election for the U.
S. Senate months later as he sought to overturn his own loss with false claims of voter fraud. "You know, at the Georgia rally, we're really burying the lead," Scarborough said.
ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast . "Donald Trump has been a scourge, a scourge to Georgia Republicans. They've said as much.
He was responsible for their loss in the 2020 Senate race, which, of course, kept Republicans from being the majority party in the United States Senate. He was responsible for the Senate candidates's loss in 2022, which also helped Democrats control the Senate again. He goes in in 2024, Georgia, a swing state again.
What does he do? He is raging behind the scenes, according to my sources inside the campaign. "So what does he do? He does the exact thing that his campaign staff, that members of the Georgia GOP would not want him to do. He picks a fight with an extraordinarily popular Republican governor.
" "I will say, also, yes, a secretary of state in Georgia, trying to rig the election," Scarborough added. "Then went to the polls the next fall with Donald Trump trying to defeat him and what happened? He won in a landslide victory in the primary. Instead of doing what would have been good for Donald Trump and Republicans, and either making peace with Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger, or at least not saying anything, this is what Donald Trump did at a critical moment in this campaign.
" Watch the video below or at this link. 08 05 2024 06 16 53 youtu.be CONTINUE READING Show less WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans say they can hardly imagine former President Donald Trump trying to stay in power for a third term if he’s reelected for a second in November — even after Trump has twice suggested he’d become a president for life.
“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) told Raw Story . “I'm sure it's not as worrisome as some of you guys are making it out to be.
” ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast . Trump recently told attendees at a Turning Point Action event in West Palm Beach, Fla.: "Christians, get out and vote, just this time.
You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians." Last week, when given repeated chances to correct the record with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Trump tripled down.
“I said, ‘vote for me, you’re not going to have to do it ever again.’ It’s true,” Trump told Ingraham. Even Trump’s closest allies in the Senate — and Raw Story exclusively interviewed 10 Senate Republicans on the topic in recent days — were left stunned when we ran the former president’s own words by them.
“What do you make of Trump saying, ‘vote for me once and you’ll never, ever vote again’?” Raw Story asked. “I’ve got no comment on that,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story.
“I'm sure that's out of context.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks to reporters at the U.
S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
(Photo by Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images) The disbelief teeters toward confusion for many. “I didn’t hear it,” Sen.
Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story. “I’ll have to look.” “Democrats are worried he’ll never release the reins of power,” Raw Story pressed.
“I don't think that's true,” Scott said. “I didn't see it, though.” ‘Sounds preposterous’ Even the Republicans who did catch Trump’s comments are confused.
“I don't understand that statement,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Raw Story. “I personally want every voter to vote in every election.
” ALSO READ: Texas sheriffs engage conspiracy theorist who created Trump enemies 'target list' “Democrats say, ‘Look, this is proof that he wants to pull a 2020 again and not give up the reigns of power,’” Raw Story said. “I don't think you can conclude that,” Collins said. Still other Republicans were left asking Raw Story to parse the former president’s comments.
“No, I didn't. I saw it in a headline,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told Raw Story.
“What did it mean? What did he say exactly?” “I don’t know. I can’t interpret him,” Raw Story replied. “But it’s: ‘vote in November and you never have to vote again.
’” “Like, ever in your whole life?” Murkowski inquired. Sen. Kelly spoke to reporters on Republican vice presidential candidate Sen.
J.D. Vance's (R-OH) recent comments on women and calling Democrats "childless cat ladies.
" (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) “That's kind of what he implied,” Raw Story said. “I'm assuming what it must mean is ‘you'll never have to vote for me again, because I'll be termed out,’” Murkowski said. “Maybe, but that's an assumption your Democratic colleagues don't give after what happened in 2020,” Raw Story replied.
“Oh, no, no. Come on. He's served once, and if he’s successful and he serves twice, there are those that think that he would find a way to give himself a third term?” Murkowski asked.
“Yeah,” Raw Story replied as the senator’s face contorted with constitutional confusion. “So that sounds preposterous to you?” “Yes. It sounds preposterous to me,” Murkowski said.
“Yes.” Assuming the best Just like Senate Republicans did throughout Trump’s four years in the White House, most now refuse to publicly contemplate the worst from Trump — and instead just assume the best from the party’s standard bearer. “You know, I don’t try to interpret what President Trump means.
I assume he just means, get him in there and he’ll fix all the issues,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told Raw Story. “If you take things literally with him, you're always gonna need interpretation.
” And plenty of Republicans are interpreting Trump’s comments in the best light. “It sounded to me like he was saying, ‘I'm not gonna be on the ballot again, so you don't have to vote for me again,’” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story.
“So, you know, I didn't see the full context of it, but I don't take it seriously.” Other Republicans take Trump seriously, if not literally. “I caught it,” Sen.
John Kennedy (R-LA) acknowledged to Raw Story. “When the president gives speeches and answers questions and interviews, he often adopts a stream of consciousness model, and I think that was just part of his stream of consciousness.” Sen.
John Kennedy (R-LA) at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) “Is that one where the media — we take it too literally?” Raw Story asked.
“With President Trump, you can't take everything literally,” Kennedy said. “He's very forthcoming in terms of answering questions, and there's both risk and reward to that.” Even after being passed up as Trump’s running mate, Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-FL) is still quick to defend his fellow Floridian. “It’s being taken out of context like everything else he says,” Rubio told Raw Story. “He doesn't speak in the dialect of Washington.
” While Rubio failed to illuminate what the former president meant, Democrats say, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S.
Capitol, instead of making excuses for Trump, their Republican colleagues should start listening to him and then take him both seriously and literally. “Here's a president who doesn't just joke about undermining our democracy but has taken actions to do that with ..
. his decision to stop the certification of our last election,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story.
“So when he makes jokes like that they have a chilling effect on our nation, and I think it's really problematic.” CONTINUE READING Show less Donald Trump made a frantic call to a political fixer soon after his son Don Jr. claimed a powerful position in the former president's second bid to reclaim the White House, a new book reveals.
Trump called conservative consultant Susie Wiles in March 2022 as he and his son mounted a furious revenge campaign against Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WI) who had spoken out against the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, writes political correspondent Meredith McGraw.
“It’s a f---ing mess,” Trump reportedly told Wiles. “I don’t know who’s in charge. I don’t know how much money I have.
I don’t know if they’re stealing from me. I don’t know who’s who. I need you to fix it.
” This anecdote appears in McGraw's new book "Trump in Exile" which was excerpted Monday morning in Vanity Fair . The book reveals a campaign in chaos as Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner took a large step away from Trump world politics and toward a jet-setting life in New York City. It was a "strange and empty time" for Trump's Florida club Mar-a-Lago, which had plummeted in social ranks on the heels of an attempted White House takeover and amid an ongoing global pandemic, reports McGraw.
A meeting of political advisers in February to discuss political endorsements, targeting Republicans upon whom Trump was "hell-bent" on inflicting revenge, was stark, McGraw writes. "Being associated with someone who inspired a bloody attack on the Capitol didn’t have the same social clout as being associated with a president," McGraw writes. ""The meeting was held in the empty tea room at Mar-a-Lago, a dining room just off the main living room.
..There was no set agenda.
No one was in charge." But Trump's advisers walked away with a distinct impression that Trump Jr. would play a larger role, according to McGraw.
"Trump Jr. looked forward to disappearing into the wilderness of Pennsylvania to hunt deer and was eager to make his own mark on the MAGA movement," she writes. A target for Trump's wrath also emerged.
ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast . "For the next year, it would be an all-hands-on-deck effort to identify and elevate a competitive candidate that could take down Cheney, the one Republican who dared to stand up against Trump and challenge the former president on January 6 and his falsehoods about the 2020 election," writes McGraw. "Trump’s political fate, they believed, rested on taking Cheney down.
" Cheney would ultimately lose the Republican primary to the Trump-endorsed challenger, Harriet Hageman in August 2022, but it would take Wiles' help to get started, reports McGraw. Wiles has worked for Trump twice before but did not consider herself a Trump insider, and was therefore surprised when Trump pleaded for just a "couple weeks of her time," according to McGraw. "Except that getting Trump’s current operation in line, from fundraising to personnel, didn’t take two weeks—it took around two months," writes McGraw.
"Wiles—much to the relief of Trump’s family, who viewed her as trustworthy, and his longtime aides, who were happy to see an adult in the room—was now in charge." CONTINUE READING Show less.
