Snowboarder Bo nailed my original answer, but I went ahead and did some research. Obviously no one other than Trump and his accountant know his true net worth. Estimates seem to range from $400M to Trump’s claimed $7B. However, it’s worth noting that people with some knowledge of the situation (i.e., his ex-wife and a bank that loaned him money) have always given numbers well below Trump’s claim at the time. One insider went so far as to say that when Trump states his values he is including his “brand value” and future earnings. But the simple truth is that none of us know what Trump is worth.
He’s not running. No serious political commentator believes he is. All his talk over the past year has been nothing more than a ploy to keep his name in the headlines and stay somewhat relevant, as well as drum up interest in “The Apprentice.” Trump is basically the business world’s equivalent of a wrestling heel, and his antics are basically just political kayfabe.
Certainly didn’t stop Sarah Palin from running for national office.
… third possibility (IMHO the winner):
I figured it was closer to the somewhat modern celebutant. Getting out of a news cycle? Expose your cooch, get married, do something a bit outrageous and the press laps it up (particularly on slow news days). Whether it’s to increase Apprentice ratings or his own ego, the hinting at a presidential run is nothing more than a LOOKATME! LOOKATME!
The funny thing is if he starts taking himself seriously and ends up thinking this is a challenge/gauntlet that he really wasn’t serious, and he ends up running after all. Or something. For some reason I just keep thinking of Duck Soup.
(BTW, thanks for the new word “kayfabe.” Would it be applicable to some members’ keeping the Cecil myth alive? Or is that Santaclausing?)
Do you think people are that self-aware, though? It’s one thing for us, as outside observers, to analyze Trump’s motives, but what does he truly believe? If his ego is so huge, doesn’t he probably think that he’d be a good president?
I think Trump broke with reality about the time he started on Apprentice. He wasn’t a huge massive ego when his business was going through bankruptcy (he wasn’t contrite either). I didn’t know the guy but I have been in rooms with him in the 1990s and he didn’t come off as his current TV persona, he seemed somewhat charismatic. I think these days he is much more likely to come off that way in private.
IIRC. Back during his last bankruptcy his lenders had to figure out if they were going to let him reorganize or if they were going to push his companies into liquidation and him into bankruptcy. He simply wasn’t worth enough in hard assets to cover his debts or they would have pushed him into bankruptcy. He convinced the bankers not to push him into personal or business bankruptcy because they were much more likely to see their money again if they let him be their front man. He lost control of his business empire at about the same time. At the time his estimated net worth (as estimated by his lenders) was below a billion dollars.
Trump has released his financials. Cite
To wit:
Estimated net worth: $7.004 billion
Cash and marketable securities: $270 million
Real estate 100% owned: $3.2 billion
Real estate partially owned: $900,000,000
“Brand value” $3.0 billion
So, even discounting his ‘brand value’, he’s still worth four billion dollars, and has $270 million cash on hand.
Skeptics may want to note Forbes’ estimation of his net worth in the cited article, which was that Trump is worth “just $2.9 billion.”
The guy’s rich. Period. He’s also practical and pragmatic, he knows how to hire capable people, he’s proven effective at dealing with state and local government agencies all over the country, and he knows how to get shit done.
With regard to being thin-skinned and suing people and so forth, if you would some of his books you will learn that that is how he keeps people from fucking with him. His philosophy in this regard could be summed up as: “If somebody hits you, you hit them back ten times as hard!” This serves not only to defeat the opponent in question but serves as a ‘teachable moment’ for other would-be opponents. In other words he wants people to know that if they fuck with him they are going to regret it, with the result that far fewer people fuck with him. A pretty good strategy if you ask me, because in his world lots of people will try to take advantage of you if you let them.
I don’t believe Trump will actually run either - or at least not with intent of winning as I think he likes what he’s doing now too much to give it up - but I think he would be an extraordinarily effective president.
I also think Melania would make a great First Lady. 
Yep. That right there is what you’d call, a barometer of someone’s political acumen.
Let me put it this way - he would be an extraordinarily effective president at getting the things done that he wants to see get done, as opposed to what you want to see get done.
And that’s a good thing. 
Not really, since what I want to get done is based on reality as opposed to nonsense ideology,* like tax cuts increasing revenue in all cases*.
But you’re wrong, Trump is a political illiterate. He thinks he’ll put Opec in a room and berate then into cheaper gas prices.
What makes you think he’d be able to get a policy through congress? His ideas are drivel and involve bluster instead of thought.
And given that he’s a birther, he’s either subnormal or a dedicated racist. That’s all that’s left of that sad little coalition.
The problem I see with this is that the tools and strategies that are useful in the business world are largely inapplicable to the world of politics.
I’m not convinced that this approach will lead to the best outcomes when applied to international relations.
GOP Foreign Policy: If Brute Force isn’t working, you aren’t using enough!
It’s true that government operates differently than business in certain ways, but still there are skills that are useful in both business and government, and I believe that Trump’s pragmaticism, his negotiating skills, his ability to recognize opportunity, his ability to choose good people, and his ability to get things done would all serve him well as the country’s chief executive.
Trump says and does a lot of things for public consumption that don’t necessarily reflect the way he does things at the negotiating table. Trump is a tough but effective negotiator and I think he’d do very well in international relations. Certain foreign powers would likely find him difficult to deal with. I suspect that he would be very good at forging alliances that would frustrate our enemies and put them at a disadvantage, which he would then capitalize on to our advantage.
The thing is, Trump is a genius. And like most geniuses, he does things that seem to defy both expectation and common sense but which work out the way he wants in the end. Trump almost always knows exactly what he’s doing even if it isn’t apparent to anyone else. Take the way he’s quasi-running for president, for example. He’s not having to participate in these silly debates that make everyone look bad, he’s avoiding having to spend months needlessly arguing policy with a half dozen other candidates, and he’s waiting to see how the field winnows out before he commits. As a good businessman, Trump has the ability to assess his strengths and weaknesses vs. those of his opponents, and he most likely wants to wait and see who he will be competing with and then assess his chances before he commits. All of which goes to serve Trump well even though it frustrates expectations and certain elements of the electorate.
If there’s been one constant that I’ve observed in Trump over the years, it’s that the things he does almost always pay off for him the way he wants in the end. People call him a buffoon and they make fun of his hair and they ridicule the things he says, but all the while he’s kicking butt and making things happen the way he wants. And it’s his ability to make things happen the way he wants despite outward appearances that belies his genius, and that ability is what speaks most highly to his potential effectiveness as president.
He’s also been making noises about running for president for 20 years. He’s never going to do it, and he’ll never be president. If being president was primarily about marketing yourself and you got results by yelling at people, he’d probably be good at it. Since it isn’t, I don’t think it would work out very well.
Even if your analysis is correct, it does not describe someone I wish to see as president. What is best for Donald Trump is not necessarily what is best for the country. I dislike politicians who put party before country. Your description sounds like someone who puts party before country, and himself before both.
Well, you’re entitled to your opinion. I basically just wanted to put to rest the allegations that Trump was lying about his wealth. As to which of us is right about how Trump would perform in the White House, at best we’d just have to wait and see how he does if and when he ever gets there.
Certainly there are going to be people on the other side of the fence politically who would be unlikely to approve either of Trump’s methods or Trump himself. I’m just saying that from the perspective of being a president who sets out to get certain things accomplished, he would be very good at getting them done.
As far as Trump putting himself before the country, I would think that as president the best way for him to do that would be to be highly effective at getting things done. The goals are different for a president than they are for a businessman. In business, making money and growing your business is the sign of success. In the presidency, being effective at running the country and getting your goals accomplished are the measurements of success. The way Trump could best serve himself in the presidency would be to leave office being considered a damn good president.
As far as putting party before country, to me that means nothing. If you belong to one party and feel the policies of the other party are harmful to the country, you’re simply being patriotic to oppose them. I don’t recall hearing too much about the Democrats putting party before the country when they’ve opposed policies and appointments by Republican presidents in the past.
What would those “certain things” be, do you think? By avoiding the “silly debates” he hasn’t really put any policy proposals on the table. And considering how content-free most political speeches are, that’s really saying something.
Really, you’ve said he’d be effective at getting things done. What things? What do you think he would try to do as president that causes you to voice such support for him? And if you can back it up with actual statements he has made, so much the better.
Interesting,
Anyone remember what the penalty is for filing a false Public Financial Disclosure Report with Regnery Publishing is?
CMC fnord!
Death by 1,000 paper cuts?
Don’t follow a horses ass too closely or you step in too much horse shit.
I don’t check up on the guy, but I do recall reading an article which talked about how he massively over-values the properties he owns, sometimes by factors of as much as 300-400% of real (“if you sold it today”) world values.