# "Leave Donald Alone!" Pleads His Press Secretary **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125 "2017-01-02T04:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/401 "2017-01-23T20:13:09Z")
Another Sean Spicer tidbit – apparently, he’s even more similar to his boss than we knew: > [@](#): > > [White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer waged a five-year Twitter feud against Dippin’ Dots](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sean-spicer-waged-5-year-twitter-war-dippin-dots-article-1.2953270) > > Before White House Press Secretary began fudging facts, he was fighting…Dippin’ Dots. > > Starting in 2010, the man who would become the top spokesman for the President of the United States devoted scoops of tweets to attacking the beady frozen treat known as the “Ice Cream of the Future.” > > Sean Spicer kept his cream conflict going for five years — stretching through his tenure with the Republican National Committee… ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/402 "2017-01-23T20:59:31Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > It’s like talking to air. > > (And that fortune just keeps getting bigger and bigger every time I hear about it.) And yet he refuses to release his taxes or any other information whatsoever. If I was bragging on all my money, a tax statement would be an incredibly easy way to prove it. I bet he’s lying about how rich he really is … all just part of the con game. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/403 "2017-01-23T21:03:32Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > 1. He didn’t go bankrupt ‘numerous’ times. At least not compared to the hundreds of companies he’s owned or controlled. He took four casinos bankrupt once they began to fail in the downturn that affected all the New Jersey casinos. What would you have had him do, keep the doors open until the sheriff came to padlock the doors? At least under the terms of the bankruptcies his creditors retained the option of taking over the properties and attempting to run them profitably themselves, or to sell off what they could and thereby recoup at least some of their investment. > > 2.Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t rip off contractors, etc. And maybe they took shortcuts and/or performed shoddy work and/or tried to overcharge him. I don’t think either of us has the slightest idea which is truly the case. What is the case is that he continues to obtain financing and contractors and to successfully develop new properties. > > 1. I’ll buy you a case of beer if you can explain how Trump inherited two multi-billion dollar fortunes from a father who had only built up $300 million in wealth by the time he died in 1999. Trump had already made, lost and rebuilt his multi-billion dollar fortunes by the time his father died, after which he inherited $100 million, which equaled only about 5% of his overall wealth at the time. > > The claim that Trump inherited his wealth is one of the most stupid claims made on this board. I’ve refuted it again and again and again and yet guess who’s popping up to assert it one more time? Isn’t it your side who’s always harping about how in love they are with the facts? If so, your lib card badly needs to be recalled. But it won’t be of course, because you guys are every bit as prone to spout bullshit in the face of things you don’t like to hear as anyone else. You haven’t refuted shit. You are just a damn liar, and a bad one at that. Momma should have told you, “Never try to bullshit a bullshitter”. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/404 "2017-01-23T22:38:50Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > You haven’t refuted shit. You are just a damn liar, and a bad one at that. I don’t think he’s a liar, he’s just mindlessly repeating a liar’s claims. To be clear, Trump is a pathological liar, so if he claims to have repeatedly build multi-billion dollar fortunes without assistance from his daddy, that’s a lie. \*\*SA \*\*is probably an idiot for credulously swallowing this horseshit, but in this specific case it’s Trump who’s the liar, not **SA**. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/405 "2017-01-23T22:42:51Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > You haven’t refuted shit. Of course I have. And the fact I don’t owe you a case of beer proves it. 😃 But no worries for me. I’ll just sit back and wait for the next time you stupidly proclaim that Trump inherited two multi-billion dollar fortunes from a father who was worth only $300 million when he died…in 1999, no less…and then I’ll come back and embarrass you yet again. I have no quarrel with your claim to be a bullshitter, but you’re really pretty lousy at it. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/406 "2017-01-23T22:46:43Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > I don’t think he’s a liar, he’s just mindlessly repeating a liar’s claims. > > To be clear, Trump is a pathological liar, so if he claims to have repeatedly build multi-billion dollar fortunes without assistance from his daddy, that’s a lie. \*\*SA \*\*is probably an idiot for credulously swallowing this horseshit, but in this specific case it’s Trump who’s the liar, not **SA**. You’re putting a lot of faith in his naivete. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/407 "2017-01-23T22:48:45Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I’ll just sit back and wait While you’re waiting, **SA** , how about responding to [this previous post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19942372&postcount=390) that you seem to have missed or ignored? [QUOTE=Kimstu] > [@Starving Artist](#): > > 1. […] He took four casinos bankrupt once they began to fail in the downturn that affected all the New Jersey casinos. Hmm, that’s not quite the way [_Fortune_ magazine put it](http://fortune.com/2016/03/31/donald-trump-debt-trump-hotels-casinos-atlantic-city/): > [@](#): > > The frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination […] trumpets his success managing his own enterprises, boasting that the businesses in his portfolio have “very low debt and tremendous cash flow.” That example, Trump has declared, demonstrates the “kind of thinking this country needs with $19 trillion in debt, believe me.” > > There’s just one problem with this narrative: Trump’s actual track record as an executive who has overindulged on credit time and again. > > […] Over more than a dozen years heading at the time one of America’s biggest casino operators, Trump showed a penchant for aggressively loading up on debt—way, way more than the business could support. > > Much of the debt was accumulated through a series of self-dealing transactions, in which his public company bought out Trump’s personal stakes in various casinos. Trump made those sales to rescue himself from potentially ruinous personal guarantees, and moved huge portfolios of junk bonds that he couldn’t repay personally onto the newly-formed public company. In one major deal, he also appears to have, in effect, paid himself a highly inflated price. > Related > > In the end, Trump’s myopia for the risk created by all the crushing credit obligations at his businesses punished employees, banks, investors, and bondholders alike—almost everyone but Trump himself. It also tanked Trump’s investment in Atlantic City, a place where Trump says he is “very, very proud” of how he did. […] > > Trump’s operating model for his casino operations can best be summarized thusly: high debt and insufficient cash flow. As chairman, chief shareholder, and sometime CEO of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (later named Trump Entertainment Resorts) from 1995 to until early 2009, Trump leveraged his Atlantic City gaming properties to such an extent that even if they’d fared well—which they didn’t—they still wouldn’t have turned a significant profit. […] > > Trump Hotels’ gigantic interest burden almost certainly doomed the company from the start. It never generated sufficient cash flow to pay down any of the principal on its debt—thus violating the first principle of a leveraged buyout, or LBO. […] > > A major reason Trump failed with Trump Hotels is that he engaged in what appear to have been self-dealing moves that ended up crippling his company. > > The problem took two forms. First, Trump sold casino businesses he fully or mainly owned to the new, publicly-traded Trump Hotels that were already so over-leveraged, with such expensive debt, that they could never make enough money to repay bondholders. It was a great way for Trump to escape debt burdens, but it created a huge burden for his shareholders. Second, he made one important sale at a price that appears to have been a lot higher than what a neutral bidder would have paid. > > It was the chronic inability to cover interest expense, and the big dilution caused by self-dealing, that sank Trump Hotels. > [@Starving Artist](#): > > 1. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t rip off contractors, etc. And maybe they took shortcuts and/or performed shoddy work and/or tried to overcharge him. :dubious: Then what a shame it is that Trump seems to be so bad at picking contractors/employees who **won’t** perform shoddy work and/or try to overcharge him. Based on [the hundreds of lawsuits, liens and judgements against his companies for nonpayment of bills](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/282933-report-trump-has-refused-to-pay-hundreds-of-workers), if he’s **not** deliberately stiffing these people to save money, then he’s either had the worst run of luck imaginable or he’s got appalling judgement when it comes to hiring people. (And that’s not counting the “24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying employees minimum wage or overtime pay” since 2005 alone). [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/408 "2017-01-23T22:48:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Of course I have. And the fact I don’t owe you a case of beer proves it. 😃 > > But no worries for me. I’ll just sit back and wait for the next time you stupidly proclaim that Trump inherited two multi-billion dollar fortunes from a father who was worth only $300 million when he died…in 1999, no less…and then I’ll come back and embarrass you yet again. > > I have no quarrel with your claim to be a bullshitter, but you’re really pretty lousy at it. Not really, I already did show your bull by pointing out that you did link before at others that deduced that Trump had like 5 Billion when he has been boasting that he has 10 billion. (Never mind that you were pointing at experts that did show that Trump was lying about his like worth and you are supporting that kind of chicanery). But as Fortune Magazine pointed out (post #392) it is impossible to be sure if his fortune is not even **less** than 4 or 3 Billion (it is maybe less than that if the debt he is not reporting is added too) unless the Trump taxes are released. You are only making your bullshit with basically an argument from ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/409 "2017-01-23T22:50:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Of course I have. And the fact I don’t owe you a case of beer proves it. 😃 OK, Point 1: Yes, he did go bankrupt numerous times. No matter the reasons, the fact that he had multiple bankruptcies is not in dispute. Incidentally, in the case of the casinos, he transferred a buttload of personal debt to the casinos, So he profited by getting rid of his personal debt, and made his investors take the loss. Point 2: He definitely did steal from contractors. He claimed they did substandard work, but we’ve all seen how much his claims are worth. And the sheer number of ‘substandard’ results indicates that either most contractors are incompetent, or Trump is very poor at choosing employees. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/410 "2017-01-23T22:54:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > And the sheer number of ‘substandard’ results indicates that either most contractors are incompetent, or Trump is very poor at choosing employees. Judging from the bottom-of-the-barrel cabinet appointees he’s made, could legitimately be the second one. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/411 "2017-01-23T23:19:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > OK, Point 1: Yes, he did go bankrupt numerous times. No matter the reasons, the fact that he had multiple bankruptcies is not in dispute… SA will just give you the alternative facts: The Donald never went bankrupt, and always made lots of money. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Point 2: He definitely did steal from contractors. He claimed they did substandard work, but we’ve all seen how much his claims are worth. And the sheer number of ‘substandard’ results indicates that either most contractors are incompetent, or Trump is very poor at choosing employees. Alternative facts say that The Donald always overpaid, and every contractor loved him. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/412 "2017-01-24T15:58:05Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > You’re putting a lot of faith in his naivete. Well, Trump is an accomplished fraud and con artist. And \*\*SA \*\*is, to be kind but accurate, a rube. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/413 "2017-01-24T16:32:29Z")
The Netherlands attempts to befriend Trump: (it’s true) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mX_uFqc3WHI/maxresdefault.jpg "America First, Netherlands Second") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX_uFqc3WHI) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/414 "2017-01-24T16:35:00Z")
[quote=“BigAppleBucky, post:413, topic:776125”] The Netherlands attempts to befriend Trump: (it’s true) [/QUOTE] Holy crap, this thing is hilarious. Do you think The Donald will _get it_? (I suspect not.) ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/415 "2017-01-24T18:28:42Z")
I couldn’t really believe this bit from [Spicer](http://www.npr.org/2017/01/23/511289545/trumps-press-secretary-tries-for-a-reset-but-goes-on-to-lament-negative-narrativ)yesterday: > [@NPR](#): > > “The default narrative is always negative,” Spicer said Monday during his first briefing in which he took questions. “And that’s demoralizing.” Spicer lamented what he called a “constant theme to undercut the tremendous support” that Trump has, adding, “I think its just unbelievably frustrating when you’re continually told it’s not big enough; it’s not good enough; you can’t win.” It’s almost like he doesn’t remember the years that Trump spent trying to “undercut” the previous President by, among other things, claiming he wasn’t born in the US. It’s impressive I guess that he could say it with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/416 "2017-01-25T01:29:47Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > SA will just give you the alternative facts: The Donald never went bankrupt, and always made lots of money. > > Alternative facts say that The Donald always overpaid, and every contractor loved him. To the best of my knowledge, Donald Trump, the asshole, never went bankrupt. Businesses that piece of shit started and ran, which are separate legal entities, went bankrupt. And yes, someone can profit nicely from a business that goes bankrupt. It is not necessarily an ethical way to run a business, but we know that ethics and morals are not an impediment to the shithead’s way of doing things. ETA: When one is in real estate, _ **every** _ project is set up as a separate business. That way, if one buys two hotels and one goes bankrupt, the creditors cannot take the second hotel or the personal assets of the CEO/Managing Partner, nor any of the other partners. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/417 "2017-01-25T01:39:08Z")
[White House sources say Trump was ‘visibly enraged’ at the size of the Women’s March: report](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/white-house-sources-say-trump-was-visibly-enraged-at-the-size-of-the-womens-march-report/) Soooo thin skinned. > [@](#): > > Ignoring the advice of his advisers, Trump demanded Spicer deliver his now-infamous statement to the White House press corps, falsely insisting that no inauguration in history had been witnessed by more people. What happens to a foreign leader who insults Trump? Good grief. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/418 "2017-01-25T01:41:10Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > [White House sources say Trump was ‘visibly enraged’ at the size of the Women’s March: report](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/white-house-sources-say-trump-was-visibly-enraged-at-the-size-of-the-womens-march-report/) > > Soooo thin skinned. > What happens to a foreign leader who insults Trump? Good grief. There will be only one. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/419 "2017-01-25T01:48:21Z")
[“Shut the fuck up, Donny! You’re out of your element!”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0OaeMYTbs4) ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/420 "2017-01-25T01:50:35Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There will be only one. Trump is the Kurgan? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=22)