# "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:** 8
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/141 "2017-01-03T08:22:45Z")
If he is so damned smart, and so bloody rich, why does he need to do something so cheap and nasty as Trump University? Why con gullible and frightened people with a promise of teaching them how to get rich? For a few thousand dollars each, why does a billionaire need to do that? Because he needs the money. The cash, the liquidity, the ready necessary. He says his properties are worth billions, and the banks that loaned him the money are happy to concur. But how often is the value of big real estate dependent upon fact and how much is faith? If he actually had to sell one of his golf courses, how likely is it that he could realize enough to pay off his backers and make a handsome profit himself? And if he had to sell them all? Be rather a glut on the market, this website [Our Properties](https://www.trumpgolf.com/Our-Courses) lists seventeen golf courses. He gives a victory party, and he sells tickets. > [@](#): > > Spicer,…said the party is already “sold out” with more than 800 people scheduled to attend…A person who travels in Palm Beach society circles said that tickets to the party were being sold for $525 each for members and $575 each for guests… [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/mar-a-lago-donald-trump-new-years-eve-party-233070](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/mar-a-lago-donald-trump-new-years-eve-party-233070) What’s that, at best? Half a million bucks? Why does a billionaire need half a million dollars? What do you think he’s going to start selling next? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/142 "2017-01-03T08:32:51Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So what if Fred chose from time to time to hitch a ride on Donald’s wagon and enter into a venture with him? However you want to try to frame it, it was his father’s money and credit that financed his ventures and bailed him out every time they failed. That isn’t business acumen or raw talent it’s just gambling with daddy’s money until something finally hits. As for trying to compare Trump’s loss of almost a billion dollars - his actual physical loss of that much money - to how the ebbs and flows of the economy affect Buffett’s value on paper, as always, you’re completely wrong. > [@](#): > > Of course, there are some major caveats here. Buffett or Berkshire didn’t really lose $11 billion or possibly even a dollar in the market downturn. Just like you didn’t either. These are all paper losses. Berkshire didn’t sustain any actual losses unless it sold its positions during the market tumble, which is very unlikely. Buffett’s investment philosophy is generally buy-and-hold-forever. > **[Warren Buffett’s Berkshire lost $11 billion in market selloff](https://fortune.com/2015/09/03/warren-buffett-lost-11-billion/)** > > Warren Buffett's investments fell during the recent market downturn, though not much more than the market in general. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/143 "2017-01-03T09:00:09Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > In the first place, tax cuts are not “paid for” as though the expenditures they would otherwise fund are created by divine right and cannot be cut back. What they do is create the need for less spending, spending that has been undertaken by human beings (Democrats usually, seeking to buy votes with other people’s money) and which can be reduced by human beings. That’s sorta the problem, isn’t it? The republicans treat these tax cuts as though they just _have_ to happen, and pretend that it’s then everyone else’s fault when the deficit skyrockets. Except it isn’t. If the government needs X amount of money to do what the citizens demand that it does, and we slash revenue, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when the deficits go up. The fact is that because tax cuts are typically made independently of any actual spending cuts (because everyone loves a tax cut, but hates when their services get slashed, and the cowards who keep proposing that we slash taxes on the super-rich can’t bring up the political capital to do so in a revenue-neutral way until they can pretend we’re about to hit some wall), it only makes sense to view it as an expenditure. Tax cuts cost the government a lot of money, and whether you prefer to look at this as the government simply not collecting the money or the government having to spend more money, the end result is the same. > [@](#): > > In the second place, your argument boils down to what this discussion always boils down to, which is that the wealth of the rich harms the poor because the rich seek ways to keep the government from taking money from them to spend on the poor. > > In the view of many, the poor are poor because they lack employment that sufficiently finances their needs…assuming they are employed at all. This lack of employment-generated income is why they’re poor. Naturally if you provide them with goods and services through government spending, they can in one sense be said to be poorer as a result, but that isn’t a loss of the money they’re able to make for themselves, it’s merely a reduction in freebies coming from someone else. Most of the people on food stamps actually have jobs. Among SNAP households, [80% have someone in them who worked or will work within a year of getting food stamps](http://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-introduction-to-the-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap). Just one example. Part of the problem, of course, is that there are many jobs where you can’t really make a living wage - you can’t make enough to get by as a wal-mart greeter, despite working full time. And yeah, it’s really easy to say “Get a better job”. It’s a lot harder to actually do it. Meanwhile, these “freebies” help keep them off the street, and ensure that their children can survive. But I guess making sure Warren Buffett doesn’t have to pay a 40% federal income tax rate on his _billions of dollars_ is worth that price. See, that’s sorta the thing. Most modern democracies have figured out that things tend to work better when there’s a bare minimum people can rely on. When there’s a safety net to ensure that people who struggle in life don’t fall through the cracks. And of course, this needs to be paid for - usually by those who have taken advantage of the myriad advantages provided by such a society and done well for themselves. The US isn’t quite there yet for some reason. > [@](#): > > I doubt one person in a hundred who hears the phrase “The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer” thinks it means that the poor are getting poorer because they’re getting less rich people’s tax money. What they almost certainly think is that the poor are being deprived of income because the rich are soaking up a disproportionate share of the country’s available money. This is objectionable not only because it’s completely untrue and based on ignorance, but because it also feeds class warfare and meritless resentment toward those with high incomes. _To be fair_, every time a rich person complains about having to pay their workers too much, that latter statement becomes a little more true. Particularly if it’s Wal-Mart. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/144 "2017-01-03T09:20:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If making two fortunes is somehow proof of his acumen, does losing one of them (so far) tell us that he’s not an unqualified success? If you give him points for digging out of a billion dollar (w)hole, do you take any points away for digging himself into that hole in the first place? > > Seems like you want to give him credit for every dollar he’s made, but the dollars he’s lost don’t count for some reason. Why is that? > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I explained all that in the post right above yours. No, you really didn’t. Every analysis I’ve seen of Trump’s wealth, like those that say he’d have done better in an index fund, takes both profits and losses into account. It’s the same with Sony Pictures and Warren Buffet; they are judged by both sides of their balance sheets. You are the one who is ignoring half the equation. You tout Trump’s gains and handwave away his losses. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/145 "2017-01-03T10:31:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > But if you want to keep believing that Trump is only rich because of daddy’s money, go right ahead. It’ll … allow you to keep thinking Trump voters are a bunch of dumbasses, … That and the fact that they voted for Donald Freeking Trump for President of the Unitrd States. Dumbasses. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/146 "2017-01-03T11:31:55Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > One more thing before I go. Warren Buffet’s company lost over $11 billion in a market selloff last year, including a $2.6 billion loss on IBM stock alone. Oddly enough, however, I don’t hear anyone proclaiming him to be a lousy and incompetent businessman. > > And the reason is the same as I explained above - he deals in speculative investments, and is therefore subject to the vagaries of the economy and the marketplace just like Trump was and is. The reason Trump is coming in for condemnation over his business reversals is political and nothing else. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you with his cock in your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/147 "2017-01-03T12:46:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > One more thing before I go. Warren Buffet’s company lost over $11 billion in a market selloff last year, including a $2.6 billion loss on IBM stock alone. Oddly enough, however, I don’t hear anyone proclaiming him to be a lousy and incompetent businessman. > > And the reason is the same as I explained above - he deals in speculative investments, and is therefore subject to the vagaries of the economy and the marketplace just like Trump was and is. The reason Trump is coming in for condemnation over his business reversals is political and nothing else. No, the reason is that even with a loss that is, for Berkshire Hathaway, relatively minor, BH has averaged nearly 20% year-on-year growth, double the S&P500 growth rate. BH can well afford an $11 billion hit, and has already more than made it back in 2016. Trump can only manage his setbacks by playing three-card monte with his debts and swindling his investors. > [@elucidator](#): > > If he is so damned smart, and so bloody rich, why does he need to do something so cheap and nasty as Trump University? Why con gullible and frightened people with a promise of teaching them how to get rich? For a few thousand dollars each, why does a billionaire need to do that? > > Because he needs the money. The cash, the liquidity, the ready necessary. He says his properties are worth billions, and the banks that loaned him the money are happy to concur. More to the point, if he’s such a great businessman and his business setbacks normal, why do US banks all consider him such a poor business risk that they won’t loan him money anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/148 "2017-01-03T13:41:09Z")
Speaking of Warren Buffett, a friend recently reminded me of something Buffett said at a lecture he gave about 25 years ago which we both attended. This seems relevant here: > [@Warren Buffett](#): > > When I hire somebody, I look for 3 things: intelligence, ambition, and ethics. If the guy doesn’t have ethics, I hope to God he doesn’t have the other two. ---
**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 3, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/149 "2017-01-03T14:21:05Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > the claim that the million dollar loan he started his business with would now equal his net worth if invested and kept in an index fund No, no, no, no. The fact is, putting the money in index funds would have generated _much more_ wealth than Trump’s actual decisions. Please try to keep up with the class. ---
**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 3, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/150 "2017-01-03T14:50:55Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > But even if it did, this utterly fails to account for the fact that Trump has twice built a multi-billion empire during that time, once from a million dollar loan from his father, and the second time from almost a billion in the whole. He started off with a free 14 million ([let’s use the honest figures, shall we?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/03/trumps-false-claim-he-built-his-empire-with-a-small-loan-from-his-father)) and ended up a billion in the hole? Remind me not to trust him with anything important… oh, wait… :eek: > [@](#): > > Another thing the index fund meme fails to take into account is the amount of money Trump has spent just living over the last 50 years, which would amount to many, many millions if not a billion or more over that amount of time. So, spending lots of money on lifestyle is proof of merit? Perhaps our welfare departments should be doing investigations to confirm that only those who prove their deserts by spending the money on Cadillacs and lobster get checks… > [@](#): > > So no, a million put in an index fund at the beginning of his career would not have generated the money he’s generated in the meantime. A calculation, starting with the actual $14 million amount 50 years ago (1 Jan 1956) and continuing to now (31 Dec 2015) gives a final figure of $22,289,142,308.99 [here](https://www.ifa.com/calculator/) using the default settings for fund selection and fee disbursements. If I’d invested that much money for that period and ended up with only $4.5 billion, I’d want somebody’s head on a pike. > [@](#): > > Nor would it have put to work the tens of thousands of people Trump has employed directly, nor provided the jobs his projects have created for the architects, engineers, financiers and bankers, and construction workers and suppliers who’ve participated in their creation. Since, as everyone knows, index fund managers bury the money in Mason jars in the back yard, never to interact with the economy again. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/151 "2017-01-03T14:51:07Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Apparently he can dish out out but [he can’t take it](http://www.politicususa.com/2017/01/01/trumps-press-secretary-begs-american-people-stop-mocking-donald-trump.html): Guess the poor baby needs the whole U.S.A. to be his ‘safe space.’ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/152 "2017-01-03T14:56:22Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > BYW, after Sunday’s little whine fest, is it OK to begin referring to Sean Spicer as _Mouth of Sauron_? Since he isn’t anywhere near upbeat enough to be compared with ‘Baghdad Bob,’ I think that’ll have to do. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/153 "2017-01-03T15:44:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > … > Trump has twice built multi-billion dollar fortunes. Once from a million dollar loan, and once from almost a billion in debt. > … Just wanted to point out that, as a small business entrepreneur, I cashed out my 401k for about $35k, added to that about $10k I had in savings. 4 years later, I have around 150k in capital, 13 employees, and almost broke half a million in sales last year. My bank just extended my credit line to $75k, of which I barely touch. If I had started with a million, or if someone just gave me a million right now (and I am talking 2016 million, not the 1975 million that Trumps dad gave him [more like 14 million in 2016]), I would be huge. I would be able to grow nearly exponentially. They always say, making the first million is the hardest part. That is the part that Trump has never done. ---
**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 3, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/154 "2017-01-03T15:46:17Z")
Wow, the Orange Oaf is [broker than I thought](http://news.wbfo.org/post/senior-trump-adviser-coming-buffalo-exclusive-fundraising-event): > [@](#): > > “Mr. Trump held a fundraiser down in New York City a few weeks back and did raise some money, but they have – I would use the word – ‘struggled’ to raise the private funds needed to pay these individuals who are working on behalf of the taxpayers but not being paid by the government,” said Congressman Chris Collins, who has been an advocate for Trump since early in his presidential campaign. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/155 "2017-01-03T16:54:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > …More to the point, if he’s such a great businessman and his business setbacks normal, why do US banks all consider him such a poor business risk that they won’t loan him money anymore? Heard this a lot, but don’t recall ever seeing it verified. You got? Thing is, in my mind, the banks would be reluctant to undermine his, ah, “credibility” if they already have some money invested, they would want to protect him, not to start any kind of effort to “cash out” and take a loss. So, seems to me that the only bankers who could say that without sweating it would be the one’s who haven’t loaned him any money to begin with. If he borrowed and paid off, they would have a very favorable attitude. Anyway, seems to me Il Douche’s finances are such a “smoke and mirrors” thing, how could they even know? Anyway, you got? No snark intended, I don’t do subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/156 "2017-01-03T17:14:32Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Heard this a lot, but don’t recall ever seeing it verified. You got? > > Thing is, in my mind, the banks would be reluctant to undermine his, ah, “credibility” if they already have some money invested, they would want to protect him, not to start any kind of effort to “cash out” and take a loss. So, seems to me that the only bankers who could say that without sweating it would be the one’s who haven’t loaned him any money to begin with. If he borrowed and paid off, they would have a very favorable attitude. > > Anyway, seems to me Il Douche’s finances are such a “smoke and mirrors” thing, how could they even know? > > Anyway, you got? No snark intended, I don’t do subtle. A bit rushed at the moment but [here’s a relevant article](http://www.wsj.com/articles/when-donald-trump-needs-a-loan-he-chooses-deutsche-bank-1458379806). > [@](#): > > Other Wall Street banks, after doing extensive business with Mr. Trump in the 1980s and 1990s, pulled back in part due to frustration with his business practices but also because he moved away from real-estate projects that required financing, according to bank officials. Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are among the banks that don’t currently work with him. And [another](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/trump-deutsche-bank-conflict-loans): > [@](#): > > Deutsche Bank’s long-term health is important to Trump’s business interests. In recent years, it has been one of the only banks still willing to lend to him (at least as of his presidential run). Most other Wall Street banks, some of which loaned Trump billions of dollars in the 1980s and 1990s, essentially stopped lending to him years ago. And [another](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/30/trumps-unthinkable-conflict-millions-in-debts-to-german-bank-now-facing-federal-fines/?utm_term=.356c2747810e): > [@](#): > > Deutsche is the only big Wall Street bank on Trump’s filings that has continued to lend even as Trump companies filed six bankruptcies. Since 1998, Deutsche has been a lender or co-lender in at least $2.5 billion in loans to Trump or his companies, a Wall Street Journal analysis found in March. But confirmation from these sources seems to be a bit soft, [according to Politifact](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/aug/08/anthony-weiner/anthony-weiner-lacks-collateral-claim-about-donald/): > [@](#): > > The Wall Street Journal reported in March 2016 that the candidate’s available financial statements show that the struggling German bank Deutsche Bank “is the only bank with a big Wall Street presence that continues to lend to him.” Other large institutions do little if any business with Trump, the newspaper reported, but smaller institutions do. > > The Journal said “many big banks have shunned him,” but the paper also reported that Trump has few loans with big banks. “Bankers say that’s partly because Mr. Trump has moved away from developing multimillion-dollar real-estate projects to managing them and licensing the Trump name, reducing his need to borrow.” > > Daughter Ivanka told the Journal that the big banks are not wary of investing with Trump: “The biggest banking institutions are constantly soliciting us. But we don’t need a lot of financing because we have a great balance sheet and a tremendous amount of cash.” In addition, she said, Trump has moved to private banks that have lower interest rates. > > Nonetheless, various media outlets have stated, without offering any documentation, that Trump can’t get funds from most banks. > > From Slate: "After his 2004 bankruptcy and his long streak of lawsuits, the big banks decided he wasn’t worth the effort. They’d rather not touch the self-proclaimed ‘king of debt.’ " > > From Talking Points Memo: “Trump has been blackballed by all major US banks.” Note that Politifact labels the reports (and Carlos Danger’s allegations) “informed speculation” due to the lack of solid evidence (largely because Trump - and banks - keep their financial dealings close to their respective chests). So that’s what I got. I shall caveat my remarks accordingly in future. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/157 "2017-01-03T17:18:10Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Heard this a lot, but don’t recall ever seeing it verified. You got? > > Thing is, in my mind, the banks would be reluctant to undermine his, ah, “credibility” if they already have some money invested, they would want to protect him, not to start any kind of effort to “cash out” and take a loss. So, seems to me that the only bankers who could say that without sweating it would be the one’s who haven’t loaned him any money to begin with. If he borrowed and paid off, they would have a very favorable attitude. > > Anyway, seems to me Il Douche’s finances are such a “smoke and mirrors” thing, how could they even know? > > Anyway, you got? No snark intended, I don’t do subtle. Banks that do not wish to loan to him are more than just banks that have lent and been paid, or banks that have not lent, but there are a number of banks that lent to him, and then had to write off their loan to them when he filed bankruptcy. I assume that a bank that takes a big hit because the loanee declares themselves insolvent would be reluctant to loan to him in the future. ---
**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 3, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/158 "2017-01-03T17:19:56Z")
Trump’s business acumen: Trump bought the Westchester Golf Course in Ossining, NY for $8 million. He put $45 million into it. Trump says it is now worth $1.35 million. It takes great business skill to lose $50 million on a single investment. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/159 "2017-01-03T17:22:55Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Trump’s business acumen: Trump bought the Westchester Golf Course in Ossining, NY for $8 million. He put $45 million into it. Trump says it is now worth $1.35 million. > > It takes great business skill to lose $50 million on a single investment. Just think of what he could do with our country! Currently, US is worth about 270 Trillion Dollars, so, he can dump about a quadrillion into it, and then it’ll be worth about 50 Trillion. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125/160 "2017-01-03T17:29:49Z")
Probably worth noting from the articles I cited above that Trump’s relationship with the main bank that _will_ lend him money has not exactly been smooth sailing either (and is yet another potential conflict of interest to consider). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-donald-alone-pleads-his-press-secretary/776125.md?page=9)