# Was Trump ever bailed out by the government?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-trump-ever-bailed-out-by-the-government/753781>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [May 3, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-trump-ever-bailed-out-by-the-government/753781 "2016-05-03T15:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-trump-ever-bailed-out-by-the-government/753781/1 "2016-05-03T15:33:16Z")

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Really a GQ question, but since it involved politics and politicians I figured I’d ask here instead. I was in a discussion this last weekend where pro and anti Trump people were shouting at each other with great volume (i.e., it was a normal family get together :p). One of the people opposed to Trump said that Trump had been bailed out by the government in response to the pro-Trump person talking about how Trump wouldn’t have bailed out GM (let’s not get into THAT one…my own argument was that of course he would have). Some furious Google searching ensued and, while I personally could find several instances of Trump’s businesses being bailed out by private banks (I found 4), I couldn’t find any indication that he’d ever received a government bailout.

Anyone know what the scoop on this is, or where this is coming from…and what the reality is? Personally, I think it’s damning enough to the fiction that Trump is this great businessman that he’s had to have his company file for bankruptcy 4 times, but did his business(es) ever receive a government bailout?

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-trump-ever-bailed-out-by-the-government/753781/2 "2016-05-03T16:28:53Z")

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Well, he owns 33,000 shares of GM. Lol.

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**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-trump-ever-bailed-out-by-the-government/753781/3 "2016-05-03T19:42:06Z")

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From some perspectives, bankruptcy is a government bailout.