Experts say a cash crunch in coming weeks could thrust the former president’s business into greater uncertainty than it has seen in decades
Hours after a New York judge ordered Donald Trump to pay a $355 million penalty for submitting false data to financial institutions, the former president railed against the decision during a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago Club with some of the Republican Party’s wealthiest donors.
Trump claimed at that Feb. 16 gathering that the judge in the civil fraud case had made history by ordering him to pay such a staggering sum, according to two people who were there. He suggested that the judgment was so severe that the public would consider it unfair and rally in support. Over and over, he returned to the penalty, livid at its size.
The episode offered a glimpse of Trump’s preoccupation with a legal decision that threatens his wealth and has thrust his business empire into greater uncertainty than perhaps any time since the 1990s, when his Atlantic City casinos fell into extreme debt, leading six of his companies to file for bankruptcy.
Trump, who built his business and political identities around boasts of financial savvy, now faces an immediate cash crunch of more than a half-billion dollars — the combined cost of two legal battles that will now test the limits of his personal wealth.
Up James’s power structure, taken to the maximum, is the US military. Up Trump’s power structure is…the Proud Boys or some other wannabe militia. The end result then is the seizure of Trump’s property. Somewhere in there you can start imagining all manner of things from the start of a civil war, assassination, bankruptcy, Trump dropping out of the race etc. etc. so it becomes silly to try and extrapolate any further beyond yes the seizure will happen.
It’s not like New york had to physically secure a building either. They can take legal ownership without setting foot in a building and sell it to whoever wants it. If there is a shortfall, they can make it up seizing accounts/boats/jets/whatever.
I assume you mean ‘Bidens’ power structure?
The right has been cheering on civil war for decades. The took a crack at it in 2021. They’ve made assignation attempts as recently as 2020 (Pelosi, Wittmer, a bit further back Giffords, who suffered a major brain injury as a result). Its easy to write this kind of speculation off as hysterics, but there is a legitimate history forming where it seems like the right will seize power by any means. Like this isn’t made up hysterics, this is what these people are doing.
I don’t think its unreasonable to expect something unexpected here, and certainly don’t expect Trump to suddenly decide that its time to roll over and pay his dues. He’ll fight this. It might not be in court, but he will fight this. And he’s far cleverer than some of the above commentators give him credit for. Just because they can’t see out side of the box doesn’t mean Trump can’t. I don’t like to underestimate those I find myself in opposition to.
So like right now, what is Trump doing? He’s about to have all of his liquidity erased. That’s huge. He won’t suffer that in passing, so what is he doing in the background right now? Is he calling around to the Saudis and cutting deals? Is he on the phone with Musk and others who might carry water for him so its not his money he has to spend? Like either he’s going to try to figure out how to hold onto the cash, or he’s going to need to find another source of cash, assuming he can even front the bond.
He doesn’t have many legal options, so I expect him to to consider other than legal ones. Just a matter of sussing out which ones have legs.
Her enforcement options will never include the US military, because she is a NY state official. She doesn’t have that authority, and even if she did the US military cannot get involved in civilian enforcement actions. The appropriate enforcement group here is the NY State Sheriff’s Department, perhaps in cooperation with the NYPD.
But it won’t even get that far, because there is already a court-appointed administrator for Trump’s assets in the state. When James comes to collect, if Trump doesn’t have the payment on time she always has the option to ask the administrator to provide the difference.