Trump Lost Over $1 Billion. Let Us Take You Back to That Decade.

May 09, 2019 · 16 comments
Ken (Staten Island)
Did Mr. Trump do anything illegal?
JimmyMac (Valley of the Moon)
Frank Zappa? WPLJ was released in 1955. I know 'cause I was there.
Tom (Bluffton SC)
What people in most of the country never realized in 2016 is what we all knew who lived in New York back in the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s. It basically was that Donald Trump was an idiot who should be avoided by anyone who had any respect at all for morality and the law and didn't wish to be associated with a low life mobster.
L (NYC)
@Tom: Exactly! Everyone in NYC knew Trump to be a thin-skinned cheapskate with a big mouth (a lot bigger than his bank balance). He's a man who never had even a passing familiarity with truth, honesty, or decency, and whose judgment was and is ALWAYS suspect. The only bottom line he cares about is his own personal one. He's always played fast & loose with his financial claims and with women (leading to his "personal Vietnam" of STD's). His tax returns must contain some horrendous things that likely would get him jail time, since he's fighting so hard to keep them secret. The guy has a big mouth, no ethics, and absolutely NO knowledge of basic civics - but he sure can play his followers for fools, and they love him for lying to them!
Fred Wilson (Milwaukee)
This may come as a shock to many of you, but Trump himself wrote a book about these loses you speak of. "The Art of the Comeback" was written in the mid-2000's. Pretty much detailed his losses in the 80's and early 90's and how he learned from his mistakes. Again, no new news here.
L (NYC)
@Fred Wilson: Wow, it's easy to pull the wool over your eyes if you actually believe what you wrote. Note that Trump, to the present moment, has NEVER learned anything from any of his mistakes. The only thing he ever learned was from Roy Cohn, his mentor, to wit: Lie, lie, lie, and then threaten to sue.
Fred Wilson (Milwaukee)
@L: So you do agree with me, there is no new news here. Maybe lying and suing is what he learned to do. But in keeping to the point of the article, the book does detail Trump's loses during the same years this story was written about.
Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD (Hell's Kitchen)
All New York real estate operators back then claimed federal losses. That's the name of the game. It was rigged for that purpose. Their local taxes support the City. To this day, if real estate misses just one of their quarterly NYC tax payments, the city would be in bankruptcy by the next morning. Everyone in politics knows this. https://emcphd.wordpress.com
Freddie (New York NY)
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD - Its interesting, even in 1985, passive losses from any and all partnership investments were totally deductible, subject to complicated amounts called "at risk" which could be borrowed amounts, not amounts you actually owned. It was the huge Tax Reform Act of 1986 which changed those rules, brought in passive loss rules. So I guess its fair to say that investments before the 1986 Act was passed were just set up to use what Congress had allowed. Then in 1986, the Congress then decided to curtail that - which in a circular way just goes to show that it was legal before then, since if it weren't legal before then they wouldn't have had to change the law so drastically. For my next number, Natalie Cole's hit "I've been waiting for your return." :)
Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD (Hell's Kitchen)
@Freddie: Many thanks for the info! The system sure is is rigged in favor of the people who call themselves "risk takers". This is why I repeatedly say that anyone who elects rich people to political office loses the right to moan about the government not supporting or understanding the working people. What can we expect? Look at all the millionaires now declared as 2020 candidates. Then ask who among them even slightly reflects The People... https://emcphd.wordpress.com
Freddie (New York NY)
Regarding WPLJ: “… call the station to ask it to play Prince and Debbie Gibson. I’m not sure how the new owners will respond to those kinds of requests.” A crossover idea to sell ads in the transition period, as they settle in with their target audience , Tune of “When Doves Cry” Dig if you will a station Music they won’t want to miss Songs of love and the heavenly Be a believer. 24 - 7 bliss. Dig if you can our playlist Bringing salvation in song What a place for Biblical products We’ll hawk it all, How can you go wrong? How can you get churches spending You just need your brand to take hold. Here’s where your vestments start trending How would this look on the Father - too bold? Mother and Sisters are shopping And here’s the reason why: Sacred all day without stopping This is what tunes sound like When nuns buy.
Willie (NYC)
Good to know that Trump was the first round draft pick in the 80's 'Make up losses for monetary gain' Professional League. They should have goaded him by claiming he was the second biggest loser. He most certainly would have come back with, 'No, I was the first biggest loser, no one loses money better than I do. I lose money HUGELY'.
Least Harm (California)
There are businessmen, and there are salesmen. Mr. Trump is pretty clearly one of the latter--the guy on the used car lot who doesn't mind making a bad deal for his clients as long as it puts money in his own pockets. Perhaps this is why American banks completely rejected his business model for so long. I wonder what he had going on with foreign banks and investors that made them decide to work with him when our own would not.
B. (Brooklyn)
Did Bill de Blasio not want to attend the Met Gala because his real estate buddies weren't going? Not enough developers there, I suppose. He meets them elsewhere. Probably it's because he didn't want to give $35,000 for a charitable cause. He doesn't seem like a museum-going sort of guy. Or because he has become a ridiculous enough figure without dressing like one.
Lifelong Reader (New York)
@B. Or maybe $35,000 is more than he can afford. He's not a man of great wealth, like Bloomberg. This assumes he wasn't invited by someone who bought a table or that campaign donations wouldn't cover it. Although I think the Costume Institute event is fun to read about, it is indeed a special party for the elite. Fashion history is interesting, but arguably it's not as important as the other offerings in the museum and that's why the Institute has to raise its own money. It's easy to see how such an event might not be to everyone's taste, especially if you have to spend thousands of your own money on your outfit. I don't know that designers would lend clothing to the Mayor and his wife.
N. Smith (New York City)
For most of us native New Yorkers, or anyone who has spent more than a minute here -- this news about Donald Trump comes as no surprise, which is also why most of us didn't vote for him and why he hates coming back here. Adieu WPLJ.