The Trump Organization Will Not Recover From This One

     January 6th, 2021, will, without a doubt, be considered the low point of Donald Trump's life. He paid not nearly enough of a price for sending a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol, but he received more consequences for this action than just about any other crooked or wicked scheme of his: a two-year social media ban that spawned the embarrassing failure he called a blog, the cancellation of his contracts with New York City, his impeachment for the second time by the U.S. House, his being ranked among the worst presidents in American history, the PGA cancelling its plan to host the tournament at Trump's New Jersey golf course, and the removal of his names from numerous properties. Trump used to be a boon to businesses when he put his name on their buildings, getting a percentage of the increased profits for doing nothing in particular. After the insurrection, numerous properties, especially in Canada, voted to remove his toxic brand from their assets.

     Trump's image has been on the decline for a long time, and a lot of his properties are already in trouble. In 2018, his company was forced out of its only hotel in Latin America by the other owners (backed by police) after refusing to leave voluntarily, and the Trump name was subsequently pried off letter by letter with a crow bar. His attempt at a comeback in South America, a project in Brazil, was canceled. Earlier this year, I highlighted the multimillion dollar fine his company is facing for violating environmental rules in Illinois, polluting Lake Michigan. His D.C. hotel was built after he was elected in 2016, but he was too alienating a political figure to sustain any reasonable business. The loans were already well above any figure he could make to provide repayment, and his new reputation as a failed, one-term president caused business to tank. His casino in Atlantic City, which became infamous in New Jersey for buying out local businesses and then skipping town, leaving it in poverty, was demolished in February. 

     When Trump went bankrupt in the 1990s, we saw the loss of his Plaza Hotel and his prized jet, and a report on his jet's decrepit state is indicative of a second bust for the Trump Organization. COVID-19 already tanked profits at his various properties by 25 to 50 percent. His previous bankruptcies would have wrecked anyone else, and Trump was only able to recover because of newfound fame on the TV show The Apprentice. 

     Safe to say, a TV show won't likely save him anymore. His Trump University and Trump Foundation frauds left the few banks still willing to lend him money nervous, and the charges against CFO Allen Weisselberg have sunk any possibility of getting future financing. Trump and his children are in trouble. A grand jury was first convened in June, indicating that this is likely the first (and a fairly blatant) crime they discovered and one they hope to use as leverage against higher-ranking organization members. There are unindicted co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment, and it explicitly states that Weisselberg was *one* of the biggest beneficiaries of the tax evasion they are charged with. The only people above Weisselberg are the Trumps. NYT reported on a similar use of company money to help Ivanka last autumn, and Weisselberg has already been charged for doing the same thing she did. Don, Jr. and Eric were handed the keys to the Trump organization when Donald took office, and they can conceivably take the fall for this, if not the former president, who boasted about being under audit for 20 years and never leaving a paper trail. The grand jury is still convened and will be until November. 

     Either way, it doesn't look good for the Trump Organization. No refinanced business loans, a brand name in shambles, and the next generation of owners looking down the barrel of years in prison while the fat former president spends his golden years whining about his crushing 2020 defeat at Mar-a-Lago. Fuck Donald Trump.