Trump Joins Giuliani In the SOL Department. Mary Trump: “I Saved the Best For Last”

There’s a lot to be said for saving the best for last. That’s especially true when the subject is the imminent departure of Donald Trump from the cultural scene that he appeared on in 2015 and has dominated ever since — particularly during his catastrophic four years as the president of the United States. That is an embarrassment that this country will never live down. Frankly, it would not surprise me if his grandchildren, or maybe their children, just decided to change their name. I know that I would.

But one Trump who doesn’t belong with the rest of the kkklan is Mary Trump. Paradoxically, she’s the black sheep of the family because she’s the only one who has decided to speak up and stand up for democracy, while the rest of her relatives are on her crazy uncle’s side and trying to burn it all down. Here’s a synopsis of what she had to say:

After nearly every news source and commentator reported that Donald was ordered to pay a penalty of around “$350 million” — a closer examination of what the judgment says tells a different story.

While the penalty the judge assessed was indeed $354.9 million, the court also applied $98.6 million in pre-judgment interest.

That means the actual total Donald owes right now is $453.5 million. Interest will accrue at an annual rate of 9% which will result in an additional fine of $1 million a week until he pays.

That is a lotttt of money. I mean seriously a lot of money. That is the kind of money that if Michael Bloomberg or Jeff Bezos had it hanging over them, even they would cringe, pour a stiff one, and mutter, “JFC.”

If you’ve been following Murfster’s analyses of these judgments, particularly yesterday’s Engoron bombshell, you know two things: Trump does not have the kind of money he says he does and whatever he does have is not liquid. He’s going to have to sell some properties and whether that amounts to fire sale prices, who knows? But the prognosis is not good. Mary Trump continues:

Part of Engoron’s decision included this very important penalty that most of the news glossed over:

Donald and the Trump Organization are both banned from applying for loans from any New York-chartered financial institutions for 3 years.

Donald will need to come up with the money himself to pay what he owes. If he can’t get a loan (I can’t imagine why any bank, in or out of New York, would loan that man money), then he’ll likely need to start selling off some of his properties, likely at a loss, to make up the difference.

Donald will not handle this well.

Watch closely in the next few days. Several things will happen, because this is a fast moving story. It has to be, with pre-judgment interest and the potential for fines. You will undoubtedly see Trump selling off some properties. He has to. The question now is which one(s)?

Then Mary moves on to my favorite part: what an unconscionable clown and excuse for a businessman Eric is.

In his ruling, Engoron was harshly critical of Eric’s testimony, writing:

“Eric Trump’s credibility was severely damaged when he repeatedly denied knowing that his father ever even compiled an SFC that valued his assets and showed his net worth ‘until this case came into fruition.’”

The judge continued, “They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. . . . Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”

Keep all of this in the back of your mind as the coming week approaches. Meanwhile, take a look at this. This is truly pathetic.

So the wife of a billionaire started a GoFundMe asking for donations from hundredaires to pay for another billionaires legal losses? Interesting strategy…

— Just Joe (@Just__Joe_) February 18, 2024

Elena Cardone, wife of investor Grant Cardone, is apparently the person who started the GoFundMe page. And hey, I give Trump all credit if he managed to score $188K from his cult members. Money’s money. But Trump is now in the same position as Rudy Giuliani was not too long ago, only he can’t do what Giuliani did and ask Trump to throw a $100K a plate fundraiser for him. Or, maybe he’ll do just that.

Now that would be intriguing. We’ll see whether the plastic surgery-laden walking cadavers at Mar-a-Lago would actually show up for a fundraiser for their erstwhile host, and shell out that kind of cash. Maybe that’s what will happen.

And as you and I ponder “where will Trump get the money?” multiple that exponentially and add several layers of desperation and that’s where Trump’s at.

The truly ironic thing is that he can go on and on and interminably on about “election interference” and a “corrupt DOJ” and “Biden” and “the Deep State” but the cold hard numbers are right there and they’re not going away. Trump needs to get busy and come up with some money. So far as I know, appealing the decision will not stop interest from accruing. Prejudgment interest is one way that courts have of persuading parties to settle. Texas used to have prejudgment interest set at 18% (ouch!) for precisely that reason, to encourage settlement and not clog up the court system.

Plus, speaking of appeal, Trump has not hired an appellate lawyer last we knew. So all he’s doing is talking about mounting an appeal. Until he has counsel in place and said counsel files paperwork, talk of an appeal is just that, talk.

Ain’t it grand?