A long time ago when I was young, probably 1990 or 1991, my father and I were walking around Arlington, Virginia, near Ronald Reagan National Airport (then known as Washington National Airport) when a plane flew overhead that caught my attention. "Trump", written across the side of the plane was a name I recognized, although admittedly, I couldn't remember why I recognized it. So, being the precocious youngster I was, I inquired with my dad as to the nature of this peculiar airline.
Me: Dad, what's Trump?
Dad: He's a businessman.
Me: He has his own airline?
Dad: Looks that way.
Me: What else does he do in business?
Dad: He goes bankrupt a lot.
Me: What's bankrupt?
Dad: It's what happens when you run out of money.
Me: So, if he runs out of money a lot, how does he have an airline?
Dad: Good question.
Well, it took a while for me to figure out how this all worked, and recently, we have a real-life situation illustrating this dynamic: Trump University.
The story here, as I'm sure you're all aware, is that Donald Trump is being sued by New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman because he allegedly defrauded thousands of students out of upwards of $40 million. Described in detail by Business Insider:
Schneiderman argues that Trump promised free workshops taught by his own knowledgeable, hand-picked instructors who were, in fact, nothing of the sort.The free workshops were actually designed to get students to sign up for another three-day, $1,495 seminar where Trump would supposedly appear in person, the suit alleges.
Those students were also pushed to sign up for a "Trump elite mentorship program" ranging from $10,000 to $35,000 a head.
A "for-profit" education scandal? Those aren't exactly uncommon these days with all the credit available to students. Even President Obama has addressed rising tuition costs resulting from ever expanding student loans. This seems, to me at least, as just another grab at some low hanging fruit by Donald Trump which, appears to have been his M.O. for the better part of his career.
Most of you are far to young to remember even the whispers of what NYC resembled in the early 1970s, when Donald Trump first took control of Elizabeth Trump and Son. From what I've been told, a good approximation is to take modern Detroit and replace the feral dogs with drug addicts and ho***rs. As many of you can see by looking out of your windows, this is a far cry from NYC of today, and while Donald Trump isn't responsible for the transformation, he sure got rich because of it. That's not to say he was a complete rube, he made several risky ventures - coupled with a few tax abatements and some no-money-down loans - that he managed well and ended up turning a profit. However, it's difficult to argue that he wasn't a major beneficiary of the rising waters that embodied NYC (Manhattan in particular) real estate in the 1970s and 1980s. The man epitomized the concept that being lucky is better than being good, for a time at least. Eventually, things started going south after the low hanging fruit was picked, and all of that "bankruptcy" stuff my father spoke of started happening.
An interesting parallel I see with this current story and one harkening back to the early 1990s is they both start off in one of the saddest ways possible. In March of 1990, the New York Times reported on an absurd situation, whereby Donald Trump threatened to sue an equity analyst who had made some negative comments on the financial outlook of his Taj Mahal Casino.
An analyst who refused to retract negative comments about the financial prospects of Donald J. Trump's Taj Mahal casino has been dismissed by his Philadelphia brokerage firm. The move caused an outcry in the financial analysts' community, which bristles at any suggestion that investment analysts are not free to criticize potential or current corporate clients.The action came after Mr. Trump threatened to sue the firm unless it either forced the analyst to recant and apologize, or dismissed him.
The depressing part is that the firm, Janney Montgomery Scott, did in fact fire the analyst. But, of course, the analyst ended up being correct, and the Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy roughly six months later in November of 1990.
So, how does the sadness of the previous episode compare to the one seen today with Trump University? I'll let you be the judge:
Instead of a personal appearance from Donald Trump as some consumers were led to expect, some participants got their photographs taken with a life-size photo of Mr. Trump.
If working hard to get someone who's 100% correct fired because they make you look bad was the harbinger of Donald Trump's first round of bankruptcies, I hate to imagine what will come after charging students tens of thousands of dollars for a pictures with your cardboard cutout. Luckily for Trump, he's vastly more wealthy today than he was previously, so maybe he can afford to be a giant douchebag this time around.
Wow, even for him, that's shocking. I'd expect that out of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad guy who he sometimes works with, but a truly liquid billionaire pulling that sort of scam is awful
Donald Trump is a douchebag. His online arguments with Mark Cuban make Cuban look like a level headed even keeled guy.
Thank you for posting this, I felt like writing something somewhat mean.
I've never liked Trump and I laugh in people's faces when they say he's going to be president. He's the epitome of being born on third and thinking he earned a triple. He's a 'capitalist' with only inherited capital and no ideas or worthwhile business. The only reason any woman has ever slept with him is because of the money his daddy earned. I can't imagine him surviving in the real world, I see him crying in fetal position, sucking his thumb. The guy is such a loser, he thinks having gone to academy puts him in the same league as guys who went to actual military academy->OCS->service. I literally don't have anything nice to say about him. In fact, I'd like to call him a douchebag, but that would imply he has some kind of use. It would please me if his combover got fed up with his existance, reached down and wrung his fat, hairy neck.
But I digress.
I'm pretty sure he's going to have to pay restitution, and I think he just single handedly made the case against for-profit-education, as far as the public eye is concerned. I'm almost glad he helped fuel the birther bullcrap, thereby pissing off Obama, thereby guaranteeing federal backing for this investigation, thereby guaranteeing he will be publicly humiliated.
AGAIN!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA
Mr. Trump, you disgusting, worthless, bloviating buffoon, on behalf of all humanity: please kill yourself. Or wait, I have a better idea. Please give all your money to charity and then become a Hari Krishna, so I can point and laugh at you in the subway.
YOU GET NOTHING! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY SIR!
Trillions of additional debt, a failed pandemic response, an attempted coup, 2 impeachments, the list goes on........yay so we've confirmed half of the american voting population is tirarded and trump fucked up being president even WORSE than anyone could have predicted.
Shocker.
You fucking edgelord you
hey man, quite late on this thread but just wanted to bring your attention to this freezing cold take you had
The delusions continue:
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-bans-glenfiddich-whisky-2012-12
This is some pretty petty bullshit.
EDIT: Funny anecdote; my father absolutely hates Trump, so now he insists on drinking Glenfiddich whenever he can.
But I like Glenfiddich :(
Damn you, Trump, damn you
Donald Trump is a millionaire actor who plays a billionaire douchebag.
RAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS HILARIOUS
I'm going to have a Glenny with lunch, and I don't even drink at lunch. LOL how about Scots boycott anything Trump? I'd like to stomp on Trump's head while wearing a Kilt.
Not sure why all the hate about the wealth he inherited. If I were you, I'd hate my parents and ancestors for not becoming as wealthy as his father did.
Keep doing what you do Donald.
I don't care about his wealth.....I don't like HIM
I'll be bartending this weekend, and I was out of ideas. But now, I'm doing a promotion on Glen. I work in a predominantly Irish+Scottish town. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Your second sentence is one of the worst I've read on this site. You do realize that "keep doing what you're doing" involves taking 4-figure somes from dreamers who live paycheck to paycheck, right? Guess it's okay to steal from Muppets.
Okay enough troll feeding, I've go have a Glen after work
I used to hate this guy but I legit just feel bad for him at this point. Watching his transformation over the years into a full blown troll has been absolutely tremendous. I'm lol'ing just thinking about it. The guy literally just argues with 15 y.o.'s on his twitter at this point.
Edit: just want to add that anyone who thinks he isn't completely kidding with his president schtick is out of their minds
Just Google "Donald Trump sues..." and a slew of suggestions appear.
I hope that analyst found work somewhere else. He should have sued Janney.
Also Trump is not an American success story. Far from it. His dad is the success story. All Trump did was inherit $400 million and try to become a billionaire. Given the amount of years that have passed and the bankruptcies he has filed, looks like that $400 million hasn't grown all that much.
Hah, that analyst made Trump his bitch: http://articles.philly.com/1991-10-04/business/25813811_1_donald-trump-…
So Trumb is a bully too. One more reason not to like or respect the guy. In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: HAH What a maroon!
I hope they make a Gekkoesque movie about Trump. The ironic part is he had a cameo role in Wall Street 2, but apparently it was not good enough to make it into the final cut.
Gekko was "cool" though. Even in Wall Street 2 he was the only part that didn't suck.
Trump is as far from "cool" as possible
Trump is definitely an asshat extraordinaire.
I was going to comment on what a dcuoheabg he is...but that seems pretty well covered.
Here is the strategy taught at Trump U:
Step 1 - Have a rich dad Step 2 - Wait for him to die Step 3 - Inherit $400 million Step 4 - Profit
EDIT: Step 4 - Go bankrupt a few times Step 5 - Become douche demigod
EDIT: Step 4 - Go bankrupt a few times but make sure you pass all the losses from your defaults onto your investors so you don't get hit too hard personally, you know, because you're a douche.
In all seriousness, you have to question who the bigger clown shoe here is- Donald or the people who haven't run him out of town by now. The guy's been behind 4 bankruptcies at this point and still finds people to do business with. I honestly almost hate those people more than him. Just makes zero sense to me.
One of his top 3 troll moments. 1:27 gets me every time.
And now, seven years later, Trump is kicking off his second term...
oops... XD
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