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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

Neither Donald Trump nor his adult children from Ivana have ever run a nice business.

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Wookiee Monster's avatar

Wow. I was amazed the Trump Org was worth anything with Trump in charge. Now I’m doubly amazed that it’s mostly run by Dumbass Jr and Broken Condom.

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

I was under the impression Trump didn't use condoms. Probably something about them decreasing sensation when really it's the trouble he has finding one that'll fit.

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Revenant's avatar

meaning, a condom small enough that it won't just fall off, being mostly empty

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Innocent Bystander's avatar

"...he largely relies on Don and I..."

"Don and ME", Eric. He relies. ON. Don and. ME !!!

Say it with me now: First, comes a preposition, y'know, like "in, ON, to, from..." remember? Then, after a preposition, not EYE but MEEEEEEEE. I mean, you wouldn't say "He relies on EYE", would you...?

Oh. You would. Well, Ok then Moving on. To the Subjunctive Case. Wishing, hoping or contrary to fact. "If my father WERE an honest man..."

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Opalescent Riddles's avatar

Subjunctive mood. Case is a noun thing.

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Innocent Bystander's avatar

Whoa, you are so right about that, but you gotta understand I was in a kind of a tense mood when I wrote it.

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Robert Eckert's avatar

The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.

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Opalescent Riddles's avatar

Well, in that case...

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KEITH TAYLOR's avatar

"Oh, it be." (Elaine Benes.)

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Zap's avatar

Huevos el grande!

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Colbert Thorenson's avatar

"My son Eric is much more involved with it than I am," Trump testified.- and the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round . . .

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John Ranta's avatar

Letitia James’ lawsuit makes no sense. Trump inflated the value of his properties to investment banks. Big, strong banks that deal with real estate developers seeking loans who inflate their property values all the damn time. This is how they do business. The banks send in appraisers, who decide if the frauding is too much and refuse to make the loan, or if the fraud is not so bad and they want to give the loans. The banks can laugh at Trump’s valuations and just walk away. No consumers or taxpayers are involved. The banks are not claiming fraud, they are not joining James’ lawsuit. Given all the real crimes Trump has committed, why this suit? It just plays into the Trump claim that he’s being oppressed.

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

Once again, he's not being prosecuted for what he said, but what he did. He falsified official documents that are kept on record with the state where those valuations could affect others who are not voluntarily dealing with Trump. He inflates the value of his property, it could affect the valuation of surrounding properties, resulting in additional, and undeserved property taxes.

He lied to the government. In legal terms, that's a paddlin'.

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John Ranta's avatar

Daniel, “falsified” is a big word, especially when it comes to real estate valuations. Every real estate mogul presents “highly optimistic” valuations when seeking loans, or selling property. That’s how the game is played, as everyone involved knows. These valuations have nothing to do with taxes, where real estate moguls play the opposite game with assessors, arguing that their properties have low valuations. Again, I’m not arguing that Trump isn’t a criminal. I’m arguing that this particular civil suit is a waste of time, likely to fail. There are far bigger Trump crime fish to fry.

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Mary Stone's avatar

It does more than that. If he is found guilty this could end his "business" in New York and dry up his main revenue stream. Save America PAC is now down to pennies and lint as far as cash goes.

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John Ranta's avatar

For Trump to be found guilty in this civil suit, don’t the banks have to testify that they were defrauded? They’re not doing that. Who’s the injured party?

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Revenant's avatar

are taxes not based on valuation of assets? the valuations of Donnie's properties are all hinged in the middle, seesawing way UP when that benefits him and back down, down, down when it comes to taxes. The taxman tends to frown on shenanigans that banks just accept as normal, so it is the taxpayers who are being defrauded. He lays off his share of the burden so we, who don't have penthouse suites and golden toilets, can pick up the slack. I, for one, am less than grateful.

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John Ranta's avatar

What would you say your house is worth, if you’re going to sell? What is its assessed value, for real estate taxes? Those are two separate numbers, and almost always the tax assessment is lower. That’s how real estate works, it’s legal (as long as you’re not hiding things that would affect the valuations). This court suit has nothing - nada - to do with taxes, or tax fraud.

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Jeffery Campbell's avatar

The state of New York. Large differences between the assessed value and the larger value presented to lenders indicate a level of fraud it seems to me.

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John Ranta's avatar

Who was harmed?

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Phried Ω's avatar

Businesses can't keep two sets of books, one for the bank loans / NFL owners and another for the taxman.

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John Ranta's avatar

We’re talking real estate valuations, not accounting. Pretty much everyone (residential and commercial) has two separate valuations for property. One is the valuation presented to a realtor (for sale) or a banker (for a loan). The other is the tax assessment. There’s no law that says they have to be the same. It’s common to inflate the former. It’s not fraud (unless you knowingly hide something, like the plutonium waste dump in the cellar) to inflate the value to the bank or realtor. Banks and realtors do their own appraisals, part of their normal due diligence. Note that this is a civil suit. James is arguing that the banks were defrauded. The banks have not joined her case, they don’t seem to feel aggrieved.

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randomnessliz's avatar

Did you know that at most domestic USAF bases there are golf courses, and that at some of those bases are federal prison "camps", and that at those "camps" inmates can be required to work maintaining golf courses?

Dear Santa Claus...............

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Bored nuke's avatar

Random memory. Guam has two main military bases. A Navy/Submarine base on the south("ish") end and Airforce on the north end. When the Airforce wanted to renovate their barracks they transferred all the enlisted to the Navy barracks, and started paying them hardship pay for substandard housing accommodations. and yes it had a very nice golf course.

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Anonymouse's avatar

I'd say Covid (and his response to it) was similar to a nuclear holocaust.

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Ellie Alive In 25's avatar

Is that value of Doral with or without bedbugs?

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Kiwiwriter47's avatar

Trump couldn't lie straight in bed.

However, I wonder...is his biggest lie "I'll respect you in the morning" or "My wife and I are divorcing."

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Michael Bowen's avatar

The first. The only two people he'd ever "respected" were his old man and Roy Cohn.

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Kiwiwriter47's avatar

Roy Cohn...makes my list of the most evil men in American history, along with J. Edgar Hoover, D.C. Stephenson, David Duke, Roger Stone, Joe McCarthy, Lyndon Larouche, Al Capone, Harold Covington, Tom Metzger, J.B. Stoner, Dylann Roof, Adam Lanza, Richard Daley the Elder, Richard Nixon, G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and a bunch more that I'd rather not bring to mind.

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Bitter Scribe's avatar

"I prevented this and that from happening while I was President. Oh, and the other thing that happened after I left -- I would have prevented that too."

You know, it would be interesting to transplant that attitude to, say, a job interview.

"What were your biggest accomplishments in your previous job?"

"I kept the world from blowing up. Oh, and I prevented famine, pestilence and plague, too."

"But did you actually 𝘥𝘰 anything?"

"What kind of a woke question is that?"

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thephantomcheese's avatar

Like the Patriot Act "prevented" another 9/11

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BECKY's avatar

I read a meme recently that I was sorry I'm not smart enough to write. Something like: how unbelievable is it that the only job Donald Trump could get hired for is President?

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Left Coast Tom's avatar

"“I think Doral could be worth 2 and a half billion by itself,” he blathered,"

Doral sits directly underneath the flight path for MIA, and I'm pretty sure I've seen online reviews describing cracked concrete and mold-covered furniture in the pool area.

Maybe he meant 2.5 billion South Korean Won (1352 won to the dollar, per google).

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Fogrot's avatar

Is that $1 per bedbug?

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Fifth Dentist's avatar

"Easily worth 2.5 billion ... rubles."

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Left Coast Tom's avatar

Needs more ruble depreciation. 95 rubles to the dollar.

Difference is, in the won case it's just a question of how many 0s South Korea wants to print on its notes, but in the ruble case it's a matter of the currency sinking.

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Dick Fritter's avatar

I pledge my troth to @5DollarFeminist! (I know, I know... Have to be happy with Opening Arguements. Someday I'll save up enough for Patreon!)

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Msgr MΩment, Neurodegenerate's avatar

"....assigning a wholly subjective patina of gilt associated with his own name."

GILTY GILTY GILTY!!!

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Left Coast Tom's avatar

"“I think you would have nuclear holocaust, if I didn't deal with North Korea,” he said,"

I don't recall him dealing with North Korea, when did that happen? I remember him exchanging love letters with Kim Jong Un, stepping over the DMZ line at Panmunjong with Kim Jong Un, attending two summits with Kim Jong Un which accomplished exactly nothing.

Strangely, the US prohibits me from using my US passport to visit North Korea. How could that be, if North Korea had been "dealt with"?

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Michael Bowen's avatar

You forgot about him saluting a North Korean general.

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Sojourner Truth's avatar

and how are people getting across the border past the big beautiful fence he had built?

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Fifth Dentist's avatar

Oh, they're pushing it over, bringing a ladder, slipping in through areas that have been eroded.

Also, many of them are working at his very valuable Brand properties and undoubtedly being screwed on their wages.

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