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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums$83.3 Million verdict. I've been waiting for this moment since the early 80s.
Last edited Sat Jan 27, 2024, 09:45 AM - Edit history (1)
Donald Trump was introduced to New York City somewhere between 1983 and 1984 because of the local city papers, specifically Cindy Adams and Liz Smith. New York Magazine had a spread on him and his family. ("Meet The Trumps" )
Trump was portrayed as the Boy Wonder Millionaire with the Midas Touch. Everything he touched turned to gold. The Grand Hyatt. The Wollman Ice Rink. Trump Tower. He bought a yacht. He bought a plane and a helicopter. He bought The Plaza Hotel. Three casinos in Atlantic City. Mar-A-Lago. And he regularly stiffed contractors who went bankrupt.
Beautiful wife and still a "Ladies' Man". At one point, Ivana asked/demanded that he stop going around with other women and he outright refused because his image as a magnet to women was part of his "brand".
Caught with his mistress by his wife at a ski resort where he had arranged for both of them to stay, he was unapologetic. No shame, no excuses, no apologies.
Trump's divorce played out in NYC. Ivana got a chunk of his money despite Roy Cohn's attempt to stiff her with an updated pre-nup.
He went bankrupt several times and banks continued to loan him money on terms favorable to him.
Trump went on to buy more properties. Bedminster. Doral. Turnberry (Scotland).
And he made some enemies along his travels: Leona Helmsley, Mayor Ed Koch, Michael Cohen, Chris Christie, Jeff Flake, Dean Heller, and many more.
Yet, save for his divorce settlement with his ex-wife, Ivana, Trump has yet to be seriously held accountable for his destructive deeds and words.
A woman. Someone without power and influence. A woman he raped. Not molested. Raped. Who couldn't put him in jail but found perhaps a better way of retribution.
To quote Eddie Murphy in Trading Places, "You know, it occurs to me that the best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people." Taking away money and power (and media attention) from Donald Trump is almost a coda to a Greek Tragedy. Icarus flew too high to the sun where the wax on his wings melted, and he plummeted to his death in the sea.
It's the justice -- and the money that makes yesterday's verdict memorable and historical.
Doodley
(9,192 posts)He has never faced any consequences, until now.
Irish_Dem
(48,670 posts)jaxexpat
(6,910 posts)As the film exemplified, it's complicated to make a rich man poor. Because.............reasons.
NJCher
(35,884 posts)In order to appeal, he has to put a substantial percentage of the award with the court. If he wins on appeal, he will get the money back.
I cannot imagine a winning appeal on this case. E. Jean and Roberta will get the money.
malaise
(269,503 posts)Rec. Rec. Rec😀😀😀
Martin Eden
(12,894 posts)Unfortunately, this dingleberry hanging onto the ass hairs of America will garner media attention as long as he lives.
And his death will not be the end of the conversation. Nor should it be. Trumpism, like Jim Crow and McCarthyism, are awful chapters in American history which must be read and understood if we are ever to learn from past mistakes and build a better future.
PCIntern
(25,689 posts)You captured the essence of this asshole, and you can read that phrase any way you like.
He was obviously such a bullshit Artist back then, and I was always appalled that so many people fell for it, but basically people to a fair extent are rubes. Carnival games or popular because the individual feels that they have some advantage. But the game is rigged and you almost cannot win without a great deal of luck versus skill. His game has been rigged since the day he left his mothers womb.
czarjak
(11,379 posts)Essence Of Asshole could be Trump Cologne.
PJMcK
(22,102 posts)Back in the 1980s, Trump bought the building Bonwit Teller- an upscale department store- had occupied. The facade of the building was classic and beautiful. Trump had agreed to keep it when he built Trump Tower. Of course, one night, workers showed up and destroyed the facade. Trump didnt face any consequences for violating the agreement.
It was the first time I remember hearing about this cretin and I couldnt believe he got away with it. Since then, everything Trump has done has been appalling, unethical, illegal, amoral or just plain stupid.
Its gratifying to see Trump being held to account. It will be glorious to see Trump lose every case against him!
Great OP, no_hypocrisy!
3Hotdogs
(12,506 posts)That is what America got to see during the past few weeks.
And it will escalate. He can't help it. The question now, is his behavior the result of an abnormality in the gene that governs assholic behavior or is it escalating dimentia?
I have the same genetic malformation that causes my assholic behavior. It ain't that with him. It's dimentia. It's escalating.
niyad
(114,178 posts)Polish workers whom TRAITOR** tried to stiff, as he did just about everyone. I just wrnt back to look at some of the stories about that, and it is even more disgusting than I knew.
RestoreAmerica2020
(3,439 posts)Schadenfreude (/ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/; German: [ˈʃaːdn̩ˌfʁɔʏ̯də] ⓘ; lit.Tooltip literal translation 'harm-joy') is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, or humiliation of another. It is a borrowed word from German, the English word for it is "epicaricacy", that originated in the 18th century. [Wikipedia]
Blue Owl
(50,663 posts)BumRushDaShow
(130,386 posts)Don't forget these (we had a sub with the NYT at the time and saw these) -
THE EMPIRE AND EGO OF DONALD TRUMP Aug. 7, 1983 (New York Times)
THE EXPANDING EMPIRE OF DONALD TRUMP April 8, 1984 (New York Times - written by William/Bill Geist, MSNBC's Willie Geist's father)
In retrospect, it appears to have been a planned P.R. move at the time.
When NJ legalized gambling and eventually opened its first casino in 1978, a whole new "thing" opened up, where he eventually dove in and battled the likes of Merv Griffin and Carl Icahn, buying and bankrupting Atlantic City casinos left and right. Since Philly provided South Jersey with news coverage as their media market, we had decades of him.
At this point, I would say the verdict, period, is what has been a 50 year ordeal. I.e., to get something to finally stick.
NNadir
(33,621 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,378 posts)I wish that Ed Koch and Ivana Trump were alive to relish this moment. Oh, and Trump's older brother, Fred Jr. Trump's first victim was Fred. (Again, very Greek Tragedy.)
Joinfortmill
(14,571 posts)honest.abe
(8,699 posts)Maybe not "poor" in this case but "poorer" which might be enough to send him off the deep end.
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