Ah, the sheer
schadenfruede.
January 15th 2021.
I've been resisting the temptation to take to the keyboard on a daily basis to add my ten bob's worth about Trump, but having read yesterday's article in the Guardian (re - Washington Post) reporting that Trump was refusing to pay Giuliani – I could resist no longer.
Maybe it's this lockdown, which somehow seems so much more onerous than did last March's and appears to be twisting my perspectives somewhat, or maybe it's the palpable sense of pleasure derived from seeing the empire of the great orange liar crumble around him. I don't think I've ever really experienced 'joy' in another's misfortune. Like most of us I suspect, there have been occasions when I've thought 'serves her right', 'he had it coming' and so on, but for me at least, never the delicious sense of universal righteousness and karma I've experienced watching the demise of this hateful sociopath.
There's no need to trot out the sequence of events here; suffice to say it's not been a good few weeks for Trump. It's what's coming that I find truly captivating. According to fairly detailed and separate analyses in both the FT and Forbes, his debt pile is about $1.1Bn, most of which is coming due over the next three years. Almost all of this debt is against his property assets estimated at something over $2Bn so contrary to many reports, he's far from 'broke' – on paper at least. He will however have to dispose of or double-down on many of his famous assets in the coming two or three years because he appears to have borrowed against all of them, including Trump Tower which, according to Vanity Fair way back in May of 2019 was already the NY property nobody wanted to use. I can't see how that situation could possibly have improved.
A powerful op-ed by Paul Waldman in the Washington Post lists some dire developments for Trump. Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank – the only institutions who would do business with him in recent years - have announced they will no longer do so, and they were the last two banks in the game. Signature Bank went so far as to call for him to resign. Property giant Cushman and Wakefield who have been acting for Trump for decades, have 'made the decision to no longer do business with him'. His long-time insurers Aon have severed ties never to do business with him again, and NYC itself has commenced to end all contracts with Trump companies. To be fair, one of these is the famous Wollman Rink in Central Park which the Trump Organisation rescued from dereliction. It seems the City can't stomach even that which is undoubtedly to his credit. You couldn't make it up - even the Girl Scouts' New York Chapter is reported to be trying to get out of their lease in the Trump Building in Wall Street.
The PGA stated that “conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand” and have pulled the tournament from his course. That will have cut deeply. Shopify has closed the online stores it provided for the Trump Organisation and the Trump campaign.
As Waldman observes; “What U.S. city is going to tolerate the building of a new Trump hotel? What bank would lend him the money to finance it? Which charities will be rushing to book events at his properties? Which foreign developers will want to pay him licensing fees to put the Trump name on their projects?”
Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon have taken various steps that have effectively silenced his social media activity, Lehigh University and Wagner College have rescinded his honorary degrees.
Added to this are no less than fifteen criminal and civil investigations into his activities including his 'charity' and personal finances. Nine of these are Federal.
This is an onslaught entirely of his own making. Has has stressed every institution, every social and political norm, every aspect of the system to the point that they all groaned and creaked.
But they did not break.
Instead, they are whipping back one after another in quick succession, and I for one am loving each and every whoosh and crack.