We just got another tantalizing sneak peek at one of the many ways in which President Donald Trump will turn America into the world’s largest smoking crater: Two new reports compare him to a deadbeat grifter when it comes to paying bills, with a decades-long history of reneging on deals and bankrupting small businesses that he contracts.
And naturally, he’s proud of it. “That’s what the country should be doing,” he says.
Trump’s short-changed just about every profession you can think of: carpenters, lawyers, chandelier-makers. Some of those people saw their businesses ruined, others had to means to fight back, and a couple of them were able to actually get some small settlement. At this point, the only people who can consistently get cash from Trump for a service are probably <a href=”
http://gawker.com/is-donald-trump-s-hair-a-60-000-weave-a-gawker-invest-1777581357″>the guy weaves his wigs, and Melania.
Generally, Trump’s victims know that he’ll fight so hard to keep from paying that it’s not worth it to pursue in court. But sometimes it’ll actually go to trial, as in the case of Juan Carlos Enriquez, a painter who worked on a building in Miami. He couldn’t get $30,000 that Trump’s organization owed him after two years, so at some point he threw up his hands and started legal proceedings.
That led to a revealing moment in court when one Trump’s lackeys told the judge that they “already paid enough.” Trump’s lawyers didn’t care for that wording, and according to the judge, “Trump’s trial attorneys visibly winced, began breathing heavily, and attempted to make eye contact” with him. I think we have some video footage of that incident.
Eventually the judge ordered the resort foreclosed on, but Trump’s lawyers filed a delay, and Enriquez is still waiting for his money.
Trump also made the mistake — several times — of refusing to pay some of his attorneys. That didn’t go over particularly well, and the attorneys were able to recoup some of their losses. In another case, a curtain manufacturer tried to withhold delivery until a bill was paid, and one of Trump’s developer tentacles arranged for sheriffs to raid the curtain factory.
Trump’s excuse for all this is that the contractors and employees in question did lousy work. But if that was true, he’d have to be the world’s lousiest employer, hiring some truly terrible painters and lawyers and chandelier-makers. This from the guy who was like “I’ll hire the best people”?
Also, lawyers are not waiters. Paying a contractor an agreed-upon amount is not like giving them a 20% tip. (Oh, and of course Trump doesn’t pay his waiters, too. Last month he was forced to settle with some employees who didn’t get overtime pay for working 20-hour days over Passover.)
So Trump’s an asshole who doesn’t pay his bills — what else is new? Well, we’re only just starting to see how this shitty business practice would extend into public office. Simply by holding rallies, Trump has left local municipalities holding bills averaging $20,000. Those are costs that police departments are used to eating — political campaigns rarely reimburse towns for stuff like that. But it’s rare that a rally incurs as many expenses for police as Trump’s.
So why do businesses keep doing business with this guy if he’s got a reputation for stiffing them? Well, he may have a bad reputation, but he also has a lot of money. People want that money. And they must figure that maybe, if they play their cards right, they can get some of it. Being close to someone else’s money feels almost as good as having some of your own!
This must also be how his supporters justify their votes. Yeah, sure, the guy’s an asshole, and he’s mean to everyone. But he’s also super powerful. And maybe if I support him, being close to someone else’s power will feel almost as good as having some of my own.
