Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Fig. 1. “Your Honor, in an effort to insure a fair trial, we move for a change of venue to the defendant’s imagination.” Cartoon by Teresa Burns Parkhurst, apparently on February 16, 2024, via the New Yorker, fair use.
Finances
Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
A ruling “order[ing] the Trump Organization to pay $364 million in penalties and barr[ing] the former president from any role in running a business in New York state for three years”[1] “will have such an enormous impact on the operation of his business. But it will also provide a strong basis for an appeal.”[2]
This is the second recent judgment against [Donald] Trump that vastly outweighs the original asking price in damages. When the trial began in October, [Letitia] James requested that the state punish Trump and his two sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, also Trump Organization executives, to the tune of $250 million. But after significant grandstanding about his alleged net worth during his deposition, James asked in a post-trial brief that the state penalize him for $120 million more, bringing the total sum up to $370 million, a little more than [Arthur F.] Engoron’s final ruling on Friday.[3]
The other such penalty is in E. Jean Carroll’s successful defamation suit. “With these verdicts, Trump now owes more than $440 million in damages.”[4]
With the court-ordered monitor, Donald Trump could have difficulty even posting a required bond for an appeal and that cost could crimp his presidential campaign.[5] This is the kind of thing I refrain from speculating on: I lack the expertise and what experience I do have suggests that forecasts such as this often prove to be wrong. We shall see.
The Trump Organization is going to exist. It is going to be hamstrung, but I think it still exists.[6]
As to the appeal itself,
Unless [Donald] Trump settles the claims, it will now be up to appeals courts to decide whether the penalties and sanctions should stand. The appeals fight will likely focus on whether the state [of New York] established Trump’s liability under a state fraud statute intended to combat consumer scams and corporate malfeasance that harms the marketplace. Trump’s lawyers also have argued that most of the claims in the attorney general’s lawsuit should have been dismissed for falling outside the statute of limitations.[7]
Again, we shall see.
Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e
Jacob Gershman and James Fanelli, “Judge Orders Trump to Pay More Than $350 Million for Misrepresenting His Wealth,” Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/donald-trump-new-york-civil-fraud-trial-ruling-6447c2cd
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Trump Enters Full Meltdown Mode Over $355 Million Verdict in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179110/trump-meltdown-reaction-civil-fraud-trial-verdict
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Very Stable Genius Trump Hammered to Tune of $350 Million in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/178566/trump-verdict-bank-fraud-trial
Joy Wiltermuth, “No quick end to Trump’s real-estate business after New York fraud case ruling,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-quick-end-to-trumps-real-estate-business-after-new-york-fraud-case-ruling-7c29db55
- [1]Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e↩
- [2]Randy Zelin, quoted in Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e↩
- [3]Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Very Stable Genius Trump Hammered to Tune of $350 Million in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/178566/trump-verdict-bank-fraud-trial↩
- [4]Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Very Stable Genius Trump Hammered to Tune of $350 Million in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/178566/trump-verdict-bank-fraud-trial↩
- [5]Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e↩
- [6]Evan Gotlob, quoted in Joy Wiltermuth, “No quick end to Trump’s real-estate business after New York fraud case ruling,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-quick-end-to-trumps-real-estate-business-after-new-york-fraud-case-ruling-7c29db55↩
- [7]Jacob Gershman and James Fanelli, “Judge Orders Trump to Pay More Than $350 Million for Misrepresenting His Wealth,” Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/donald-trump-new-york-civil-fraud-trial-ruling-6447c2cd↩