Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Fig. 1. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, via Mediaite,[1] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.[2]
Bill Cohan writes:
Like many on Wall Street, I’ve been left wondering how Donald Trump will be able to afford the more than $450 million penalty, including interest, that Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on him last week as a result of the civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James as well as the $83.3 million he owes E. Jean Carroll after he lost two defamation cases she brought against him. Assuming that at some point he loses all his appeals, can he get the cash he needs to pay his debts? Is he liquid enough for the appeal bond in the meantime? Will he be able to find someone to post the bond and take the risk of his credit? And that ignores, for the moment, the increasing possibility that he might also have to pay the I.R.S. $100 million or so in back taxes, as a result of his improper deductions over the years.[3]
Tim O’Brien appeared on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” Monday to remind Americans — who last week witnessed the former president slammed with a more than $350 million civil fraud judgement — that money problems are nothing new to Trump.
“This problem was there in 2016 when Trump was elected,” O’Brien said. “Trump was trying to get a real estate deal done in Moscow while he was running for president.”
O’Brien said the pattern continued during his term as president when he did political favors for the Saudis and, after he left the White House, his son-in-law and former treasury secretary “got billions.”[4]
Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html
Kate Sullivan, “Trump avoids condemning Russia for Navalny’s death,” CNN, February 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/trump-navalny-death-response/index.html
Kathleen Culliton, “‘That makes him a mark’: Expert explains problem sending broke Trump back to White House,” Raw Story, February 19, 2024, https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2667318211/
William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/
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.
William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Infrastructure
Fig. 3. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
The National Transportation Safety Board was scathing on Pittsburgh’s neglect of the Fern Hollow Bridge.[5] It’s all consistent with my observation that Pittsburgh simply does not take care of business. It just doesn’t.
This cannot obviously be blamed on Ed Gainey who had taken office[6] a mere 25 days before the bridge collapsed.[7] And it’s worth noting that Gainey’s efforts to remedy the city’s snowplowing operations[8] do seem to have borne fruit.
But it’s clear the corruption in Pittsburgh is deep-seated and I’m not at all clear that Gainey is doing a thing about it.
Paula Reed Ward and Julia Felton, “NTSB blames Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on lack of maintenance, repair, oversight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 21, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/ntsb-meets-to-reveal-probable-cause-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/
- [1]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
- [2]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment↩
- [3]William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/↩
- [4]Kathleen Culliton, “‘That makes him a mark’: Expert explains problem sending broke Trump back to White House,” Raw Story, February 19, 2024, https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2667318211/↩
- [5]Paula Reed Ward and Julia Felton, “NTSB blames Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on lack of maintenance, repair, oversight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 21, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/ntsb-meets-to-reveal-probable-cause-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/↩
- [6]Olafimihan Oshin, “Ed Gainey sworn in as Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor,” Hill, January 3, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/588041-ed-gainey-sworn-in-as-pittsburghs-first-black-mayor↩
- [7]Ed Blazina et al., “‘A boom, then a monster sound’: 10 hurt after bridge over Pittsburgh’s Frick Park collapses,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-forbes-braddock-avenue-point-breeze-squirrel-hill/stories/202201280075↩
- [8]Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to add more plows to address concerns about snow, ice removal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-add-more-plows-to-address-concerns-about-snow-ice-removal/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh to add 12 snowplows to city fleet for rest of winter,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 8, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-to-add-12-snow-plows-to-city-fleet-for-rest-of-winter/↩