President Donald Trump’s time in office continues to be defined by revelations of failure — failure to appropriately respond to foreign efforts to tilt domestic affairs, failure to enact wide-ranging health care legislation, and — among other things — failure, it turns, out at being a businessman during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In response to a revelatory report from The New York Times describing Trump’s claimed loss of over $1 billion through that time frame, the left-leaning New York Post competitor the New York Daily News ran a cover this week casting Trump as the “biggest loser.”
The full title and subtitle read:
‘Biggest Loser: Our ‘huuge success’ prez claimed losses of more than $1B during decade of woe, new tax records reportedly reveal’
Check it out, joining the ranks of the publication’s other similarly poignant anti-Trump covers:
As the title suggests, Trump’s financial standing during the period under consideration actually put him in one of the worst spots in the entire country. In both 1990 and 1991 alone, Trump claimed losses of some $250 million, which was more than twice as much as the second place loser those years. In other words, Trump wasn’t just a “bad,” questionable at best businessman — he was the worst businessman in terms of the sheer volume of his losses, at least for awhile. It’s a wonder that he ever came up with the idea of marketing his business experience as appropriately preparatory for the White House, although it certainly could explain a lot.
Trump, for his part, has claimed the losses are no big deal and were part of the “sport” of doing real estate business back in the 80s and 90s, which included using those loss claims to renegotiate with banks, he said — which is the exact behavior that has him under investigation inside and outside of Congress for fraud. He’s been revealed to have inflated and deflated his assets in line with what would bring him the most financial benefit.
Under the shadow of all of these issues, House Democrats have been seeking the president’s more recent tax returns. Although this week Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decided to break with the law and decline to hand the documents over, House Democrats are not exactly giving up without a fight.
Check out Twitter’s thoughts about Trump’s “defense” against the latest news below. “#BillionDollarLoser” began trending on Twitter this week…
Featured Image via screenshot
