Trump Appeal Bond Watch: It’s Friday afternoon, and there’s still no bond. Nor have we heard from an appeals court. It’s reported that Trump posted today in ALL CAPS on his toy social media platform that he has $500 million in cash right now. Of course he does.
As we can see, the New York State civil judgment against Donald Trump, totaling roughly $450 million, and Trump’s seeming inability to post a bond for the amount in order to appeal the judgment, is the real deal. But it has also reminded us, brought us back to the Russian nesting doll, the infinitely layered onion of Donald Trump not being real. The effort to collect the judgment spins us right back around to why there is a judgment in the first place. Trump is now fundraising off threats to “seize Trump Tower.” The New York Post is headlining the same basic idea. But as a friend reminded me yesterday evening, Trump doesn’t own Trump Tower. …
… At one level this is entirely obvious if you think about it. Trump Tower is owned by the people who own the apartment units. It’s not just apartment units of course. And … well, a lot of those are owned by foreigners trying to hide money in the U.S. But I digress. What he actually owns at Trump Tower is “the parking garage, the valet booth, room-service kitchens, lobby bathrooms, a restaurant space, and one unit.”
Even in Manhattan, a valet booth may not be worth that much.
But now I feel compelled to look at Congress. Congress is on shutdown brink again. I had thought there was a funding deal a few days ago. I guess I was wrong. The House did pass a spending bill today to fund the government through September. We do not know if the Senate will be able to pass it before the shutdown begins at the end of today. I understand this is possible but doubtful.
Oh, and Marjorie Taylor Greene is on the warpath.
The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avert a partial shutdown at the end of the week, setting off a G.O.P. mutiny that threatened Speaker Mike Johnson’s hold on his job.
In a 286-134 vote that came down to the wire as leaders scrounged for the two-thirds majority needed for passage, Democrats rallied to provide the support to overcome a furious swell of opposition by conservative Republicans.
Infuriated by the painstakingly negotiated bipartisan legislation to keep funding flowing for government agencies including the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, the hard right revolted, and as the vote was still ongoing, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia began the process of calling for a vote to oust Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Greene told reporters on the House steps minute after the vote that she would not seek an immediate vote on his removal, but had begun the process as a “warning” because his actions were a “betrayal.”
“This was our leverage,” Ms. Greene said of spending legislation. “This is our chance to secure the border, and he didn’t do it. And now this funding bill passed without the majority of the majority.”
I guess she was planning to hold the government hostage to pass a border security bill like the one she helped kill a few weeks ago. Got it. If she does decide to see, a vote on ousting McCarthy, House Dems have said they will vote to keep him if he allows a vote on funding Ukraine.
And the majority is about to become less of a majority. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) announced he will resign from Congress on April 19. And with the imminent departure of Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the House soon will be Republicans 217, Demolcrats 214. Matt Stieb writes at New York magazine that Gallagher’s departure will take the Republican majority down to one seat, but I’m not sure how he comes to that calculation. It looks like three seats to me. Maybe you can figure it out.
I would believe Trump has 500 million cash on hand; what I don't believe, is him having that, *plus* his nut for running his businesses – not just operating expenses but also interest expenses and such. If he did, he probably would have posted the bond already.
For a person like Trump, there needs to be a pool of money to run his businesses, and avoid shocks, and pay taxes, etc.. Without that pool of money, he can go into default, or end up with a tax lien, or get dunning notices from critical suppliers.
Would I believe he has $451 million in liquid funds? Yes. (That's "almost 500 million" per his claims.) Would I believe he has that, plus the $454 million judgment? No.
I think if he puts the cash in escrow, he's facing rapid breakdowns in his business empire. If not, if he had the money to pay the judgment, and retain a comfortable level of liquidity, he's an idiot for not posting the bond in cash. Not just his normal idiocy, either – I mean, either a bond gets posted, or New York gets to decide which of his properties to seize. Not posting a bond is all disadvantage, putting his worth and his business at risk.
Given the situation, where posting the bond would let him play the martyr over money he was going to lose anyway, complaining only really makes sense if he doesn't have the money to spare.
So, Trump may be telling the truth about cash and liquidity, but, the judgment might still ruin him entirely.
217R to 214D. If one R votes with D, R wins 216-215. However it would take 3R absent, or voting present, for a 214-214 tie to prevent passage. In short, it depends on how one defines 'margin'.
Stop the presses! George Santos has quit the GOP! They've done gone and embarrassed him! SNL writers have been frantically summoned for an emergency session to address this matter.
Emergency over. It's a re-run this week.
Trump Lawyers: Please take mercy on our poor, indigent client…
Trump: I have 500 megs cash, beeyotchs!
That Marjorie Taylor Greene is a real work of fart, ain't she?!?
Ooops!
"Art…"
"…Real work of art," I meant.
Sorry about that.
A few decades ago, if you wrote a political novel with a character like MTG, your editor would tell you to rewrite the character.
You'd be told, "No one in politics who is that stupid, ignorant, bigoted, and, dim and nasty, could ever get elected!
So rewrite the character.
Because if you insist on keeping her "as is," I'd be forced to have an intervention for you.
So, be a good little novelist, and make that character less outlandish, and more realistic. Thanks."
But being an "outlandish" Republican IS the new "reality."
Oy…
I think the twit-filter done etted 'n digested my word-turd.
Ooops, again!
My word-turd appeared as soon as I finished my twice filter comment.
Damn.
Now I look like an idiot.
Fortunately, that's not an unfamiliar position for me, so all's right in the world.
Trump is not a particularly good liar. It's not just that many of his lies are transparently false. Numbers don't add up – facts demonstrably wrong. The problem is that Trump tells lies that contradict each other to his detriment. In this case, Trump instructed his lawyers to tell the appellate court that it is "virtually impossible" for Trump to come up with a bond, coupled with an urgent request that a hundred-million bond be allowed to stop NY from collecting on the debt. This morning, as if the appellate court is sequestered from the news and Internet, Trump tells his cult he's rolling in cash money.
The appellate court would be prohibited (I think) from considering speculation from outside sources about Trump's finances. But this is a statement from Trump that he HAS the cash money to meet the bond. Trump may think the court can ONLY consider the motion and the reply from the prosecutor but this is a public statement by Trump about his cash position while the issue of Trump's liquidity is under consideration and the conclusion of the lower court is that Trump is an unrepentant fraud.
Trump shot himself in the foot. I think the appeals court will decline to be a sucker for Trump. We'll find out soon. Trump will wait it out Saturday. Early Sunday Trump has to act IF HE CAN. A screwup getting the bond to court could take Trump past the deadline to file a bond and courts can be very unforgiving. So expect nothing tomorrow but there may be action Sunday.
Tyrantosaurus Wreck’s utterances aren’t meant to be factual statements, by him or by his cult, they’re commands on how you should FEEL, because Trumpism is all about giving moral cowards an excuse not to think.
You librul empiricist nitpickers might dispute when he says he had the "biggest inauguration crowd of all time", but his cultists know it's an assertion that OF COURSE he had the biggest crowd, because he's the GREATEST PRESIDENT of all time, and your aerial photographs of the Mall can shutupshutupshutup.
Appeal bond watch!
Boy isn't that exactly what Stump wants, now we are waiting for bond status. Is he really broke, will a foreign power bail him out? No court filings so endless speculation about one legal deadline or the next. Like those questions mean anything, tomorrow is another angle; we've become one big fucking Jerry Springer show following Stump, followed by a nightcap of professional wrestling! Whatever happens Stump will step in shit, appeal, media will obsess and on and on we go. He has numbed this country to ignorance, we are so fucking stupid now, we're getting overwhelmed again, it is Stump twenty four fucking seven. He always manages to attack our attention and strip us of our decency. How can something so horrible work? This has been going on for almost a decade now. One thing is sure the more we think about Stump somehow it works for him. I'm flummoxed how he has managed to turn total incompetence into obsession. What has happened?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2ZsAOlvEM
we've become one big fucking Jerry Springer show following Stump, followed by a nightcap of professional wrestling!
LMAO…I hear you!
He knows the corporate media require a continuous diet of rancid attention-seeking garbage events, and he shovels it to them.
Good song from a classic album of my youth. Back in the day as a teenager with an acoustic guitar, my admiration for Simon & Garfunkel started with the Sounds of Silence, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Taught myself a lot of those songs. And Bookends … well that one was in the early years of the tumultuous times.
It's a great tune. Fun to play as well. When I was a kid that album was on the turntable all the time! I always liked the version yes did as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGWzMSLXFj4
The opening "mmmm … mmhmmm… mmm … mmhmmm.." brought a smile to my face, in 3 seconds. I remember "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike" hitch-hiking to see a girl in Paramus.
When he makes a public statement, he's lying. Always. It's a technique. It's hard to figure out which parts are lies when he always hides the truth. Not going anywhere with this, it's just hard to read the tea leaves. What we can be sure of is that whatever he's up to, he's up to no good.
We are up against many imposters who have a facade and a corrupt agenda. Trump is but one of them. No, Trump is not your friend. Look at the wake of his victims and be glad you are not one of those whose lives he has completely wreaked. He is not done yet. While you were busy attending to him, other seedy elements were hard at work. Brian Chen of the NYT wrote an article on how tech companies are also not your friends also, and ROKU has made some recent moves you may have noticed. If you have a ROKU -TV you got a bit of an extortion letter lately. It seems you do not own your TV, you just rent it from them. Unless you were willing to jump through some fiery hoops you had to agree to give away some freedoms and opportunities for justice just to continue to use your TV you thought you owned. His article has a link to a way to bypass them and get your freedom back. Roku has an agenda, and it is a data mining one. If you get harmed the user agreement protects them from justice. It's kind of like their own loose justice Cannon.
Why Tech Companies Are Not Your Friends: Lessons From Roku – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I don’t like to repeatedly post from Susan Lynn, Psychic Medium but she’s predicting some amazing stuff. To wit, Republicans continue to resign – because the RNC can’t help them with $ – to the point where Hakkim Jeffries will be speaker BEFORE the election.
Stunning. that a psychic medium in America today could possibly have less credibility than the deposed leader of the RNC as exhibited on Meet the Press Today. Was she not in bed with Trump and Ginni Thomas on the 1/6 insurrection attempt?
Still, I am with you on your permise.
Did the deadline pass on Sunday or is it today?
It’s today. I haven’t heard that he’s got the money.