In 2018, The New York Times ran a long story with the punchline that Donald J. Trump was staked to a much larger inheritance by his father, Fred Trump.
In 2024, just six years later, Judge Endorgan single-handedly determined that Trump’s real estate holdings were worth far less than Mr. Trump represented to banks.
Without the benefit of a definitive value put on properties from a sale, the New York Times, through a series of convoluted calculations, determined that Trump’s holdings were worth far more than he claimed.
Similarly, Judge Endorgan, overrode the judgement of sophisticated bank appraisers and determined that Mr. Trump’s holding were worth far less than Trump reported. Again without the benefit of a sale.
I am not aware that Mr. Trump under or over reported the amount of a sale transaction. He is guilty of being on the wrong side of the guesswork of a court in New York.
Next up, all homeowners prosecuted for fraud and prosecuted for the difference between the market value and appraised value of their homes. Even homeowners celebrating the results in New York. The die is cast.
As I’ve written and published repeatedly over the entire time Mr. Trump appeared on the political scene, I don’t believe he is qualified to be president, does not seem to be interested in learning the job, and has massive personal issues.
Whether he becomes president again is up to the voters. Unless one is satisfied with the Orwellian drama being played out like a script, this democracy is doomed.
I believe the New York Times investigation and story on Trump showed that he not only overvalued his properties for beneficial loans, etc., but also undervalued his properties for other purposes like paying taxes, or such. He clearly was playing the system then, much as he is playing the voters who have yet to see through his con man schemes.
I agree with you that the court decision about Trump's real estate was grotesque overreach, and if the courts consistently apply their novel application of the law in the future, many who own property will be in jeopardy.
However, I can't agree that democracy is in jeopardy because of Trump. He is incorrigibly controversial, but at least his policies, chaotically implemented as they were, were much better than the damaging ones coming from Biden and his handlers. If we were to suffer under multiple terms from liberal administrations, democracy might be lost, but it will take more than a term or two.