Insane Clown Property Values
President Trump spent the day in New York in court to contest a civil fraud case. How does he continue to survive?
The Insane Clown Show Campaign came to New York yesterday, this time for the start of a civil proceeding organized by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She has sued the Trump Organization in civil court for fraudulent business practices in the amount of $250M. You may remember Ms. James as the AG that brought down Governor Cuomo and then ran to replace him, losing to the current governor Kathy Hochul. General James is also known as a sworn Trump enemy, calling him a “con man” and “carnival barker” while campaigning with a pledge to shine a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”
General James’ investigation for this proceeding has been going on since 2019, but the indictment timing lands the trial smack dab in the middle of the campaign for President. Mr. Trump indeed turned the proceeding yesterday - the first day of trial - into a full-fledged campaign stop.
As background, General James filed this civil suit in September, 2022 against Trump and 3 of his children, claiming, “that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself, cheat the system,” Ms. James said in a statement at the time.
Next, last week, the presiding judge in the case issued a summary judgment finding that the Trump Organization did inflate the value of its assets. The civil suit beginning today will determine the implication of these valuations, who was responsible for them and whether it rises to the level of conduct by which Trump will owe millions of dollars in penalties and be precluded from doing business in New York state.
The ruling last week, however, was controversial. Judge Engoron’s ruling valued the Mar A Lago property in West Palm Beach at $18M. The bombastic Trumps claim now - in the press - the property is worth $1.8B; real estate insiders in Palm Beach say they could sell it for at least $300M without the nearby golf course. Here are some comps listed in the New York Post:
“To put it in perspective, a 2-acre wooded lot at 1980 S. Ocean Blvd., just 5 minutes from Mar-a-Lago, is currently listed for $150 million. Mar-a-Lago, situated at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., dwarfs this lot tenfold and operates as a commercial business with around 500 members as part of the golf club.
Also nearby: a 2.3-acre plot of land at 1063/1071 N. Ocean Blvd., on the market for a sky-high $200 million. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate boasts a sprawling 20 acres.
Forbes had appraised the property, which is made up of 128 rooms, at approximately $160 million in 2018 following extensive renovations and its exclusive Palm Beach location on Billionaires’ Row. The property includes a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, five clay tennis courts and a sprawling waterfront pool.”
Trump bought the property in 1985 for $10M, when it was listed for $20M. An $18M valuation almost 40 years later seems hard to justify. General James entire case relies on valuations like this, so it is likely President Trump will appeal the summary judgement if he loses any elements of the business fraud civil case.
True to Trump, though, he turned his visit to the Courthouse into a grandiose barrage of complaints towards the Judge, the NY Attorney General, the DOJ, the US Attorney General and others. Here’s a bit of what he had to say:
So, one is not surprised to learn, that President Trump thinks everyone is out to get him. It reminds me of a quote from Catch-22 (Jospeh Heller), “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” It is clear to anyone paying attention that liberal prosecutors are out to get the former President, but the counter positive to the quote is also true: just because everyone is out to get you doesn’t mean you’re not guilty.
To an impartial observer, it should look preposterous that a former President who left office with low approval and in some disgrace, and who is indicted in four concurrent jurisdictions, is leading the polls for his party nomination by an average of 42 points over eight other viable candidates.
There are, however, a number of important factors at play:
First and foremost, Trump is the former President. Despite his many shortcomings, he has all of the advantages of an incumbent in name recognition, political operations, fundraising, and media coverage. You can not watch a news program for long without his name coming up. The irony is that the most left-leaning cable news networks get their best ratings when they spend time attacking Trump. This has the counterproductive effect of delivering more free coverage to Trump than he could possibly afford otherwise.
Second, the current President who replaced Mr. Trump is extremely unpopular. Indeed, President Biden set a new record for lowest approval of any President in the Gallup poll last year, and he continues to poll close to those lows, with an average of 39.8% Approve, 55.1% Disapprove. So voters likely answer the question “are you better off than you were 4 years ago” and think maybe the old President wasn’t so bad as the new President.
Third, and most importantly, President Trump has struck a generational nerve in the American zeitgeist. As Andrew Yang said in his run for President in 2019, Trump is the symptom of much deeper problems in America. Here is Yang in a Democratic debate last cycle:
Indeed, Trump won in 2016 in swing states that he had to win - Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. These states used to be industrialized powerhouses, but were hollowed out by globalist trade policies that sent a large swath of manufacturing jobs to China and other third world countries, and the internet revolution that automated out many more of their jobs. The best advice many seemed to have for those left behind was “learn to code,” which became an intense internet meme.
President Trump speaks to the working poor and middle class who feel they lose more and more every day, as the elite and the wealthy and the powerful continue to prosper. These working class folks watch as the Rich Men North of Richmond make sweetheart deals between big corporations and big government to squeeze out their wages, their jobs, their small businesses and their freedoms.
Even the legal system looks like it has left them behind - they think there is a two-tiered justice system in which the rich are exonerated and the poor go to jail. So even as Trump is indicted and prosecuted, they see his struggle as their struggle, they perceive the same forces squeezing them out squeezing him out. Trump is their champion, fighting against a rigged system for survival. If he beats the rap, maybe they can too.
You may think these ideas are misguided; and there is certainly at least two sides to any opinion or argument. But what the left and many on the right still - almost eight years later - have not come to grips with is this: perception is reality. If you do not address the issues and concerns of the working class in America, openly and honestly, and work to improve the lives of this large swath of Americans, the symptoms of this disease will continue to fester.
If a candidate emerges who understands this and can effectively decode these problems, while offering positive steps to solve them - a positive message most can support, with the ability to implement change most can support - he or she will win the Presidency. If not, we’ll be stuck with four more years of Trump or Biden. God help us all.