TACO Strikes Again

Mr. "Art Of The Deal" Caves On Tariffs

TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out

We all know Donald Trump didn’t start out in his professional life with a “million-dollar loan” from his father. He was appointed president of his father’s company in the early 1970s, with his first appearance in the press being a story about a lawsuit filed against the Trump Organization for violating housing laws by intentionally not renting to African Americans. After a two-year court battle (Trump’s first foray into “justice delayed is justice denied”), A settlement was reached, whereby the Trumps didn’t have to admit guilt, but they were compelled to publish newspaper ads stating that they welcomed Black applicants. It also required them to familiarize themselves with the Fair Housing Act, which bans housing discrimination.

For his first large-scale project in the mid-70s, Trump renovated the Commodore Hotel near Grand Central Station in New York, rebranding it the Hyatt Grand Central. To make the deal happen, his father, Fred Trump (Who was “in like Flynn” with New York’s Mayor Abe Beame), and the Hyatt hotel chain jointly guaranteed a $70 million construction loan from Manufacturers Hanover Bank, with each party taking on 50% of the responsibility and agreeing to complete the project if Donald Trump was unable to do so. Trump also received a $40 million tax abatement from the City of New York. The agreement required Trump to pay a percentage of the hotel's annual profits to the city, specifically 15% of profits if they reached $2.5 million. By the mid-80s, it was clear that Trump and the Hyatt were using questionable accounting methods to steer clear of paying the city what was owed, and the city of New York was stiffed out of nearly half a million dollars.

So the story of Trump’s million-dollar loan from his father is pure hogwash, but we already knew that, didn’t we? In fact, his first big deal set the stage for what would become a trademark of the “Art Of The Deal,” (which was not even written by him, but rather penned by Tony Schwartz): Leverage your personal connections (When all else fails, go to daddy), use questionable/illegal business practices, and stiff your clients every chance you get.

One thing you could say about Fred Trump: He was a cash-and-carry guy to his dying day. His son, on the other hand, has spent his life leveraging debt and generating a lifestyle from OPM (Other People’s Money). Over the years, Trump’s parents had transferred nearly a billion dollars to their children, but through tax schemes and phony companies, they only paid about 5% in taxes.

Trump, in fact, is a TERRIBLE negotiator when it all boils down to it. By the mid-90s, he was in such financial trouble that he debased himself by appearing in a Pizza Hut commercial with his now-deceased ex-wife, Ivana.

So how did this loser crawl his way up from hawking crappy pizza (Sorry, Pizza Hut, but it’s true), to becoming the world’s biggest pain-in-the-ass dictator?

The Apprentice, that’s how. A ridiculous reality TV show that wasn’t based on any reality at all. But the American people bought into it, and its first season drew over 20 million viewers. Over time, those ratings tanked, but still, Trump was able to rebuild his brand and continue to rip off unsuspecting fans with steaks, vodka, airlines, and a “University,” giving him just enough clout, along with a new supermodel wife, to leverage a “cult of personality” following, propelling him to the White House on a campaign of xenophobia and burning white hatred.

Trump has never been bright. He’s never been sharp, and as he nears the age of 80, he’s gone off the rails. His overreliance on 19th-century Gilded Age politics has resulted in the STUPIDEST set of tariff arrangements this nation has ever seen. While a president CAN negotiate tariffs, it’s usually the job of Congress to see it through. But, of course, Trump lied about an “economic emergency” to leverage the IEEPA to his advantage because, you know, he has a “very big brain.”

This Wednesday was supposed to be his drop-dead deadline for negotiating tariff deals with other nations, and yet many of them are still sitting it out because they read him like a comic book. Today, he used his own social media platform to post warning letters to the nations that have not come crawling to him for their tariff deal. But, in true TACO fashion, he extended the deadline until August 1st in a “don’t make me come over there!” threat that appears to have nearly everyone baffled.

Time and time again, Trump has chickened out when his international bullying strategy (if it can be called that) hasn’t worked. He’s nothing if not predictable, but in the most dangerous way.