Month: April 2020

Categories
Coronavirus Donald Trump

Trump Tried To Blame Obama For His Own Virus Testing Failures – It Blew Up In His Face

Poor Donald Trump! He’s screwed up the federal response to the novel coronavirus, the economy is in the crapper, and his approval rating is at its lowest level since he took office.

Of course, as it always the case, nothing is ever the Donald’s fault. And he proved that again today at the White House when he had a meltdown about testing for the virus and said there’s no need to do millions of tests before the country opens up.


None of this is my fault! Trump complained. And then he tried to blame his predecessor, Barack Obama, remarking:

“Look, we are better than anyone else in the world on testing. We have tested more than anybody in the world, and we have the best tests in the world, and that’s been all developed in the last couple of months because we started off with nothing. We had absolutely nothing, and that included ventilators, and that included, I always say the cupboards were bare. They were bare in the military, and they were bare medically in terms of pandemics or epidemics or whatever you want to call it.”


There’s just one problem with Trump’s assertion: It’s complete bullshit. Trump disbanded the Pandemic Response Team set up by Obama and didn’t bother to restock the federal stockpile of emergency medical equipment (i.e. masks, gloves, ventilators).


It only took a few minutes for social media to remind Trump of his own failures and set him straight on who’s to blame:

Tomorrow, maybe Robert Mueller or James Comey will make a cameo in some of Donnie’s waking fever dreams which he seems to believe are actually real. That, or he’ll fall back on the old reliable: Blame Hillary.

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Trump Hotels Lay Off Thousands Of Employees As The Company Starts To Implode

In yet another sign that the flagship business which makes up the majority of the revenues for the Trump Organization is in serious financial trouble, the Washington Post reports that the family-owned company has laid off 1,500 employees at its hotels in the United States and Canada:

“The Trump Organization has laid off or furloughed employees at hotels in New York, the District of Columbia, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Honolulu, according to public filings and people familiar with the properties, including union officials.

“Seventeen of Trump’s clubs and hotels have closed. The remainder of Trump properties are operating at a fraction of their normal capacity: hotels running with restaurants closed, golf clubs operating with clubhouses shut down, and golfers warned not to share carts or touch the flagsticks.”


Much like other businesses in the travel and accommodations sector of the American economy, Trump’s properties have been hit hard by the slowdown caused by fears of coronavirus.

The horrible news from Trump’s hotels may have been what prompted President Donald Trump to say, “The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself, we’ve got to get our country open.” Further deterioration of the U.S. economy is also a direct threat to the president’s chances of reelection, which is always foremost in his mind.

Also, it was recently reported that the Trump Organization had contacted creditors about delaying loan payments on the approximately $350 million in obligations the company has. Most of that outstanding debt is held by German financial giant Deutsche Bank, which has loaned Trump some $2 billion over the years.


Another looming expense for Trump hotels and resorts is the matter of property taxes, which will total at least $1.8 million and are due within the coming months.

Not long ago, Donald Trump lamented that he was losing “billions” serving as president rather than running his business. The way it looks now, he may wind up losing his business, too.

So much for being a “great businessman.”

Categories
Coronavirus Donald Trump Economics Elections

Majority Of Voters Say They Trust Biden Over Trump To Handle The Economy And Pandemic

With the U.S. death toll from coronavirus passing 60,000 earlier today and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tumbling 4.8 percent in the first quarter of the year, American voters are indicating that they have lost all faith in Donald Trump’s ability to navigate the two biggest issues that will be the hallmarks of the 2020 campaign: COVID-19 and the economy.


A startling new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows that for the first time since the novel coronavirus appeared in the United States, a majority of voters say they trust presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to handle the virus and the economy more than they trust Donald Trump.

In a head-to-head matchup, 55 percent say they trust Biden more than Trump (40 percent) to effectively deal with the virus. And they also choose Biden over Trump to deal with the economy by a 51 to 44 percent margin, suggesting that Trump’s reelection is in serious jeopardy.


A closer look inside the numbers from the NPR poll also has bad news for Trump, with 55 percent of Americans saying they disapprove of the job he’s doing as president and 58 percent of independent voters indicating they’re dissatisfied with how Trump has dealt with the pandemic.


The bottom line is that Trump is seen as a failed president who has been unable to protect Americans from the greatest national security threat the nation has faced in decades. This president had an opportunity early on to mitigate the human toll from coroanavirus, but he was far too busy dubbing it a “hoax” and promising it would quickly disappear.

The election, of course, will not be held tomorrow, but there are ominous signs in this latest survey for the incumbent, who is more unpopular than ever and flailing about as he tries to navigate the twin crises of COVID-19 and the moribund economic picture.

Is karma finally catching up with Donald Trump? At the moment, it certainly looks that way.

Categories
Elections

Lindsey Graham Begs Voters To ‘Stand With’ Him In November And Gets Brutally Mocked

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is on the verge of seeing his political career come to a premature end, especially since the object of his most fervent devotion, Donald Trump, looks like he may well be headed for the scrap heap when the votes are counted in November.


But despite this, Graham is desperately trying to put the proverbial happy face on his reelection effort, even going so far as to formally announce on recently that he had filed the paperwork required to serve another six-year term as the senior senator from the the Palmetto State:

Hooray! One of the biggest Trump lapdogs in the entire Senate is running so he can kiss Trump’s fat ass without interruption.

Things aren’t looking too rosy for Lindsey, with polls showing him holding only a slim two-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Jaime Harrison, the former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party who is raising a ton of money and also has powerful Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on his side. Some polls even show Harrison leading the incumbent.


But more troubling for Sen. Graham is the response he received on Twitter to the video he posted. Based on the majority of the comments, Lindsey should be very worried about his future in the U.S. Congress:

Looks like you might want to consider getting a head start on packing up the shit in your office, Lindsey. Hopefully you’re going to be sent into early retirement in a few months.


Good riddance to bad trash!

Categories
Coronavirus Donald Trump

Cash-Strapped Trump Organization Is Reportedly On The Brink Of Financial Collapse

The Trump Organization, like so many American businesses these days, is experiencing a tremendous downturn in revenues, and because the president’s family company is heavily leveraged and owes millions in payments for loans it has taken out, could be on the verge of total financial collapse and the seizure of its assets, according to the New York Times:

“Representatives of Mr. Trump’s company have recently spoken with Deutsche Bank, the president’s largest creditor, about the possibility of postponing payments on at least some of its loans from the bank.

“And in Florida, the Trump Organization sought guidance last week from Palm Beach County about whether it expected the company to continue making monthly payments on county land that it leases for a 27-hole golf club.”


Many of the Trump properties are hemorrhaging money, estimated to be several millions of dollars a day, even though the company has left some hotels and clubs open, despite the call by medical experts to close all such gathering places to slow the spread of COVID-19 across the country.


Creditors are somewhat reluctant to make a big deal out of the payments they’re owed, but can only let the matter go on for so long before taking further action, which could include foreclosure and seizure of assets, the Times notes:

“Because of his history of defaults and bankruptcies, Deutsche Bank insisted that Mr. Trump provide personal guarantees on those loans, meaning that the bank has recourse to his personal assets if he were to stop paying back the money.

“Deutsche Bank executives have been fretting about what would happen if he were to default, according to bank officials. Seizing the president’s personal assets would be an unattractive proposition. But opting not to collect on the loans would be the equivalent of an enormous financial gift to Mr. Trump.”


At the present time, it’s believed Trump owes Deutsche Bank approximately $350 million. The German bank has loaned an estimated $2 billion to the Trump Organization since 1998. It’s one of the few banks that has taken a chance on Trump despite his history of defaulting, which has led some to suggest a foreign government or agency (Russia? Organized crime?) might be guaranteeing the loans in exchange for laundering money through real estate purchases from Trump’s company.

One thing seems certain: The Trump Organization is in a deep hole, and there doesn’t seem to be a way it can dig itself out unless a major investor comes along and pays all of the company’s debts. If that should happen, it’ll be interesting to see who takes that much of a chance on a failing entity.