Donald Trump's Net Worth Reportedly Tanked by $1 Billion
Donald Trump's entire career as a public figure has been based on one thing: his money. Or at least the marketing of that idea. In the past, he's claimed that his net worth is "in excess" of $10 billion, although that sum has never been verified and Trump has never substantiated it. In fact, Forbes, the finance magazine that dutifully obsesses over the ranking and net worths of the richest people in the world, estimated Trump's total net worth at $3 billion, thanks mostly to the money and connections he inherited from his father.
But on Thursday, a result of the downward spiraling stock market, Forbes downgraded its appraisal of Trump's fortune, estimating that he lost roughly $1 billion in value from his commercial real estate, residential real estate, hospitality holdings, hotel licensing and management, golf courses, and luxury properties. While these calculations are based on market changes since the outbreak began, New York City real estate broker Eric Anton told Forbes that the analysis is "as good as any other way I can think of."
The irony here is that it's at least in part due to Trump's own mismanagement of the U.S.'s COVID-19 response that has led the wild market volatility in recent weeks. At one point Trump delivered a prepared speech meant to calm investors where he announced a ban on travel from Europe—instead he spooked them so badly that the stock market had one of its single worst days in decades. But his administration's overall slow and negligent approach to the outbreak, which Trump denied it would be a significant problem and insisted was under control, made the need for more aggressive social distancing measures and the shutdown of nonessential business unavoidable. As a result, almost 10 million people have applied for unemployment benefits in just two weeks.
South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan are sharp contrasts with how the U.S. has paid the price for slow-walking its coronavirus response, even though they're much closer to China. Those countries took the threat seriously immediately and began aggressively screening people, making sure tests were widely available and easy to access. Thanks to an organized and effective public health system, South Korea—which confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on the same day as the U.S.—managed to test as many as 20,000 people a day, and Taiwan was even testing people arriving from China before they even got off their planes. Neither country has had to effectively shut down their economy like the U.S. did, although in a global economy, their financial fortunes are also tied the American economy.
It's unusual from Trump to lose money because of his presidency. He's used his position to promote his hotels and resorts, even going so far as to try to host the next G7 summit at the Trump National Doral golf resort near Miami. The Secret Service often stays on Trump properties when the president is on vacation, paying room and board directly to the president's private business, sometimes as much as $650 per night for a single room. Of course, the hotel industry has been one of the hardest hit by the global economic downturn—including the Trumps' DC hotel, which had a steady revenue stream from foreign governments looking to curry favor with the American president, and was up for sale up until the current economic crisis.
One of the negotiating sticking points for the recent stimulus bill was that Democrats wanted to include a provision that would bar the Trump family from financially benefitting from the legislation. But that hasn't seemed to have entirely stopped extended family from engaging in shady dealings related to the pandemic: In March, the president announced that Google was helping to create a website that would tell people if they had COVID-19 symptoms. The company that wound up creating the site was Oscar Health, an insurance company run by the brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, which had Google as a major investor. An Oscar spokesperson told The Atlantic that the company produced the site at the White House's request.
In March, the president tweeted "America’s Private Sector is stepping up to help us be STRONG!" And there are accounts of private companies trying to help with coronavirus relief efforts, shifting production, donating hand sanitizer or money, or offering services to help hospitals and displaced workers. But, according to an investigation from ProPublica, none of Trump's businesses have stepped up yet.
Charging the Secret Service for golf carts, threatening the National Weather Service, and every other way the 45th president has turned the highest office in the land into one crooked cesspool.
Originally Appeared on GQ
