Donald Trump has big bills coming due, along with big potential conflicts of interest, and those are huge reasons he should not be allowed a second term.
Mother Jones did a deep dive into Trump's upcoming financial liabilities and came up with some frightening results:
Win or lose in November, one thing won’t change for Donald Trump: Over the next few years, his company must settle a series of whopping debts. Before the end of a theoretical second term, his company will have to refinance—or, in a far less likely scenario, pay off—nearly a half-billion dollars in loans linked to some of his most prized assets, including Trump Tower. These debts are maturing at a perilous moment for Trump, whose hotels and resorts have been plagued by declining revenues. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the hospitality industry in general and the Trump Organization in particular, forcing the full or partial closure of most of its hotel and resort properties.
On financial disclosure forms, Trump has reported holding 14 loans on 12 properties. At least six of those loans, representing about $479 million in debt, are due over the next four years. Some are guaranteed by Trump himself, meaning a creditor could come after his personal—not corporate—¬assets if he defaults. If he holds onto the White House, the refinancing of these debts could take his conflicts of interest to absurd new heights. How will the public know if these deals are on the up and up or whether Trump is receiving sweetheart terms from a bank that wants an in with the president? And what might a lender desire in return for helping Trump out of a financial jam?
According to Mother Jones, Trump will owe Deutsche Bank “something close to” $125 million in 2023, plus another $195 - $220 million in 2024. He also has a $100 million loan due to Ladder Capital up in 2022.
Mother Jones notes that Trump’s kind of loans are not unusual for big, real estate developers. But for a guy in the White House, it’s a whole ‘nother story. With the economic woes in the country and in Trump’s businesses, Trump could have a tough time getting those two lenders to refinance.
It’s not like we haven’t already seen Trump use taxpayer money to enrich himself and his cronies. Is there any doubt he wouldn’t betray the public trust to pay off even one of those big debts?
