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| the Grifter at work in Iowa |
At least Dicken's street urchin the Artful Dodger had the excuse of deadly deprivations of Victorian London. No such excuse exists for a fortunate son's lifetime of grifting. Trumpillini has avoided accountability for his crimes of greater magnitude than the one for which he was finally indicted in Manhattan. True to form he is engaged in a vitriolic media campaign of intimidation against the criminal case for which he must stand in the dock.
At this point in the proceedings, less you shed tears for the "persecuted" Individual One, it is instructive to enumerate past crimes for which he was not held fully accountable:
People less connected than Trump and his father have gone to jail for violating the Fair Housing Act. Trumpillini escaped a sentence primarily by suing the Department of Justice for defamation, asking for $100 million in damages. A similar tactic is being used today in the hush money case, with a suit against his main accuser, Michael Cohen, for $500 million in damages--an absurd amount, only designed to intimidate. In 1973 Roy Cohen, famed for his role in the McCarthy hearings, stepped before the cameras to defend the Trumps against racial housing discrimination. As one of their apartment building superintendents explained when he refused to rent a vacant apartment to a black man, "I was only doing what my boss told me to do." Trumpillini paid not one cent in fines and admitted no guilt, but merely signed a consent decree in which he promised to abide by the rules of the Fair Housing Act. By 1978 his company had violated the agreement. DOJ wrote that the Trump company continued to exhibit racial bias in its renting. Before DOJ could gather enough evidence to go to trial the consent decree expired.
The Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City was recently demolished after it had gone bankrupt for the third time. When Trump owned it he lavished his gambling palace with tasteless gold decor spending an astounding $1.2 billion. The casino was nearly bankrupt before a single spin of the wheel took place. But Trump found a way to generate more revenue that was not legal. The IRS found that the casino had violated money laundering laws 106 times in the early 90s when the casino was a favored gambling hangout of the Russian mob. The casino paid the government $477,000 in 1998 without admiting liability for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Each felony charge could have earned up to half a million dollar fine and twenty years in jail. The settlement only covered the civil aspect of the record keeping violations, while DOJ reserved the right to pursue criminal charges. No charges were ever brought.Once again Trumpilini dodged a bullet. But in 2015 the casino again violated money laundering rules. This time the federal regulators imposed a $10 million fine and the consent decree required the Trump Organization to admit guilt. The decree also stated there was "an apparent laundering of funds" using slot machine tickets. Despite the influx of mobster money and his dad's loan of $3.5 million to the Castle casino, Trump, the unparalleled businessman in his own mind, lost $1.3 billion of other people's money in his casino operation when other Atlantic City establishments were raking in the cash. He walked away from the scene in 2009, scott free, while still generating revenue for himself by selling branded products like "Trump Water" to the bankrupt businesses. Now, his new revenue source is running for 'prezidint'. He has raised millions based on his "Big Lie" of election fraud, a fact now being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Continuing his fraudulent modus operandi,in 2013 Trumpilini was accused of defrauding students attending his short-lived "Trump University", presumably where they would learn the real estate "art of the deal", of $40 million. Trump only lent his name to a classic traveling bait and switch scheme. He did not develop the course material, pick the instructors, or teach classes. His actual participation extended to a cardboard standee. The fraud case, brought by the New York Attorney General, litigation continued throughout 2016, but was overshadowed in the media by Hilary Clinton's mishandling of classified information. It did not settle until 2018 when Trumpillini wrote another check for $25 million. He still made money.
Finally, and probably most morally reprehensible, is his fraudulent philanthropy. He pretended to distribute money to charities through his eponymous foundation. Not a single dime of foundation money came from Trumpilini himself, despite his high-profile appearances at charity events posing as a big-time donor. As reported by The Washington Post,which examined a list of 4,844 contributors to his foundation, not one was a gift from Trump. He used the charitable front to garner money from others which he distributed under his own name or used for his own personal expenses (including sports memorabilia and a portrait of himself). In 2019 he was forced to close his 'foundation' by New York State and pay a $2 million dollar fine for misuse of charitable funds. His 2020 tax returns show he did not give one dollar to charity in the absence of his 'foundation'.
Trumpillini's life of white collar crime is one in which he has dodged incarceration through influence and money. Recently, his umbrella Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud. His former CFO is serving time for that crime. Will his serious election law, obstruction, and espionage* crimes result in punishment of the demonic Orange Menace? Will the only President in history to attempt a coup against the United States be brought to the bar of justice? The answers to those historic questions remain unknown for now, but it would be a mistake to underestimate America's own Artful Dodger.
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| credit: M. Wuerker |
* Federal Investigators are asking witnesses about Trumpillini alleging showing a classified map to personse not authorized to see classified material. According to at least three witnesses, he showed a classified map abroad a plane, to a former advisor, and a journalist writing a book. Revealing classified material to persons not authorized to receive it is a violation of the Espionage Act.
Letitia James, the NY Attorney General has filed this week a massive civil fraud case against Trump, his adult children, and Trump Org for $250 million at a minimum in damages. She called the level of fraud "staggering". She also made criminal referrals to the IRS and the DOJ for the conduct she investigated.