XPost: rec.travel.air, alt.aviation.safety, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: privatemail@protonmail.com   
      
   >Trump Might Be Too Broke for a $175 Million Bond, Too   
   >   
   >Trump Might Be Too Broke for a $175 Million Bond, Too   
   >And that would be doubly embarrassing for him.   
   >Trump at a press conference in New York City   
   >Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images   
   >Trump at a press conference in New York City on Monday   
   >   
   >A New York appeals court on Monday reduced the $454 million that former   
   >President Donald Trump was required to put up while he appeals his civil   
   >fraud case. Now Trump must put up, by April 4, a mere $175 million. The   
   >trouble is, he may not get a bond for that amount, either. Should that   
   >happen, this act of judicial mercy will end up feeling to Trump like a   
   >curse.   
   >   
   >The stay deprives Trump of the only argument on which he was gaining any   
   >traction at all—that the amount the court required him to put up was   
   >excessively high. Four hundred and fifty-four million was indeed an   
   >unusually large judgment against a private corporation or individual. (The   
   >distinction between Trump and the Trump Organization is paper-thin.)   
   >Monday’s appeals court decision doesn’t reduce that judgment, as New York   
   >State Attorney General Letitia James pointed out in a written statement.   
   >But it does dramatically reduce the amount Trump needs to turn over to the   
   >state while he pursues his appeal. It also gives us some hint that the   
   >appeals court may reduce Judge Arthur Engoron’s $454 million judgment to,   
   >well, $175 million.   
   >   
   >Before the stay, Trump was quite literally comparing his financial   
   >situation to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In a posting early Monday   
   >morning on Truth Social, he quoted this message from a supporter: “It’s   
   >ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week   
   >they are stealing your property from you.” My own (less blasphemous) view   
   >was that, yes, Trump was being singled out for harsh punishment by Judge   
   >Engoron, but that this was appropriate because Trump insists on making   
   >himself an exception to every rule. When finally matters escalate and   
   Trump   
   >is called to account, he always whines that he’s being treated worse than   
   >others. It’s no more unusual to fine Trump $454 million than it is to send   
   >the FBI to collect documents that Trump refused to turn over to the   
   >National Archives. Such actions don’t occur in a vacuum. Trump makes them   
   >happen.   
   >   
   >In a press conference after the stay, Trump continued to attack Engoron   
   and   
   >James, but he had kind words for the appeals panel. “We were gratified by   
   >the professionalism of the opinion today,” Trump said. He also seemed to   
   >suggest that he might put up the $175 million in cash. “I have a lot of   
   >cash,” he said, and “I don’t need to borrow money.” But Trump hedged his   
   >bets in a post on Truth Social, saying, “We will abide by the decision of   
   >the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or   
   >cash.”   
   >   
   >I’ll be very surprised if Trump puts up his own cash, not least because   
   the   
   >amount may represent as much as half of his liquid holdings. More likely   
   >he’ll go back to his bond brokers. I asked Mark Levinson, a bond broker   
   >with Brunswick Companies (and my new best friend) about the revised $175   
   >million target. “That’s still a very large number,” Levinson said, for a   
   >private appeal bond (as opposed to an appeal bond for a publicly traded   
   >company). But it’s “probably manageable” for Trump, Levinson said. “I’d be   
   >surprised if he didn’t get it.”   
   >   
   >But Levinson presumes a degree of rationality in Trump that may not exist.   
   >Trump may or may not have $175 million in securities above and beyond the   
   >$91 million in a Schwab brokerage account that he reportedly used to   
   >collateralize a bond backed by Chubb in the E. Jean Carroll case. We know   
   >Trump has a lot of equity in Truth Social, which he just took public, but   
   >he’s barred for six months from using that as collateral. And even if   
   Trump   
   >possesses additional liquid investments, he’ll be reluctant to put them up   
   >as collateral for the same reason that surety firms prefer collateral in   
   >the form of cash and securities to collateral in the form of real estate:   
   >It’s much easier to grab in the event that Trump loses his appeal. Which,   
   >let’s face it, is likelier than not.   
   >   
   >What surety firm would step forward to cover a $175 million bond for   
   Trump?   
   >Levinson told me he thinks it will be Chubb. We know (from Trump’s legal   
   >team) that Chubb tried very hard to put together a deal on the $454   
   >million, finally giving up because the deal depended on using real estate   
   >as collateral. But we also know that Chubb caught a lot of flak for   
   >underwriting Trump’s $91 million Carroll bond, and that Chubb’s chief   
   >executive, Evan Greenberg, ended up writing a letter to investors and   
   >employees explaining why it would lend that much money to a man so very   
   >famous for stiffing his creditors. Greenberg’s rationale was not very   
   >clear, raising suspicions that he expects some unsavory return from a   
   >future President Trump. Does Greenberg want to invite even more inquiries   
   >into Chubb’s possible motives?   
   >   
   >At the press conference, Trump seemed not to have given up on the idea   
   that   
   >his real estate holdings could be used as collateral on the $175 million.   
   >“Most buildings, I have no debt,” Trump said. “Most clubs, I have no   
   debt.”   
   >As with many things that Trump says, any relationship these assertions   
   bear   
   >to the truth would be mere coincidence. Trump also went on about the value   
   >of his “brand,” even going so far as to assert that “I became president   
   >because of the brand.” Was Trump trying to suggest that the Oval Office   
   >might be leveraged to compensate whatever fool lends him $175 million?   
   >Possibly so. In the meantime, New York’s appeals court sets Trump up for   
   >possible humiliation three days after Easter. Robbed of his crown of   
   >thorns, Trump still may not come up with the cash. If that happens, he   
   >won’t be the Messiah. Just a deadbeat.   
   >   
      
   Word   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)