Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Consistently wrong since 2002

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: Earned Schadenfreude

Late Night Open Thread: Earned Schadenfreude

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If anyone has earned a victory lap against busted luzer TFG… you go, girl!

Catherine Rampell, at the Washington Post — “Trump can’t find anyone to spot him $464 million. Would you?” [gift link]:

… In recent months, the former president has racked up a series of costly legal judgments for his many misdeeds. And when I say “costly,” I mean slightly pricier than the Trump-brand gold sneakers. In fact, after summing up the judgments across all of Trump’s cases so far, he already owes more than the entire gross domestic product of several island nations — put together.

In the most expensive case, Trump was found liable for lying about the value of his real estate assets so he could get better terms on loans and insurance. In that judgment, he owes $464 million, after interest. He’s appealing the case, which was brought by the New York attorney general. In the meantime, a judge has said Trump must put up cash or bond to prove he’s good for the money and isn’t appealing merely to delay payment for a while.

Despite boasting about his deep pockets — and even saying in a deposition last year that he had “substantially in excess of $400 million in cash” — Trump has struggled to come up with the dough. So, he tried to get out of it. First, his lawyers asked to instead post a $100 million bond. After all, Trump treats every bill he receives as merely an opening offer — even when it’s a court ruling…

Imagine you sold someone a glass engagement ring that you claimed was a real diamond. Then, when a judge found you liable for fraud, you tried to use the “diamond ring” as collateral for an appeal bond. That’s the level of chutzpah we’re working with here.…

Even if there were no problem whatsoever with Trump’s collateral, skittishness about lending to Trump is more than reasonable. Trump has an extensive history of not paying his bills, whether to cabinet-builders hired by his casinos or big banks financing his skyscrapers. In fact, he often brags about not paying his bills.

Again: He treats every bill, every signed contract, as merely an opening offer…


Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    rachel

    Man, I hope he hasn’t found a bailor and is deliberately hiding him so as to produce him at the last moment for maximum drama.

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    well, it takes time (especially so when all of your business are under scrutiny for fraud, at least in theory) to launder funds from Putin, China, Saudi Arabia and various Christian Theocratic Oligarchs….. whocoulddanood that Trump could ever be found guilty of anything, much less be directed to pay up?

  3. 3.

    RaflW

    Oh, that Mark Levin xitt is a treat. But, of course, there is one billionare who may front Trump the money. Only it’ll be in rubles

    And that’s the massive natsec risk.

  4. 4.

    lgerard

    The best part is that if this 400+ million is considered a fine or penalty enacted by the state, it is likely  not tax deductible.

  5. 5.

    RaflW

    Maybe not schadenfreude exactly, but Trump is at 77% in the AZ primary tonight. Haley dropped out March 6th, and is at just under 20% (who the other 4% are, who even cares!?)

    But yeah, Trump is inevitable! He’s got the lock on the nom, but for that 23% in his own party who’re still, like, naaaah.

  6. 6.

    TS

    The times must be in trouble.  Clicked on the link in the above text and they offered me a 12 months subscription for $AU26 – which is less than I pay for the WaPo (at the current exchange rate) –  both being less than  the monthly subscription to any newspaper in Australia.

    But  …. not prepared to give the NYT any of my funds

  7. 7.

    JWR

    ICYMI, this seems as good a post as any to sh*t talk about the World’s Biggest LOSER!. ( From NBC ):

    WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday told the Supreme Court he should be granted absolute immunity for his effort to overturn the 2020 election results that culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying a ruling against him would “incapacitate every future president.”

    Trump’s legal team filed a brief outlining its legal arguments ahead of oral arguments on April 25, saying Trump should enjoy absolute immunity for any official acts he undertook as president.

    “The president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

    If the court rejects his claim, it would “incapacitate every future president,” leaving presidents open to blackmail and extortion, they added.

    Makes sense to me. ;)

  8. 8.

    Tony Jay

      Crooked Joe Biden is always saying that President Putin is America’s enemy for fighting back against Ukraine. But when the opportunity is there to divert half a billion dollars from Russia’s war-effort into the US domestic market, it’s somehow ‘bad’ and ‘a crime’ to accept a short-term loan? President Trump’s legendary deal-making skills are much needed now, and he could make this happen Tommorow, but Crooked Joe Biden is so Terrified of the world seeing a popular President working the international diplomatic circuit that he’s told his Corrupt Minions to stop it at all costs. OUTRAGEOUS!

    Donate to the RNC  – Buy America Back!

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Not to be a wet blanket but gut feeling is another (this time final) extension to raise bond to be issued. For no more than an additional 30 days, maybe less.

  10. 10.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @Tony Jay: uhm, is this fantasy island, a dream, just wishful thinking? Please don’t tell me this is the actual verbiage from a money beg.

  11. 11.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @NotMax: ​
      dude, don’t go there. He bitched about the 91 mil. bond up until he posted it. This guy is all bs until the deadline.

  12. 12.

    eversor

    If Clinton gave a flying fuck about beating Trump and not her own ego she’d go away.  That will not only helps him.  And anybody who enables her is enabling Alito.

    you all are going to lose birth control insisting she’s not a disaster and each dead girl will be more her fault than Clarence Thomas.

    But since you won’t stop this than fine.  More dead women!

    THE REDACTED PORTION OF THIS OFFENSIVE COMMENT GOT THIS COMMENTER A 3-DAY TIMEOUT. (WG)

  15. 15.

    Jay

    @BeautifulPlumage:

    At work, I was known by a bunch of different nyms,

    “the guy who’s tribe you most wanted to join when the world ends,”

    “Mr. Reliable”,

    others,

    “the Funny guy”*

    *could go a bunch of ways.

    When you are out with your best friend, it really doesn’t matter who’s idea it was.

    It matters that you both get your alibi’s straight.

  16. 16.

    JWR

    Talk about clueless. I remember daddy-in-law saying something equally stupid about North Korea’s beautiful beachfront property. What a family.

    COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property,” suggesting that Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the area.

    “Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner said in an interview dated Feb. 15, posted earlier this month on the YouTube channel of the Middle East Initiative, a program of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and reported first on Tuesday by The Guardian. “If you think about all the money that’s gone into this tunnel network and into all the munitions, if that would have gone into education or innovation, what could have been done?”

    “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” Kushner added. “But I don’t think that Israel has stated that they don’t want the people to move back there afterwards.”

  17. 17.

    Jay

    @JWR:

    Yes, beach front property where there is no infrastructure, go inland, you die,  and if you take your yacht or jet ski 2.5nm off shore the IDF sinks you,

    Quite the “resort”.

  18. 18.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Tony Jay: It took me three read-throughs to realize this was satire. Not your fault; it’s either my pre-caffeinated morning brain running very slow, or Poe’s Law in effect meaning that outrageous reality will match or exceed outrageous satire.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    @BeautifulPlumage:

    What’s that term for something that seems impossibly ridiculous but then they say it and you’re totally not surprised, because they’re garbage people with garbage skills?

    I was aiming for that kind of verisimilitude.

  20. 20.

    eversor

    @Jay:

    She’s not helping.  Nor are her supporters.  She was right, as was Al Gore, Dukakis, and all the others.

    But being right isn’t the same as winning.  And Clintons fans keep digging the party into a bigger hole by trying to fix her disaster.

    I voted for her.  I would again.  But she should never have run.  Anyone with a functional brain knew she wouldn’t win.

    If the GOP is an existential threat, and most here agree it is, than winning needs to be the focus.  Not trying to vindicate the fee fees of some rich Karen who’s horrible at politics.  Yet I am utterly certain many here would lose another election in an instant pulling the same stupidity as they did in 2016 and nominate her despite the fact that she can’t win.

    Do I like it?  No.  And I’ll be happy for my nieces when they see a president Whitmer or some other woman who can win.  I don’t just want this to happen I am sure it will happen.

    None of this changes the issue that Clinton INC is not doing anybody any favors but the Clintons.  It’s not just Hillary it’s also Bill.   Comparatively the Democratic party has Carter and Gore who are relatively non controvercial and beloved.

    If you want to win then win.  All there is to it.  But you have to accept that at times you cannot win on your terms.  For all the shit people give me that I cannot wave a wand and make Christianity go away I have better odds of that than you do making Hillary Clinton a good choice.  If your terms of winning are that the Clintons are a good thing than you are going to lose and lose badly and you deserve to lose.

    Had we not had an attempted restoration of Clinton INC while people were screaming this was going to back fire we wouldn’t have had Trump.  Millions would still be alive, Roe would not have been repealed, and all sorts of other things would not have happened.  And everyone that supported that stupidity owns all of that.

    Sure it’s unfair and it sucks.  But that does not change that it is what it is.  And all these attempts to vindicate the Clintons after the fact are giving the Republicans ammunition.

  22. 22.

    Jinchi

    I’m kind of amazed that Jared’s $2 billion Saudi investment fund hasn’t decided that Trump is an excellent investment.

  26. 26.

    Tony Jay

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    It’s still early in the day and there is a Trump running the RNC’s racket now. Chances are something like it will dribble out after morning cocktail hour. 

  29. 29.

    JWR

    @Jay: And isn’t it something the way he casually mentions that “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there,“? Jeebus! Little Lord f*ckwad can go all the way to Hell, far as I’m concerned.

  31. 31.

    Tony Jay

    @eversor:

    Can you repeat everything after ‘Dukakis’?

    I missed a stroke and started fantasising about great big MASSIVE REPEATING WEAPONS

    And there it goes again. Heh. Mornings, eh? Evolutionary dynamite.

  33. 33.

    sab

    Everyone I was rooting for in our Democratic primary lost except for Biden, but still we have some very good Democrats to challenge the Republicans come November.

    I am still going to have a hard time voting for our state rep candidate who I think is a secret Republican or a man with no common sense. I wish we still had a patriotic sensible Republican party (like we had in my childhood) so that I could vote against this man in November.

    I like everyone else on our side, even the ones that beat out my favorites.

  34. 34.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    Official cocktail hour. It’s sandwiched between ‘post-meth comedown’ hour and ‘call the kids before they head off to school’ hour.

    It’s busy busy busy in Trump shakedown central.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    Dump should auction off to his trashass cult, dead, rotted horses’ asses that he’s sucked.

  36. 36.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    Is that the number for Mistress Eliza and Her Thirteen Belgian Milkmaids All a’Milking’?

    If so, yes please. I’ve got a gap in my schedule.

  37. 37.

    Rusty

    Trump whined he couldn’t get a bond on the Jean Carrol case and then came through on the last day.  I suspect the same will happen here.  He doesn’t like the terms that are being offered, not that he can’t get a deal at all.  If he really can’t then he has no right to complain, his fraud put him in this position.  I’m still betting he comes through,  he just doesnt want to leverage everything down to his last gold faucet.

  42. 42.

    JWR

    Speaking of bailing out Trump, Scott Horton was on with Ian Masters yesterday afternoon talking about just this thing. Listening now.

    Background Briefing with Ian Masters
    Who Will Come up With the Billion Trump Needs as he Faces the Prospect of His Assets Being Seized?

  45. 45.

    Gvg

    He has more cases and expenses pending. I don’t think he should have appealed the Jean Carrol case because he needs the money and time more for the other cases. He should have just paid, and shut up about it. It costs the same amount without the high interest for financing…he is never realistic though.

    I don’t think he has the money or assets after mortgages to pay, and that is the real problem. It’s going to get interesting when it turns out he has multiple loans on the same properties. Creditors are going to get angry, and sue him. Then it won’t just be the government after him.

    Also he CAN’T seem to shut up, even with big fines.

    Do civil fines preempt prior mortgage claims? What about later financing claims? There must be rules about multiple mortgages on the same property which I assume are based on timing, so all his creditors have to be watching every financial move right now, or someone else might collect on an asset the have an interest on. I think this may end up resembling a bank run frenzy.

  46. 46.

    Tony Jay

    @JWR:

    There are stupid people. And there are out of touch people. And there are even stupidly out of touch people.

    And then there’s Jared.

    There’s not even air in that head, just bad gas and stolen helium.

  48. 48.

    Quadrillipede

    I’m looking forward to seeing Tish James start seizing Glump’s assets, as she is legally entitled to do next week. I’m the orange man will handle that with his usual grace and good humour. Maybe he’ll pop an artery on live TV… 🍿

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    Once again, Speaker Mike Johnson’s prayers go unanswered. Johnson needs to pad his thin House majority, but California legislator Vince Fong failed to clear 50% in yesterday’s special election to fill Kraven McCarthy’s House seat. Despite endorsements from Johnson, McCarthy and Trump, Fong received only 40% of the vote in CA20, so he’ll face the runner-up in a May 21 runoff.

  50. 50.

    AxelFoley

    @eversor:

    If Clinton gave a flying fuck about beating Trump and not her own ego she’d go away.  That will not only helps him.  And anybody who enables her is enabling Alito.

    you all are going to lose birth control insisting she’s not a disaster and each dead girl will be more her fault than Clarence Thomas.

    But since you won’t stop this than fine.  More dead women!

    SamuelLJackson WhoTheFuck IsThisAsshole.gif

  54. 54.

    Tony G

    Mark Levin — one of the D-List Rush Limbaugh wannabes, supposedly has a net worth of about $50 million.  Why hasn’t he kicked in $49 million of that for his buddy Trump?

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @Geminid: Despite endorsements from Johnson, McCarthy and Trump, Fong received only 40% of the vote

    “Despite”, or “because of”?

  57. 57.

    gene108

    I’ll believe Trump can’t come up with a $464 million bond, when he doesn’t by the due date.

    He’s a crook. He’s also very good at playing the court system to stay out of trouble.

    I just wonder what foreign country or local billionaire will bail him out and what is he agreeing to do for them, if he wins?

  59. 59.

    Ken

    @Gvg: It’s going to get interesting when it turns out he has multiple loans on the same properties.

    Criminally so, I would think, if he didn’t disclose an existing mortgage to later lenders. I didn’t see any allegations of that at the (first?) financial fraud trial, though.

  60. 60.

    Betty

    Then we have Ruth Marcus in the Post arguing that Trump should be allowed to appeal the verdict.  I guess as a matter of right. Not prepared to read the article.

  62. 62.

    RedDirtGirl

    I’m so proud of myself! I started to read eversor’s contribution to this thread and then just noped right over it.
    Growth is possible!

  68. 68.

    Tony Jay

    @evodevo:

    It’s made for them. They can then argue that the Dems have ‘used backchannel methods to slip almost half a billion dollars into the pockets of Russia’s military leadership’ and the News Media will rate it as Partly/Essentially True.

  69. 69.

    Anonymous At Work

    Big question is: Does any of his liens, mortgages, debts, etc. have AUTOMATIC contagion clauses?  i.e., will this judgement being enforced start an automatic chain reaction, or is he skating thus far on his creditors’ discretion not to unwind the entire empire?

  74. 74.

    Paul in KY

    @Jay: You come down to the beach with your folded up beach umbrella and IDF assumes it’s a mortar and kills you! Oh what fun…

  75. 75.

    Paul in KY

    @eversor: Sec. Clinton ran a bad campaign (IMO) and got very very close, however, I’m not sure Bernie (the other choice) would have beat him. Rumour is that there’s a warehouse full of Bernie oppo they were ready to release, if he’d been the nominee.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @Rusty:

    ShitForBrains thinks the world revolves around the stick he has so dishonorably stuffed up that flabby ass. There is zero concept that the world actually wants anything to do with that flabby ass or it’s stick, other than to hope it starts it’s natural full time nap time soon. This is the person that always came out third in any 2 person race. Except that one time his flabby ass actually came out higher than 10th place in any event and that we’ve been paying for ever since. And likely will be paying to clean up after for decades to come.

    His, and our worst day, was his actually getting elected, for a job that he was, is and will always be, so very unqualified for, till the end of time itself. The worst part is that so very many will likely never learn one of the most obvious lessons, which is that while we look at all humans as equal, some work at being less equal than others, SFB being a prime example of someone who has worked insanely trying to be far more than and above equal, and who has failed positively and absolutely at reaching that goal, all the while, positively, absolutely proving who and what he is, to anyone who is actually breathing.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @Tony Jay:

    There’s not even air in that head, just bad gas and stolen helium.

    That happens when one sticks one’s head up an orifice located in a place that is likely not the easiest to stick one’s head up, where it is possibly not exactly a pleasant nor large enough opening to stick one’s head up, where navigating might become difficult to see, and it may put the back into a rather difficult bend, but that many seem to be somewhat successful at accomplishing.

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