Just a brief bit of history that's very current and most people know. But it bears repeating for reasons that will be clear. We know for instance that Trump was found guilty of business fraud for grossly overstating the value of his properties for a decade and fined $455 million. And as recent as that, we also know even more recently that Trump posted a bond for $175 million to appeal the finding, but that bond appears to be fraudulent and has been rejected by a New York court. We know all this. It's really recent. Trump not only has a history of vastly overstating the money he has, but he had been convicted in court (pending appeal...) for it. So recent that it's near-impossible to not know about it, if you follow the news even tangentially. And all the more so if you actually report the news. That's why it's -- sorry, I don't know if the proper word is "shocking" or "irresponsible", so instead let's go with -- shockingly irresponsible that most of the news media has been reporting Trump saying that he raised $50 million at his recent Mar-a-Lago fundraiser over the weekend. And almost no mention that this number has not be verified, and almost no mention that only Trump has announced the figure, and almost no mention that Trump has been convicted for hugely overstating his finances often in the past. I say "almost no mention" to be fair. I haven't seen it mentioned on TV news, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been mentioned somewhere I didn't see. I did see a couple of mentions of it by journalists on Twitter. But for the vast most part, I've seen no mention of any of that, just pure acceptance of what Trump said about his money. For instance, MSNBC even did a segment yesterday morning on Ana Cabrera's show where the full panel blithely accepted what Trump said on how much was supposedly raised. Not a single word even questioned whether Trump's figure might be inflated. Or that he had just been convicted of overinflating the value of his properties. Speaking only personally, when I heard Trump (and Trump alone from the event) say that $50 million had been raised, I was immediately skeptical. Though that's putting it politely. My first thought was Trump is lying. My second thought was Trump is lying. And my third thought was also that Trump is lying. My whole list of thoughts was Trump is lying. If some other list exists in the world and has facts that even conceivably say that's the number, Trump doesn't know it. Because he's just making up numbers without asking anyone and is lying. Because that's what he does. And has been convicted for it. In fact, let's even add a bit of more distant history to drive home the point about Trump and lying about his finances, but this time with a case that is specifically about him fundraising. Back in January 2016, you may recall that Trump skipped a Republican debate and said that instead he would hold a competing event (to draw away attention) and make it a fundraiser for veterans. And afterwards, he claimed that he had raised $6 million!! The problem is after relentless questioning, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski finally admitted in late-May to the Washington Post that, no, Trump had not raised $6 million. And added that he did not “know the exact number." (Keep in mind, that this was four month after the fundraiser, and Lewandowski supposedly still said he didn't know how much money had been raised. Further, after this same four months of questioning by reporters about if any of the money had been actually donated to veterans groups (all of which said, when questioned, that they hadn't received anything), only then -- four months later, under pressure -- did Trump at last donate $1.9 million. Out of of the $6 million he claimed to have raised. To be fair, some reporters have pointed out that the money Trump raised will likely go to pay his legal defense fund, rather than to support his election campaign which is where the $25 million President Biden just raised at his fundraiser will go. And some reporters have mentioned that any billionaire who donated the upper limits at the Trump event would have given the most they could during the election and would be maxed out, meaning Trump will not be getting any more directly from them. That's unlike the Biden fundraiser where the upper limit was far less, and there were also many tickets sold for $200 and $300 -- meaning more money can come from that all. But though it's good that they reported that, it's a totally separate matter from journalists and expert analysts blithely accepting Trump's word on anything out of his mouth about his finances. But most especially this. I would say that I hope journalists do better when it comes to reporting anything says about his finances -- but that's too low a bar, because this was a layup, and they missed it...and can't do any worse.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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