The announcement that Trump Corp and Trump Payroll Corp have been found guilty of tax fraud, involving how they paid CFO Allen Weisselberg and others in order to avoid tax liabilities, and that they’ve been found guilty on all seventeen charges, has a whole lot of schadenfreude going on in lefty and NeverTrumper land.
Along with that ungraceful behavior, a few points come up.
That there were no Not Guilty findings may indicate that Trump and his minions were not particularly good at being tax frauds. In fact, it may be that, much like many of those who worked on his campaign and in his Administration, his business associates were also sub-standard, that he, like many bullies, only hired sub-average folks to do what he needed done; this low-quality approach kept initial costs down, and meant that it was very unlikely he’d be outshown by a minion. His pathological narcissism wouldn’t permit that. But the cheapskate, egotist approach is a recipe for disaster. Like this one.- Now that he’s been proven vulnerable – yes, yes, I’m sure he’ll appeal, as the corporate attorneys affirm in the article, and in a particularly snarly outraged manner, but the damage is done – a particular segment of his base, weak of faith or maybe stronger of intellect than the average member, will drop away. They’ll look at their own tax returns, devoid of that big old stamp that says TAX FRAUD, and realize that he’s not a buddy of their’s. He’s an alleged billionaire who still avoids paying taxes. How big a segment will peel away? Hard to say.
- His grifting return will take a hit, at least from the little guys. Whether or not this will impact his millionaire+ donor class is another question, because many of them are resentful of having to pay taxes. It’s an attitude cultivated by their mentors and heroes when the soon-to-be donors are young, and whether they inherit, steal, or earn their riches, they just can’t imagine those government types doing anything worthwhile with their money.
- The evidence from this trial, if not already in use – I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know if that’s permitted or not – can now be released for use by all the other legal scandals swirling about the former President. This may prove fruitful.
- The umbrella organization, The Trump Organization, has now suffered the soft impairment of being a corporate entity criminal, meaning business loans are harder to gain, and other corporations may decline to work with the company without tough guarantees, such as full upfront payments. I suspect it’s been running on empty for years; this may put a knife in it as Trump drains it of cash, whether out of sheer greed, or because of prosperity church philosophy.
And, finally, there may be a debate going on in Trump’s head right now. If he’s brought up on criminal charges, such as in Georgia for his illegal attempt to influence Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, will he attempt to leave the United States for a country lacking extradition? Or will the drama inherent in being a defendant be too much for him? And then would he testify in his own behalf?
Exeunt Trump, stage left, pursued by prosecutors.
Stay tuned for more drama. This is just the beginning.
