Donald Trump owes money to even more people than we thought
If you watched “The Apprentice,” you no doubt remember the funky theme song that features the word “money” being sung repeatedly. The song, “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays, was actually released back in late 1973 just as the Department of Justice sued Donald Trump, his father, and their real estate company for committing rampant housing discrimination in their obsessive pursuit of money. The song’s title refers to the biblical verse cautioning that the love of money is the root of all evil, and its lyrics note that “people will lie, Lord, they will cheat… People don’t care who they hurt or beat.”
What a perfect song to introduce the show’s host, Donald Trump, who has since managed to become the most powerful cheapskate and swindler in the world. Trump’s resume of illegal or questionable tax and financial dealings spans several decades, as does his history of “forgetting” to pay bills and make good on charitable pledges. But new reporting this week reveals the shameful extent to which Trump has continued spraying his cheap cologne all over the office of the President of the United States.
Ten cities across the country are still waiting for Trump’s presidential campaign committee to pay invoices for police and other public safety expenses related to his political rallies that were held there, according to The Center for Public Integrity. The total due is at least $841,219. The most overdue bill is for $8,464.27, which Trump incurred when he gave a rally in Burlington, Vermont, on January 7, 2016. Most recently, on February 11, 2019, Trump rang up a whopping $470,417.05 in charges for a rally in El Paso, Texas, and his nonpayment prompted Mayor Dee Margo to call out Trump’s “character integrity issue.” In the meantime, Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke promptly paid his $21,021 bill to El Paso for a rally he held there on the same day.
Trump’s delinquency isn’t limited to his political rallies. The Trump administration and Congress still owe D.C. more than $7 million of the $27.3 million in expenses related to Trump’s 2017 inauguration, according to a report Thursday from The Washington Post. This shortfall has caused D.C. to tap into an emergency fund that may now be only months away from a multimillion-dollar deficit. Trump’s deadbeat behavior should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following Trump over the years. As Trump himself admitted in The Art of the Deal: “The point is that you can’t be too greedy.”
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month