In true Trump fashion, the scandal-plagued former President took a New York Daily News story about a subway worker who was brutally stabbed in the neck to paint himself as the only true conceivable victim in the state of New York because he had to pay $300 million in taxes.
The only problem here — aside from the fact that he clearly believes himself to be the only tragic victim… Ever — multiple New York Times reports seem to indicate that Donald’s supposed $300 million New York tax bill never actually happened.
Posting the subway worker article to his Truth Social platform, Trump whined in the caption, “But they go after TRUMP, who paid $300,000,000 plus in Taxes. Businesses are FLEEING New York because of the TRUMP PERSECUTION.”
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The subway worker who was brutally attacked is expected to survive his injuries — not that Donald Trump cares — but the former president’s victim bait-and-switch here still begs the question of where that supposed $300 million is. Because it certainly doesn’t seem to be in the pocket of the state of New York.
The New York Times dropped a bombshell, now infamous report in 2022 that finally exposed the scandal-plagued ex-president’s taxes, after Trump spent literal years refusing to turn over his tax returns, despite the presidential precedent. That report discovered that Trump had paid only $1.1 million in taxes during his first three years in the presidency. In 2017, he only paid a measly $750 in federal taxes and precisely $0 in 2020.
The Times report also pointed out that Trump seemed to have reneged on his famous promise to donate his $400,000 presidential salary.
“In his first three years in office, Mr. Trump said he donated his salary quarterly,” NYT noted. “But in 2020, his last full year in office, the documents show that Mr. Trump reported $0 in charitable giving.”
This $300 million figure only seems to appear in one place — but it certainly wasn’t a tax payment. Instead, a separate New York Times report on Trump’s finances, hailing from 2020, discovered $300 million in massive loans with looming due dates hanging over Donald’s head.
“His revenue from ‘The Apprentice’ and from licensing deals is drying up, and several years ago he sold nearly all the stocks that now might have helped him plug holes in his struggling properties,” the 2020 Times report revealed. “And within the next four years, more than $300 million in loans — obligations for which he is personally responsible — will come due.”
That $300 million figure popped up again — yet, once again, not in the form of a tax payment — in a 2022 report from Axios that covered Trump’s financial losses, in the aftermath of his released tax information.
“Over six years, Trump’s primary holding company, known as DJT Holdings LLC, accumulated in excess of $313 million in reported losses,” Axios reported at the time. “In a statement posted to Truth Social, the ex-president blasted the release of his returns as politically motivated.”
Of course, I suppose Donald could be conflating this $300M tax number with the brutal civil fraud case ruling delivered against him by Judge Arthur Engoron in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case. However, while James initially demanded and won a $370 million judgment, that number is only going up with each passing second, as Donald fails to pay the fine and continues to accrue a staggering amount of interest that now sees that number over $450 million and counting.
But whatever this $300 million it is that he speaks of — it’s pretty apparent that it was not, in any way, shape, form, or fashion, a tax payment.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
