ELI5 If Trump is a supposed billionaire why does he keep promoting cheap crap to get money? - eviltoast
  • SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    177
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    A lot of his value is tied up in assets that aren’t liquid (real estate). Also he is probably not worth as much as he says.

    But the main reason is that these “cheap crap” things you mention are probably vehicles for money laundering from foreign actors. The best example are the NFTs he was hawking for awhile. Costs next to nothing to make and foreign states can buy a ton of them to give him money without it being easy to detect. Even if it is detected it is still legal to buy silly NFTs, right? Certainly more so than a foreign government giving a candidate bags of cash for nothing.

    • mkwt@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      35
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      3 months ago

      Foreign nationals, let alone foreign governments, are not allowed to give money to political campaigns in the United States. Actually illegal. Bill Clinton got in trouble for it

      If you can prove that an NFT scheme was foreign campaign money laundering in court, people can go to jail.

      • SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        117
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        For sure. But of course dude tried a coup on live tv and we are having trouble getting the justice system to hold him to account. So getting proof of the NFT scheme that I outlined as a hypothetical is probably going to be harder.

        • PunnyName@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          29
          ·
          3 months ago

          Partially because the coup is coming from inside the house. Representatives, senators, and SCOTUS seats already planted.

      • The Giant Korean@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        3 months ago

        How does one go about proving that money laundering occurred? Genuinely curious because I know it’s illegal. I guess you’d need to catch someone admitting that they did it?

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        3 months ago

        It’s not campaign money. It’s the “honest fruits of labor” that he “earned” by selling products. Even though every normal person can see that he’s a fucking grifter, maga morons can’t. So, now he has plausible deniability for any money “earned” in this “honest day’s work”.

      • sudo42@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Foreign nationals, let alone foreign governments, are not allowed to give money to political campaigns in the United States. Actually illegal. Bill Clinton got in trouble for it

        Don’t forget the Trump Hotel during his presidency that took huge “bookings” from foreign nationals during his presidency. The “Law and Order” party naturally jumped all over this as a violation of the Constitution…, oh wait.

      • SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        I believe that it is illegal, yes (I’m not a lawyer). But that is the point. They can “buy” a bunch of cheap useless stuff from him instead of giving him money. That’s the essence of money laundering. Do something that superficially looks legitimate so that you can move a bunch of money that would otherwise be illegal.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        3 months ago

        I believe that’s the fallout from the Citizens United ruling. There are also “Dark money” PACs that are called as such because they can keep the contributions anonymous, but these PACs are allowed to donate unlimited funds to the campaign as long as there’s no “coordination” between the PAC and the candidate…

        Our government is for sale.

    • Ænima@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      That’s all his publicly-traded company was: a way to donate to tRump without visibly donating to tRump. No doubt the new crypto shit is the next grift now that the stock value has tanked.