I've casually remarked that Trump is 'leveraged into oblivion' or something to that effect many times, and we already knew he owed a significant amount of doubt, but he evidently owes far more than anyone knew.
This feels like something that should have happened four years ago, but the New York Times received Trump's tax returns from the last couple decades and up to 2017, the most recent year they obtained records from.
The most immediate headline discussed across social media is the fact that Trump paid just $750 in taxes in 2016, the year he ran for president, but the records also show that Trump owes a truly massive amount of debt in just the next two years to four years.
President Donald Trump personally holds $421 million in debt and loans that are largely coming due in the next four years, The New York Times reported Sunday after obtaining more than two decades of his long-sought tax returns. [...]
It’s unclear how Trump’s lenders could force him to pay up should he win reelection; it would be unprecedented for institutions to foreclose on a sitting U.S. president who is personally liable for more than $400 million in loans and debts. That gargantuan figure could likely be leveraged again in the president’s favor: As a tax benefit when declared as losses for years to come, the Times reported.
Looking further out, Trump's properties have accumulated over $1 billion in debt that will mature beginning in 2025 and beyond. But Trump obviously isn't capable of paying the $421 million he owes in the next few years, much less more than twice that amount over the next decade. Records show that the Trump Organization had only $34.7 million cash on hand in 2018.
If you've ever inferred or guessed that Trump has used the federal government like a personal piggy bank -- or that making money is the reason he ran for president in the first place -- Trump's financial records appear to have confirmed it. Increased revenue at his properties could be the only thing preventing a collapse.
The tax records detailed monthly credit card receipts that showed transactions ballooned at the Trump International Hotel in Washington and at Trump’s Doral golf resort, both of which have become favored destinations for foreign businesses and dignitaries.
Rental income at some of his properties in the United States has also risen dramatically since he won the presidency, and Trump’s revenue from properties he owns overseas totaled some $73 million in his first two years in the White House — including millions from the Philippines and Turkey.
I've said this before, but now we know it's absolutely true: Trump is running for reelection to stay out of the poor house.
He needs to be reelected because the moment he's out of office, the bills are going to come due and a majority of his revenue will vanish.
Aside from the significant amount of revenue flowing to Trump from foreign properties, we also know that a large amount of his debt is owed to the German Deutsche Bank which itself has been caught up in a massive money laundering scandal linked to Russian organized crime.
Trump is the most friendly to dictators and rogue regimes -- and has made American foreign policy subservient to them -- because that's who he owes money to; that's who is going to call in their debts after Trump is out office or potentially ask him for favors in the event he's reelected. Hundreds of millions in loans will be due during his potential second term in office.
You can read the New York Times' original report here which details many other potentially illegal things, like writing off massive checks to his own children as business expenses even though they're also his employees and draw a salary.