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marmar

(76,982 posts)
Mon Apr 5, 2021, 10:31 AM Apr 2021

The entire Trump campaign was a scam -- and it is not over


The entire Trump campaign was a scam — and it is not over
The New York Times reports that Trump's issued $122 million in donation refunds. How could so many be duped again?

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
APRIL 5, 2021 1:42PM


(Salon) During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump happened to be in the middle of a major federal class-action lawsuit spanning several states over an allegedly fraudulent operation called Trump University. You may recall that one of his first racist scandals during the 2015 primary campaign came about after he claimed the judge in that federal fraud case was biased against Trump because of his Hispanic heritage. The Trump University suit was a big story during that campaign but, as always, there was so much chaos surrounding Trump that I'm not sure people really understood what it was all about. It should have been the biggest story because it was unfolding during the campaign and illustrated everything the people needed to know about Donald Trump. It showed, in living color, that Trump was a real, bonafide con artist, in the literal sense of the word.

The grift was pretty simple. It started off as an online operation that quickly morphed into one of those bait and switch operations where they entice you to come to listen to a free lecture from some "expert" to teach you the tricks of the trade (or tell you the secret of life) which turns out to be nothing more than a sales pitch to buy more expert lessons in the same subject — which also turn out to be sales pitches. It's what a lot of multi-level marketing schemes and frankly, cults, do to bilk people out of their savings. A 2017 report from the Center for American Progress explains further:

Near the end, Trump University focused almost exclusively on the seminars, both running them and licensing the brand name out to an organization called Business Strategies Group. These seminars often began with a free session to get people in the door. Once individuals arrived, salespeople often tried to upsell them the "Trump Elite Packages," ranging from the Bronze Elite Package for $9,995 up to the Gold Elite Package for $34,995.


Trump, of course, had a TV show in which he pretended to be a genius businessman and that was enough to get a lot of naive fans to sign on, apparently believing the lies in the brochures, which said that Trump had personally chosen the instructors and the so-called courses were credentialed by major universities like Stanford and Northwestern. The court case showed that none of that was true. And according to the Washington Post, Trump was personally involved in all the advertising that made those claims.

....(snip)....

How in the world could an advanced democracy ever elect someone who was so blatantly a con man? It wasn't as if it was far in the past or there was some serious dispute as to whether or not it was really a scam. It was obvious to anyone who looked at the case that there was no "university" and Donald Trump was running a grift. It wasn't the first or the only one but it was being litigated right in the middle of the campaign. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/05/the-entire-trump-campaign-was-a-scam---and-it-is-not-over/




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The entire Trump campaign was a scam -- and it is not over (Original Post) marmar Apr 2021 OP
Er, because the media decided that Hillary's emails were more devastating politically Sibelius Fan Apr 2021 #1
The Shart of the Deal Blue Owl Apr 2021 #2
Kick dalton99a Apr 2021 #3
There were various reasons I did not vote for Trump in 2016 and Prof. Toru Tanaka Apr 2021 #4
We Murkans love con artists Lord Ludd Apr 2021 #5

Sibelius Fan

(24,376 posts)
1. Er, because the media decided that Hillary's emails were more devastating politically
Mon Apr 5, 2021, 10:45 AM
Apr 2021

than anything that had ever been devastating to a politician.

dalton99a

(81,065 posts)
3. Kick
Mon Apr 5, 2021, 12:05 PM
Apr 2021
The sheer number of refunds to Trump donors amounted to a huge no-interest (and profitable for WinRed) loan to the campaign — a loan which required that the people loaning the money go to a great deal of trouble get money back which they didn't consciously agree to "loan" in the first place. Trump's post-election "Stop the Steal" fundraising at least partially went to pay off those "loans" from the campaign making the whole scheme very "Ponzi-esque."

It wasn't just the Trump campaign that did this. GOP candidates who used WinRed all used the same tactics including the Republicans in two Senate runoff campaigns in Georgia. There were many many requests for refunds of donations to both Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the Times reported.

For his part, Trump is still doing it. He's been telling his supporters not to send money to the RNC and to send it to his Save America PAC where he can do pretty much anything he wants with the money. The PAC uses WinRed. Anyone who decides they want to throw money into that black hole should read the fine print very carefully. They could be signing up to give the billionaire Donald Trump a weekly donation for life.

Prof. Toru Tanaka

(1,921 posts)
4. There were various reasons I did not vote for Trump in 2016 and
Mon Apr 5, 2021, 04:54 PM
Apr 2021

the Trump University scam was reason #1. His crookedness was there for all to see.

Just so no one interprets this wrong, I certainly did not vote for him in this past election, either.

Lord Ludd

(585 posts)
5. We Murkans love con artists
Mon Apr 5, 2021, 09:19 PM
Apr 2021

As long as we're not the ones being conned. We're too willing to forgive them for their crimes, provided they display a raffish charm in public. (Of course, no one here would consider Trump a man of raffish charm, but many, many others did.)

That's why Harold Hill & The Music Man are all-time favorites.

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