A New York appeals court on Monday reduced the $454 million that former President Donald Trump was required to put up while he appeals his civil fraud case. Now Trump must put up, by April 4, a mere $175 million. The trouble is, he may not get a bond for that amount, either. Should that happen, this act of judicial mercy will end up feeling to Trump like a curse.
The stay deprives Trump of the only argument on which he was gaining any traction at all—that the amount the court required him to put up was excessively high. Four hundred and fifty-four million was indeed an unusually large judgment against a private corporation or individual. (The distinction between Trump and the Trump Organization is paper-thin.) Monday’s appeals court decision doesn’t reduce that judgment, as New York State Attorney General Letitia James pointed out in a written statement. But it does dramatically reduce the amount Trump needs to turn over to the state while he pursues his appeal. It also gives us some hint that the appeals court may reduce Judge Arthur Engoron’s $454 million judgment to, well, $175 million.
Here’s how I’d see it if I was a billionaire.
You have a chance to throw a few million dollars of chump change to you to get in good with who might be the first fascist dictator of the United States. Then that man owes you a favour, or at least you are on his good side. Seems like a no brainer.
Trump often doesn’t abide by anything. Doesn’t pay contractors for example. Just takes, doesn’t give. Loads of lawyers did favours for Trump, loads of those lawyers cannot practice anymore. It doesn’t sound like a good idea to me to hope that Trump might return a favour.
You literally need to have no brain to think Donald will honor a debt or a favor.
If Trump himself has taught us anything its that just because someones wealthy doesn’t mean they’re intelligent, or even average.