Speaker 1: So in all likelihood, Donald Trump is not nearly as rich as he claims to be.
We know that Donald Trump inflates the value of his real estate when it's for the purposes
of claiming a higher net worth or when it's for the purposes of securing a loan, but minimizes
the value of his real estate when it's an effort to avoid taxation.
But this story is just kind of weird because presumably Donald Trump is a billionaire.
The question is, to what degree is he a billionaire?
And yet in the last few months, Donald Trump has taken sixty five thousand dollars in optional
federal pension payments for former presidents since he left office in January.
And you might recall that during his presidency, Trump made a very big deal out of donating
his presidential salary back to different federal agencies, maybe some charities, maybe
it was just agencies.
And he doesn't need the money and all of that different stuff.
And yet billionaire Donald Trump is now taking sixty five thousand dollars from the presidential
pension fund.
Now, you might remember the congressional, but not the congressional.
The Constitution requires that presidents take a salary while in office.
They can donate it back fine.
But there's nothing constitutionally that says an ex-president must take their pension.
Now, this is, of course, completely within Trump's rights to do.
But I find it strange to some degree, because if you look at a more realistic estimate of
Donald Trump's net worth, it's two point three billion dollars relative to two point three
billion dollars.
Sixty five thousand dollars is point zero zero to eight percent of his net worth.
So to think about it in in terms that might be more applicable to the average person,
this is equivalent to someone with the median American net worth, which is one hundred and
twenty one thousand dollars going through a process to request three dollars and 40
cents.
Think about that for a second.
If you retire from a job or you get laid off or whatever, and someone comes to you and
they say, sir, if you want, you can request a pension.
You go through this process and we'll give you three dollars and 40 cents.
Would most people go through that trouble if their net worth is one hundred and twenty
one thousand dollars?
That's what Donald Trump is doing here.
So what's going on?
I mean, it reminds me of people who go to the bank to cash a check for 12 cents.
The upside is by taking this, he seems to recognize he's no longer the president because
this is a federal pension for ex presidents.
So maybe that's sort of like an upside here.
And being a former president comes with many perks.
There's lifetime Secret Service protection.
There's travel reimbursements, there's medical insurance, there's a budget for an office
and staff and the presidential library.
Maybe they have to fundraise for the presidential library.
Now, I don't that I don't remember.
But the point is, in terms of the pension, it's not mandatory.
So is Trump just so greedy and so cheap that he won't turn anything down and he'll go through
the process of getting something that is the equivalent at his net worth of three dollars
and 40 cents for a person of average or median net worth?
Maybe he needs the money because a lot of that net worth is completely illiquid.
Is he desperate?
I don't know.
We've talked about those controversial loans that we knew would start to come due during
what would have been his second term.
And thankfully is not because he lost.
Maybe that's related, but I find that there's something sort of strange about it.
And maybe it's as simple.
I mean, let me know what you think.
Maybe it really is as simple as Donald Trump just can't turn any money down because of
his personality and because of who he is.
Maybe there's some other explanation.
I don't know.
But billionaire multibillionaire Donald Trump going through the process of requesting, filing
for and obtaining what is for his level of net worth, equivalent to three dollars worth
of a federal presidential pension for ex presidents.
Am I the only one finding something weird about that?
Let me know.
T