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Is Trump really a billionaire?

Is Trump really a billionaire

  • Probably Not

    Votes: 10 90.9%
  • Yes, the Donald has been truthful about his net worth

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Total voters
    11
The man loves to brag about himself. If he really was a billionaire, he would've shown his tax returns the second after someone accused him of lying about it.
 
I have to assume that he probably isn't. But I have no evidence to prove that he isn't. It just seems odd to me that if he were really worth 5 billion or whatever that he'd put his name on second rate discount products like Trump Wine, steaks, bedding, ties, suits etc.

I mean, if I'm worth a few billion why would I sell cheap chinese made ties to try to get another million bucks. But if I'm worth 200 million and only a few million of that number is actually liquid and the rest is tied up in real estate, well if I can make a million, maybe a few million by stamping my name on some cheap ties, I might take them up on that.
 
The man loves to brag about himself. If he really was a billionaire, he would've shown his tax returns the second after someone accused him of lying about it.

True. I can't imagine he would hold off on showing how much money he has when for the first month of his campaign was parade of "I'm worth alot of money!"
 
The man loves to brag about himself. If he really was a billionaire, he would've shown his tax returns the second after someone accused him of lying about it.

I don't know what his net assets are worth, but I feel confident when I say that his liquidity is probably zero. He sold himself on the basis that he's a billionaire and a master businessman, yet

a)Absolutely will not show his Federal income tax returns, and
b)Specifically confessed that how much he's worth is dependent on how he feels that day.

As he's a conman and a serial liar, I think people will be completely shocked at just how little he's worth. His supporters will still defend him, saying "He pulled the wool over the eyes of the establishment." The irony will be lost on them.
 
I have to assume that he probably isn't. But I have no evidence to prove that he isn't.

If I tell you that I own a classic car collection yet steadfastly refuse to show you a single car from that collection, you would be well within your rights to determine that my claim was false.

It just seems odd to me that if he were really worth 5 billion or whatever that he'd put his name on second rate discount products like Trump Wine, steaks, bedding, ties, suits etc.

I mean, if I'm worth a few billion why would I sell cheap chinese made ties to try to get another million bucks. But if I'm worth 200 million and only a few million of that number is actually liquid and the rest is tied up in real estate, well if I can make a million, maybe a few million by stamping my name on some cheap ties, I might take them up on that.
 
I don't know what his net assets are worth, but I feel confident when I say that his liquidity is probably zero. He sold himself on the basis that he's a billionaire and a master businessman, yet

a)Absolutely will not show his Federal income tax returns, and
b)Specifically confessed that how much he's worth is dependent on how he feels that day.

As he's a conman and a serial liar, I think people will be completely shocked at just how little he's worth. His supporters will still defend him, saying "He pulled the wool over the eyes of the establishment." The irony will be lost on them.

I'm sure he's worth a few hundred million at the bare minimum. He might be worth a billion.

He did after all donate a cool 50 million to his own campaign. If he were broke that simply wouldn't be possible.
 
The man loves to brag about himself. If he really was a billionaire, he would've shown his tax returns the second after someone accused him of lying about it.

Umm...tax returns don't show you someones net worth.
 
I'm sure he's worth a few hundred million at the bare minimum. He might be worth a billion.

He did after all donate a cool 50 million to his own campaign. If he were broke that simply wouldn't be possible.

That doesn't tell me that he has any money after that. More importantly, we will never know, because he is doing everything in his power to keep people completely baffled regarding the veracity of his one selling point. He's a serial liar so this shouldn't be considered out of character, but it's particularly horrifying that we may be about to elect for president a person who's unqualified on every level imaginable, and the one area argued to be valid isn't even real.
 
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That doesn't tell me that he has any money after that. More importantly, we will never know, because he is doing everything in his power to keep people completely baffled regarding the veracity of his one selling point. He's a serial liar so this shouldn't be considered out of character, but it's particularly horrifying that we may be about to elect for president a person who's unqualified on every level imaginable, and the one area argued to be valid wasn't even real.

I agree with you completely. I'm just saying that if someone is worth considerably less than a billion dollars, it's probably not very easy to come up with 50 million bucks out of pocket. If I went somewhere with you and you told me you were a billionaire, I wouldn't believe you. But then you bring me with you to an island that you're planning on buying and you pay 50 million for it like it's nothing, then I'm probably not going to question you anymore. If you aren't worth a billion, your at least worth a considerable amount.

What we know about Trump is that if he's worth 5 billion, he'll probably tell us he's worth 20 billion. And if he's worth a billion, he'll say he's worth 10 billion. He's going to exaggerate beyond belief, that we pretty much know for a fact.
 
I agree with you completely. I'm just saying that if someone is worth considerably less than a billion dollars, it's probably not very easy to come up with 50 million bucks out of pocket. If I went somewhere with you and you told me you were a billionaire, I wouldn't believe you. But then you bring me with you to an island that you're planning on buying and you pay 50 million for it like it's nothing, then I'm probably not going to question you anymore. If you aren't worth a billion, your at least worth a considerable amount.

What we know about Trump is that if he's worth 5 billion, he'll probably tell us he's worth 20 billion. And if he's worth a billion, he'll say he's worth 10 billion. He's going to exaggerate beyond belief, that we pretty much know for a fact.

Shrug. If I want you to believe that I'm worth a lot more than I am, I have a super nice pair of shoes and a genuinely expensive watch that can lend to the illusion. None of that is really the point, though. The point is that he is specifically keeping everyone confused regarding the veracity of his one selling point. That should be horrifying to everybody.
 
Trump Change: Is Donald Trump Broke?—The Alpha Pages

Trump’s illiquid assets and unknown liabilities may or may not offset each other – and he isn’t telling.

What does that leave?

Not much. A relatively small amount of money in a couple of hedge funds, and brokerage portfolios of garden-variety stocks, a couple hundred thousand in gold, and other ho-hum assets consisting almost entirely of his ‘marks.’ He could be worth hundreds of millions, theoretically, but if leveraged, his worth could be negative. Who knows?

This ambiguity plays into Trump’s hands: he loves a playing field where there is no difference between reality and fantasy, where the majestic paneled board room is really a stage set, where he is Making America Great by manufacturing clothes in Bangladesh, where he insults Mexicans and then sues a Spanish television network for not showing the Miss USA pageant, a paean to female innocence brought to us by a womanizer on his third marriage. This is Trump-territory: a nowhere land in which he threatens to sue anyone who disparages the size of an empire that he refuses to disclose.

You will never figure out Trump’s worth by looking at numbers. He’s far too slick for that, he can hide the ball forever.
 
Shrug. If I want you to believe that I'm worth a lot more than I am, I have a super nice pair of shoes and a genuinely expensive watch that can lend to the illusion. None of that is really the point, though. The point is that he is specifically keeping everyone confused regarding the veracity of his one selling point. That should be horrifying to everybody.

A nice pair of shoes is not the same as cutting a check for 50 million bucks.

Like I said, I agree that he should release his info and that he's probably lying. But also, he's probably not broke or worth almost 0. With how much stuff he has his tiny little fingers on, he's got to be worth some money, whether it's a hundred million or a few hundred million.
 
I have long suspected that it his over evaluation of his financial status that is the real reason for his stance refusing to reveal his tax returns.

I remember several months ago there was an article about a celebrity Trump roast on TV and one of the roasters said they were told they could say anything they wanted to in roasting Trump except one thing: they could NOT joke about him NOT having the vast amounts he claimed to have. That was the one area they were not to approach.

Makes you wonder why.
 
A nice pair of shoes is not the same as cutting a check for 50 million bucks.

Golly gee, thanks for pointing that out. I thought $900=$50,000,000.

Like I said, I agree that he should release his info and that he's probably lying. But also, he's probably not broke or worth almost 0. With how much stuff he has his tiny little fingers on, he's got to be worth some money, whether it's a hundred million or a few hundred million.

Nitpicking over the specifics is ridiculous and a waste of time. He's trying too hard to present himself as super rich, still relies on donors in spite of his previous claims that he would refuse donations so that he wouldn't be beholden to special interests, and won't release his income taxes. You will never see which shell the pea is under, because as the game is played, the pea isn't under any of them.
 

We kind of have to define, how we determine if Trump is a billionaire. Are we talking liquid assets and if so HOW liquid. Are we talking total assets, if so which assets count and which don't. Which debts do we count against that wealth? Mr. Trump is probably a billionaire like he says depending on how we determine his wealth. People in that strata of wealth tend to have very complicated and convoluted structures to reduce their tax burdens by significant amounts, and to obfuscate their income sources to regulators and competitors.
 
YES he is a billionaire:

What's Trump really worth? $4.5 Billion
Forbes Welcome

At least back in 2015 when Forbes posted that information.

People often assume that the rich have all their assets in cash when they mention their net worth.

The truth in most cases actually involves a combination assets: of stocks, bonds, various real estate properties both developed and undeveloped, mineral rights, jewels and other personal property, plus cash accounts.

How much does Trump have in liquid assets? That's a different question.

I can't vote "Yes" though because the OP qualified the option by adding: "He has been truthful about his net worth."

Why can people just create options without editorializing???
 
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Oh, I think he's a billionaire and I think he's lying about being worth $10 billion. I can't recall anything he's said that I thought was the truth.

Two men. One a billionaire and one who isn't. The billionaire doesn't have enough money and is still screwing people to get more. The man who isn't a billionaire has enough. Who's the richer of the two?
 
per forbes:
He’s a roguish charmer. He’s a pugnacious bully. He tells it like it is. He fibs when necessary. And for 33 years, he’s been building and boasting his way higher on The Forbes 400. If you want a unique window into what makes the most paradoxical presidential candidate in a generation tick, you just need to answer a simple question:
What’s Donald Trump Really Worth?
TRUMP SAYS
$10 billion
FORBES SAYS
$4.5 billion
As of September 2015
Forbes Welcome

... Vornado and Boston Properties trade at over 30 times what their earnings, but they’re among America’s largest owners of top class office buildings. Trump does own some similar buildings. And given where interest rates are these days, boosting the value of real estate holdings, the high price-to-earnings multiple may be justified. But Trump is also big in golf courses, where the margins, and multiples, should be lower. So we’ll give the Donald a generous P/E of 25 on his after-tax income. That puts the value of his enterprises as $3.75 billion.

The PDF also discloses Trump’s investments. The range is typically broad: somewhere between $60 million and $171 million. Surprisingly, he’s a risk-averse investor who parks two-thirds of his portfolio in cash and bonds and the balance in individual big cap stocks—like Apple, JP Morgan Chase, and Visa—and mutual funds. We’ll add the top figure of $171 million to his net worth, for a grand total of nearly $3.92 billion, which is about $200 million more than I figured Trump was worth based on his last disclosure.

Once again, we’re giving Trump every advantage—including top range on all his revenue estimates and a princely p/e. If we take the low ranges, he’s net worth would be considerable less, though still significant, more like $3 billion. The rub is that the revenues disclosed in the PDF can’t get us to a numbers to approaching “in excess of $10 billion.” Well short is more like it. The number may be illusory, but the wonder is that despite the barrage of bad-mouthing that should be sinking his brand, Trump’s wealth along with poll numbers that mystify the experts, just keeps swelling.
How Much Is Donald Trump Really Worth? - Fortune

good approaches to estimates of value ... in this instance, net worth
$3 to 4.5 billion

'legitimate' billionaire

and surprise, both sources recognize tRump is inclined to exaggerate the size of his hands - i mean wealth


my SPECULATION is that tRump arrives at a higher net worth due to his own blue sky estimate of the value of his tRump brand
no doubt it is worth something
very doubtful that brand is worth between $5.5 to $7 billion
 
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