Much has been made of the fall of the Trump brand and his potentially perilous financial condition. But Trump may make it through these difficulties more easily than you might think. He still has a large core of supporters and a certain aura.
Question: What is a good description of the prototypical MAGA Trump supporter? Answer: Someone who would do anything to get into Mar-a-Lago, but whom Trump would allow in only to fix the plumbing.
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And that is how his brand could still be an asset.
Trump has always set up his brand as one of luxury and success. Today, high-net-worth consumers are fleeing his brand. Properties that may have possessed a premium value just from the Trump name now do not (or may be at a discount). But for the masses supporting him, Trump still stands for success and aspiration. Trump can still profit from that perception.
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Judy Woodruff:
One of the consequences of the chaos from the U.S. Capitol on January 6, a distancing from banks and other businesses from former President Trump.
Paul Solman, for our Making Sense series, looks at the economic hit facing Mr. Trump.
Donald Trump:
I m the king of debt. I m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I have made a fortune by using debt.
Paul Solman:
In the early 1990s, Donald Trump also lost a fortune using debt. He could face similar problems today.
Tim O’Brien:
Most of his money is tied up in real estate, and real estate that s been hit hard by COVID-19. He has debts north of $1 billion, and a big chunk that debt is coming due soon.
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An effigy of Donald Trump held by anti-Trump protesters outside the Capitol Building of Pennsylvania on Jan. 17, 2021
Photo: Mark Makela (Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s presidency is taking its last shallow, ragged breaths, with President-elect Joe Biden set to take office today the best efforts of Trump’s incompetent campaign legal team and the disastrously failed insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 in vain. What’s a Trump supporter to do?
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If you’re on The Donald, the toxic Trump-worshiping fan club booted from Reddit last year for harassment, rampant racism and hate speech, and brigading other subreddits before it regrouped on its own domain, you’re probably yelling at your brethren about who’s a “doomer,” who’s a traitor, who’s a coward, and who’s living in an alternate reality. You’re choosing sides between QAnon, the nonsensical conspiracy theory that posits Trump is secretly warring against a cabal of Democratic pedophiles, or bein