It pays in US politics to follow the money. In Donald Trump's case, the money is flowing away from him in the form of various fines and damages — roughly $530mn worth in the past month. The settlements are not high enough to trigger Trump's bankruptcy. His net worth is around $2.6bn. But they will swallow his cash balance and severely restrict the Trump Organization's ability to operate. He faces a three-year ban on taking out loans in New York, which is where he leveraged his name in the first place.