Trump runs for POTUS / Trumped Up! Part IV

[NoahFence]

which is undoubtedly how Hillary would handle this.



That might be his attitude towards other women, but I think he would take insults against his wife as insults against him.

Good. The more he's insulted the more he shows how thin skinned and unfit he is for the office.

 

[NoahFence]

More on Trump's campaign expenditures:

Donald Trump Jacked Up His Campaign’s Trump Tower Rent Once Somebody Else Was Paying It

More evidence that Trump seems to be using campaign money to pay himself.



I guess this is a good thing though because the more his campaign spends on things like paying Trump Tower's landlord, the less it will have to buy attack ads.

That stuff needs to go in Hillary's ads and the debates. Assuming he shows at the debates.

 

[The Don]

That stuff needs to go in Hillary's ads and the debates. Assuming he shows at the debates.

Sounds good but they need to be careful, from the Huffington Post article:

Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.

The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March ― the same amount it had been paying since last summer

Put another way, even after increasing the rent Trump is paying $170k a month for an unknown amount of prime Manhattan real estate whereas....

Democrat Hillary Clinton has been leasing two entire floors in a Brooklyn office building totaling 80,000 square feet since the start of her campaign. The rent for that space has been about $212,000 per month.

"Crooked Hillary" is paying more for some dump somewhere out in Brooklyn.


Trump could claim that he had been effectively subsidising the campaign to the tune of $135k a month by offering the office space at a fraction of the commercial value but that now more funds are available, the campaign should pay the going rate.

Of course if it could be established that he's paying out far more than the going rate then there's a real story there.

 

[NoahFence]

As soon as someone else was footing the bill, he magically increased the rate. Pocketing the profits. That's not good.

 

[Stacko]

As soon as someone else was footing the bill, he magically increased the rate. Pocketing the profits. That's not good.

The cost of Epi Pens is up 450% since 2004 also, unrelated to the Epi Pen increase, Martin Shkreli is a Donald supporter. I think there's something to work with there about his willingness to price gouge the public to his benefit.

 

[Stacko]

WTF!?

In a campaign season marked by the mind-bending, the — until now unreported —caper of Wessel’s months-long “catfishing” of operatives Rick Wilson, Liz Mair and Cheri Jacobus ranks among more bizarre episodes. It could get more bizarre still. The targets of the scheme do not believe that Wessel, described by his own lawyer as mentally ill, was acting alone. This month Jacobus, who said she believes Wessel was working in concert with allies of Trump, renewed her efforts to get the FBI to investigate the scheme.

Wilson, one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics and the head of a super PAC that opposed the New York billionaire during the primaries, said that only a political professional would think to pump him for the information Wessel sought about his PAC. “The questions were of such a degree of granularity and specificity and political acumen that unless [Wessel] had political experience it would be hard for him to come up with them,” he said.

...

Meanwhile, the operatives claim that Trump backers were behind the scam, which sought no money, only information about the operatives’ plans for targeting the billionaire presidential candidate. Wessel’s motives remain murky, and the identities of his accomplices, if any, remain unknown. Targets of the scheme have floated a number of figures whom they suspect of participating. Citing emails traced to servers in Colorado and the use of a Colorado phone number in the scheme, Wilson suggested the possible involvement of Make America Great Again PAC, a now defunct pro-Trump super PAC that shut its doors after reports surfaced of possible improper coordination with the campaign.

 

[halleyscomet]

Well it might be good to start to change societies' irrational demonisation of prostitutes. It's a job with an apparent high demand and pretty much all of us "whore out" ourselves in our day to day jobs.

Sadly, I don't think having a former prostitute as Republican FLOTUS would do much if anything to change the unfair stigmatization of sex workers. Instead of diminishing the stigma, I suspect we'll instead get a long list of excuses about why her case was different, or denial about any of the accounts being true. You'd think people who worship a guy who explicitly talked about hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors would be more charitable to sex workers.

Of course, so far there's only speculation and rumor to support the idea that she exchanged sex for money before marrying Donald Trump, so this is more a theoretical discussion than a practical one. I suspect one reason this rumor is being considered plausible is because she did marry a narcissistic serial adulterer and liar. Being a former escort isn't much of a moral leap from becoming another one of Trump's trophy wives.

Mind you, I'm not criticizing her. He clearly treats his other ex-wives well economically and it's not like she's likely to lose access to her kids should he live long enough to grow tired of her. In terms of serial monogamy and "until the man doth get bored of you" marriages, she got a pretty good deal.

 

[Stacko]

Trump could claim that he had been effectively subsidising the campaign to the tune of $135k a month by offering the office space at a fraction of the commercial value but that now more funds are available, the campaign should pay the going rate.

The FEC is toothless right now due to the 2-2 Rep/Dem gridlock but admitting to a violation that egregious would require them to act. You're supposed to charge yourself market rates if you're renting a property you own. This is already a glaring enough issue without admitting you were flouting the rules.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Clinton at some point had 10x as many people on her staff. Now it's more like 6x.
No wonder they take up more space.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Sounds good but they need to be careful, from the Huffington Post article:



Put another way, even after increasing the rent Trump is paying $170k a month for an unknown amount of prime Manhattan real estate whereas....



"Crooked Hillary" is paying more for some dump somewhere out in Brooklyn.


Trump could claim that he had been effectively subsidising the campaign to the tune of $135k a month by offering the office space at a fraction of the commercial value but that now more funds are available, the campaign should pay the going rate.

Of course if it could be established that he's paying out far more than the going rate then there's a real story there.

Well, people might question his business acumen. You can't compare, of course, only knowing the total Trump's paying because we don't know how many square feet Trump rents himself and that's the language real estate people speak.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Classy Gold Leaf Filigree Everything is not renting to himself at $3.00 a square foot. Hillary's paying less than that. As reference, Midtown office space is over $50, and Trump Plaza is a luxury building that usually rents at 80 to 90!

So I'd say Crooked Donald is suckering his donors into paying premium prices to his own company when they could get similar space at less than 5% of that if they didn't have to pay the candidate's company for it.

 

[halleyscomet]

Well, people might question his business acumen. You can't compare, of course, only knowing the total Trump's paying because we don't know how many square feet Trump rents himself and that's the language real estate people speak.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Classy Gold Leaf Filigree Everything is not renting to himself at $3.00 a square foot. Hillary's paying less than that. As reference, Midtown office space is over $50, and Trump Plaza is a luxury building that usually rents at 80 to 90!

So I'd say Crooked Donald is suckering his donors into paying premium prices to his own company when they could get similar space at less than 5% of that if they didn't have to pay the candidate's company for it.

Al told it's a clever, if potentially illegal, means of filling empty space in his buildings.

I wonder if there's a correlation between areas where Trump has office space he rents and places he has field offices. It could explain his lack of field offices in areas critical to the election.

 

[The Don]

I'm pretty sure Mr. Classy Gold Leaf Filigree Everything is not renting to himself at $3.00 a square foot. Hillary's paying less than that. As reference, Midtown office space is over $50, and Trump Plaza is a luxury building that usually rents at 80 to 90!

So I'd say Crooked Donald is suckering his donors into paying premium prices to his own company when they could get similar space at less than 5% of that if they didn't have to pay the candidate's company for it.

Are your reference rates per month or per year ?

The reason I ask is that, according to the Huffington Post article:

Commercial real estate is available in the midtown Manhattan neighborhood in the range of $70 per square foot annually

OTOH the expenditure quoted for Donald Trump and Hillary is per month.

Of course, as you correctly point out, without any indication as to the square footage rented, we have no idea whether this is a good deal or a bad deal for the campaign.

 

[halleyscomet]

Trump cancels campaign events: is he sick or is he sad?

 

[Biscuit]

Donald has cancelled three upcoming rallies maybe he's having serious undisclosed health problems that Fox should speculate about without evidence.

On CBS this morning they said that the plan had been for trump to spend the week discussing illegal immigration, an issue he seems to be flip flopping on, but now the campaign thinks it's best he try and keep the focus on Hillary and her emails. What this has to do with canceling events I do not know but they reported the two as if there was a connection.

trumps flip flop:He began his campaign by promising to deport every single illegal immigrant and to build a wall. He now appears to be saying he will only deport the "bad guys" who have broken the law and the wall will still be built. How he defines bad guys is open to interpretation as is his actual policy that he only describes with the words "firm" and "fair" but no actual details. He has a bit of a problem as many on the right regard all illegal immigrants as criminals by the fact that they entered or stayed illegally. Not sure how trump is going to try and appeal to Hispanics and other minorities through this "pivot."

 

[The Great Zaganza]

It would be much cheaper for the campaign if Trump just flew everywhere 1st class instead of taking the 757.

 

[sunmaster14]

Sounds good but they need to be careful, from the Huffington Post article:



Put another way, even after increasing the rent Trump is paying $170k a month for an unknown amount of prime Manhattan real estate whereas....



"Crooked Hillary" is paying more for some dump somewhere out in Brooklyn.


Trump could claim that he had been effectively subsidising the campaign to the tune of $135k a month by offering the office space at a fraction of the commercial value but that now more funds are available, the campaign should pay the going rate.

Of course if it could be established that he's paying out far more than the going rate then there's a real story there.

We can do some calculations. The average Class A office space rent in midtown Manhattan was about $75/sq ft per year in Q1 of 2015. No doubt Trump Tower is Class A. In fact, it's probably on the upper end of Class A. So, let's assume that it's $85/sq ft per year now.

The office "rule of thumb" allocates 125 to 225 sq ft per employee. For campaigns, it's probably towards the low end, so let's assume 125 sq ft per employee.

Trump's campaign had 172 employees and consultants in the office in July. That means at least 172 * 125 sq ft = 21,500 sq ft of office space. At the market rate of $85/sq ft per year * 1 year/12 mths, you get 21,500 * $85/12 = $152,292 per month.

Seems like the rent is in the market ballpark now, and that the rent paid back in March was significantly subsidized.

 

[Puppycow]

Sounds good but they need to be careful, from the Huffington Post article:

Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.

The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March ― the same amount it had been paying since last summer

Put another way, even after increasing the rent Trump is paying $170k a month for an unknown amount of prime Manhattan real estate whereas....

Democrat Hillary Clinton has been leasing two entire floors in a Brooklyn office building totaling 80,000 square feet since the start of her campaign. The rent for that space has been about $212,000 per month.

"Crooked Hillary" is paying more for some dump somewhere out in Brooklyn.


Trump could claim that he had been effectively subsidising the campaign to the tune of $135k a month by offering the office space at a fraction of the commercial value but that now more funds are available, the campaign should pay the going rate.

Of course if it could be established that he's paying out far more than the going rate then there's a real story there.

Um, how many square feet if the Trump tower office space? Hillary has many more staffers. 80,000 square feet for $212,000 per month works out to $2.65 per square foot. The same article says:

Commercial real estate is available in the midtown Manhattan neighborhood in the range of $70 per square foot annually, although Trump has charged more than that. Trump Tower rented 9,000 feet of office space in December at $120 per square foot, but has been unable to rent a 15,000 square-foot office that includes six terraces overlooking Fifth Avenue, even at a discounted rent of $90 per square foot.

Sounds like she's getting a lot more bang for her buck, spacewise.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Sadly, I don't think having a former prostitute as Republican FLOTUS would do much if anything to change the unfair stigmatization of sex workers. Instead of diminishing the stigma, I suspect we'll instead get a long list of excuses about why her case was different, or denial about any of the accounts being true. You'd think people who worship a guy who explicitly talked about hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors would be more charitable to sex workers.

I hope you don't mind if I use your words to further prove your point:

Sadly, I don't think having an immigrant as Republican FLOTUS would do much if anything to change the unfair stigmatization of immigrants. Instead of diminishing the stigma, I suspect we'll instead get a long list of excuses about why her case was different. You'd think people who worship a guy from the middle east would be more charitable to immigrants and refugees from the region.

 

[acbytesla]

Um, how many square feet if the Trump tower office space? Hillary has many more staffers. 80,000 square feet for $212,000 per month works out to $2.65 per square foot. The same article says:


Sounds like she's getting a lot more bang for her buck, spacewise.

It's insane to have a National campaign headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. Nobody would do it unless they owned the building. I would imagine that even Brooklyn rents would be on the high side.

 

[The Don]

We can do some calculations. The average Class A office space rent in midtown Manhattan was about $75/sq ft per year in Q1 of 2015. No doubt Trump Tower is Class A. In fact, it's probably on the upper end of Class A. So, let's assume that it's $85/sq ft per year now.

The office "rule of thumb" allocates 125 to 225 sq ft per employee. For campaigns, it's probably towards the low end, so let's assume 125 sq ft per employee.

Trump's campaign had 172 employees and consultants in the office in July. That means at least 172 * 125 sq ft = 21,500 sq ft of office space. At the market rate of $85/sq ft per year * 1 year/12 mths, you get 21,500 * $85/12 = $152,292 per month.

Seems like the rent is in the market ballpark now, and that the rent paid back in March was significantly subsidized.

Thank you for that.

Does this mean that Trump will be in trouble, as Stacko suggests, for subsidising the campaign for so long ?

The FEC is toothless right now due to the 2-2 Rep/Dem gridlock but admitting to a violation that egregious would require them to act. You're supposed to charge yourself market rates if you're renting a property you own. This is already a glaring enough issue without admitting you were flouting the rules.