IMO, this case is a kind of “canary in the coal mine” for whether or not the US can maybe return to a country governed by laws. Trump is massively corrupt. He has been pardoning all kinds of criminals. His justice department has been jailing innocent people and refusing to investigate obvious crimes. He has openly admitted to crimes in press conferences, and that’s just becoming normal now.
But, despite all that, this judgment is out there and he can’t seem to make it go away. If this were Russia, E Jean Carroll would have “committed suicide” by now, maybe leaving a note behind about how she was so sorry to have falsely accused Donald J. Trump, and how he was a tremendous, so tremendous leader, and man, some people are saying maybe the best that has ever lived. The judge that ruled against him would have accidentally fallen out of a window.
So, this might be a kind of Hungary situation, where there’s a leader who has warped the entire country and seems all powerful, but who is simply voted out of office and is no longer driving the headlines.
We’re a little past the canary.
Honestly, this whole situation makes me think we need to restructure civil case outcomes to better protect the plaintiff. I’d like it if that $5M also had a nice interest rate of 100% or so, making this strategy a little less enticing.
The $5 million is earning interest at the “judicial interest rate”. Which is 4% (and tied to t-bonds) instead of 100%. That’s how the $5 million became $5.8 million during the appeal.
Trump was also probably required to post an appeal bond in cash or other security to cover the entire amount of the judgement plus expected interest. So when Caroll does finally get her money, the check is probably going to come from an escrow service or similar, not from Trump directly.
Which also makes this whole thing so much more petty, since he technically already paid the settlement; it’s no longer his money.
Good news: we already did that! It’s called “tort reform” and it…
aim[s] to reduce the ability of plaintiffs to bring tort litigation (particularly actions for negligence) or to reduce damages they can receive
…oh.
This is how you know it’s a sickness. Wikipedia claims Trump’s worth to be around 6.5 and 7 billion dollars. Nuts, but not what this is about. 5 million dollars is about 0.07% of his published worth.
The median American has a net worth of $124,041 so if we use that same percent we get that the equivalent payout for an average American would be about $88. So, like, not nothing, but probably not something that’s worth stringing along for years and doing everything you can to get out of.
I know I’ve paid higher fines than that just to make problems go away because I didn’t want to deal with them, and I’m a serial procrastinator!
The estimates of Trump’s net worth are much less reliable than most net worth estimates. For example, a big chunk of his net worth is now in meme coins. They tend to calculate his net worth by saying each coin is priced at $X and he has Y coins, so his net worth is $X*Y. But, the second he starts trying to sell those shitcoins, the price will plummet. There’s nothing backing those shitcoins, there’s no real demand for them. People are only holding onto them because they think maybe other people will believe they’re valuable. If Trump sells them, the game is up and everyone knows they’re worthless, so the true value of what he owns in coins is a tiny fraction of that.
People have been trying to bribe him in various ways. But, again, that’s often through crypto, so it’s not like real money you can spend. Most of his net worth used to be in the supposed value of having his name on various properties. He didn’t own the building, but he’d slap “Trump” on it and collect royalties. But, right now, for most of the world slapping “Trump” on something decreases its value.
People who are rich via huge amounts of stock in a company they started are sort-of in a similar boat, but to a lesser extent. Elon Musk is worth, on paper, nearly $1 trillion. But, that’s due to comically ridiculous overvaluations of Space X and Tesla. He can sell a bit of his stock without triggering a massive sell-off. But, if he wanted to sell every share he owns and convert his money into cold hard cash, he could only get a small fraction of $1T because selling off big amounts of his companies would cause other people to sell off too, and the value would tank. In the mean time though, he can still go to a bank and borrow money against the supposed value of his shares. That’s something Trump can’t do because banks have realized that he can’t be trusted to repay his loans, so they won’t loan him money.
So, Trump could pay off this $5m judgment, but not without it seriously taking a bite out of his actual, liquid net worth. I’m sure a lot of the reason he’s refusing to pay is that he doesn’t want to, or doesn’t want to set a precedent, or just likes getting away with not paying his bills. But, another reason is that for him $5m really is a lot of money because his supposed billionaire status is with a lot of asterisks.
He hates her for winning. It’s not about the money, it’s about winning.
Pedophile rapist narciststs don’t think like normal people
He treats everyone like he treats contractors…
Even his rape victims.
Deadbeat billionaire.
she better be getting interest on top too
Checking the summary above, which quotes the article, I think your question is answered.
