News bump from Trump
November 6, 2024
How did he do that? A question asked many times about Donald Trump, now to be the 47th President of the US, having already been the 45th.
It turns out he’s better at politics than business. When that question is asked about him in the business world, it usually relates to how did he lose so much money on that, so quickly? Part of the answer, of course, is that it is easier to be careless with other people’s money.
As he was winning at the polls his Trump Media group was reporting $19.2 million (€17.8m) quarterly losses on turnover of $1 million. Still, better than the previous year which was $26 million quarterly loss. These are the kind of results that require a cavalier attitude to the P+L honed over decades.
But it certainly won’t bother him anymore – if it ever did. When you are eighty years-old and about to enter The White House for the second time, and you will control the Senate, the Supreme Court, and very likely the House, you can forget your financial crisis along with your criminal convictions and indictments. There are almost no limits to what he can do, and letting himself off all personal responsibility for everything may be the least of our worries.
While we wait to see who will win and who will lose, some gainers are already clear; News Corp can celebrate being, more or less, back in the fold, Elon Musk can do some more of that weird jumping up and down, and – even though they hate to admit it – all news outlets, left, right and centre, are licking their lips at the ratings a Trump administration will bring. Trump isn’t keen on the heavy lifting of government but he really, really likes making headlines.
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