Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump enjoys pointing out how he makes the best deals. It leaves one wondering, though … What kind of deal might he make if he were the sitting president and his own financial interests were in conflict with the goals of the country? His outstanding loans represent an enormous conflict of interest.
Trump Owes $364 Million In Loans To Deutsche Bank
The future is not looking bright for Deutsche Bank. The United States Justice Department fined them $14 million to settle claims, and the bank is up against the ropes. As reported by Mother Jones:
“The US government has charged that the German banking giant misled investors into buying bad mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and it is demanding that Deutsche Bank pay $14 billion to settle legal claims. The bank is reported to have planned for a settlement of $2 billion to $3 billion, and negotiations between it and the Department of Justice are likely to be contentious and last for months—possibly well into the next administration.”
Deutsche Bank is one of the largest banks in the world. It is also reportedly one of the only banks remaining that will deal with Donald Trump. That is, it’s one of the only ones that will deal with him without using a shadow. And even then, their corporate side won’t touch him with a ten-foot pole after he tried to get out of paying them $40 million in 2008.
If Deutsche Bank is caught up in negotiations with the United States, and someone who owes their private bank hundreds of millions of dollars is sitting in the Oval Office, what does that mean for the country?
Public Interest Vs. Private Interest
We have never in our history had a nominee so close to the White House who personally owes as much to foreign interests as does Mr. Trump. His entire life is about advancing his own interests above all else. He most recently displayed this in his “That makes me smart” comment at the debate when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said he’d paid no federal taxes for years. It doesn’t make him smart. It makes him a burden on the middle class.
So the question is, then — what kind of a burden would he be on all of us if he let his own interests get in the way of negotiations? This is a situation unlike any other we’ve faced before. If Trump wins, we would have a sitting president with hundreds of millions in personal loans all over the world. As Russ Choma wrote for Mother Jones:
“Settlement negotiations are expected to take months, raising the possibility that Trump might be in the White House when a final decision is made. In an unprecedented face-off between a foreign bank and an administration led by a man deeply in debt to that bank, how would Trump balance the public interest with his private interests? Could American taxpayers be assured that a Trump administration would aggressively seek the maximum penalty against a lender that played a role in tanking the economy in 2008? Or would Deutsche Bank receive special consideration or favorable terms because of its ties to—or leverage over—Trump?”
Given Trump’s history, I think it’s almost unquestionably the latter.
Deutsche Bank’s troubles are not new. Watch a clip from this past July, talking about how it’s failing:
Featured Image by Michael Vadon via Flickr under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license
