Posted on 04/11/2021 6:00:08 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Evangelist Franklin Graham has defended Donald Trump’s legacy after Forbes reported that the former president’s wealth fell by nearly a third during his four years in the White House.
Forbes reported last week that Trump’s wealth dropped to $2.4 billion from $3.5 billion during his presidency and that he fell nearly 300 spots on the magazine’s billionaire rankings. The magazine attributed the drop in wealth to Trump’s refusal to divest his portfolio when he took office in 2017.
Trump had “bogged down his presidency with ethics issues for years, while also missing a chance to cash in on a market boom he helped propel,” the Forbes report stated.
Graham, who has been a vocal defender of the former president, defended Trump over the news, saying that his wealth declined because he put “America first, not his own interests.”
“President Trump did not even take a salary when he was serving as president—he gave it all back. So many politicians leave office with far more money than when they came into office,” Graham wrote in a statement in response to the Forbes article.
“This report says President Trump also dropped about $1 billion in wealth during those four years while he served. Donald Trump became president not to make money or to put his hand in the till, but to do his best to preserve the great things about this nation for future generations.
“He put America first, not his own interests. I’ve never seen anyone work harder.”
Trump’s business holdings and financial activities through his business career were the subject of widespread scrutiny from his political opponents during his presidency as they sought to impeach the former president. He faced multiple allegations that he had violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents...
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
His life, his fortune, and his sacred honor.
Patriots wasted Trump’s sacrifice. Truly maddening.
franklin got his tax papers?
America didn’t deserve Donald Trump. Patriots are pathetic snowflakes.
I envy the Left more than words can say. They fight viciously for their beliefs.
Conservatives? Turn the other cheek and play by the rules.
The US is dead,
ABSOLUTELY TRUE! He actually cared about us above his own fortunes. Of course, this is blasphemy in dc.
If anyone deserved to accrue a little money while president, it was Trump because of all the hard work he did for this country. But all he got was flak if even so much as one diplomat stayed at one of his hotels. Yet Biden’s whole family can take bribes from hostile foreign nations, and no one cares. It’s beyond maddening.
Forbes also mistakes a drop in the value of a real estate asset with actual losses. As long as the cash flow remains the same, and he doesn’t sell anything, it doesn’t matter what the value of a building is. He can still depreciate its remaining basis, and deduct interest payments, same as before.
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