Trump’s Financial Disclosures Show Significant Debt and Abundant Grift

Nikki McCann Ramirez
2-min read

Donald Trump has submitted his annual financial disclosure, and after a year of lawsuits, legal cases, and grifts, the contents of the documents reflect the turmoil surrounding the former president.

The more than 250 pages of financial information reveal that Trump’s largest financial liabilities are more than $100 million owed to author E. Jean Carroll and the state of New York resulting from massive civil lawsuits victories against him. The disclosures note that the judgments, $83 million to Carroll and $355 million to New York, have been bonded, and their enforcement has been stayed pending appeals.

Trump also lists several mortgages related to his various branded properties as part of his liabilities.

With all these debts, where’s the money coming from? The former president’s disclosures list a wide variety of income streams — including stock holdings, investment accounts, his various clubs, and licensing agreements — but they also lay out the various grifts and cash grabs under Trump’s brand.

Trump reported making $300,000 off his endorsement of the “God Bless the USA” Bible,” which is essentially a reproduction of the King James Bible produced by singer Lee Greenwood that retails for $59.99 plus tax and shipping.

He also reported making more than $7 million off his series of Trump-branded NTF trading cards, which featured cringified versions of a muscular Trump decked out in various costumes and scenery — and in some cases came with a scrap of the suit he wore in his Georgia mugshot.

New in the disclosures is a significant venture by the former president into the realm of cryptocurrency. Trump reported owning between $1 million and $5 million in Ethereum. Despite Trump previously referring to crypto as a “scam,” his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have in recent months promoted a developing family venture into the cryptocurrency space.

Notably, the former president has also significantly increased the estimated valuation of his personal social media platform Truth Social, upping the valuation of the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. to more than $50 million after a previous high of $25 million. Trump owns more than 60 percent of the publicly traded company, a total of about 114 million shares.

On Thursday, Trump held a press conference at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He appeared alongside a collection of common grocery items like cereal, bacon, and ground coffee — ostensibly in an attempt to make a point about the high cost of goods for everyday consumers.

What Trump’s financial disclosures make clear is the canyon of separation between the struggles of working-class Americans, and the man hawking branded bibles and NFT trading cards for quick cash — all while sitting on a massive pile of properties, investments, licensing deals, and brand endorsements.

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