Nerds knew the truth about Donald Trump long ago.
Yes, those obsessive types who read the small print, who look at regulatory filings, who try to track trends understood that Mr. Trump plays fast and loose with the truth and is actually a pretty poor businessman. And they knew it years ago.
Nerds read documents that contain early warnings. All of them were publicly available, but they appealed to those who read regulatory filings, not a hobby of many people. Here is a partial list.
WARNING: These documents are nerdy. But they're also indicative and important. For the non-nerds amongst us, a translation is provided.
1)Trump Hotels is the only public company to have been censured by Federal regulators for misleading use of non-GAAP measures.
Translation: Public companies have to report their financial condition and earnings according to defined measures. Those defined metrics are called "GAAP" because they conform to "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles." Companies are allowed to supplement those reports with "non-GAAP" measures to provide context and more information, but they're not allowed to use those non-defined numbers to deceive. In fact the SEC has a major initiative underway now to make sure they don't. However, the only enforcement action the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken with regard to misleading non-GAAP disclosure in recent memory was against Trump Hotels. Here is what the SEC said in describing it's cease and desist action:
The Commission found that the release cited pro forma figures to tout the Company's purportedly positive results of operations but failed to disclose that those results were primarily attributable to an unusual one-time gain rather than to operations.
2)Four Chapter 11 filings.
Translation: Chapter 11 refers to a section of the U.S. bankruptcy code. Four Trump companies went bankrupt in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009. To be clear, these were businesses, not Donald Trump personally. In each case, bankruptcy meant that the Trump companies owed more than they had or could pay. While bankruptcy is not that uncommon, and the reasons for bankruptcy can vary, you have to be really unlucky, or a really bad businessman, to helm four of them.
While the reasons for bankruptcy can vary, you have to be really unlucky, or a really bad businessman, to helm four of them.
3)Failed attempt to trademark "You're Fired."
Translation: Trademarks are legal protections which identify the owner of a brand. Donald Trump thus tried to "own" the "you're fired" brand. "You're fired" was his catch phrase from The Apprentice, a reality television show on which he starred. But, while it was his catch phrase it's not original and the trademark was not granted. Moreover, while most people understand that some others need to be fired, rational human beings with empathy rarely take joy in imposing pain on others.
Yes, only nerds read SEC filings, Department of Justice settlements, bankruptcy court documents, and trademark applications. But those types of documents told nerds what they needed to know about Donald Trump more than a decade ago.