'Money is just pouring in': Trump reportedly berating CEOs to fork over millions in cash

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Even though the Constitution prevents him from running for a third term, President-elect Donald Trump is currently sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in cash – and the money is continuing to roll in.

Axios reported Wednesday that the president-elect is meticulously keeping track of who has donated to his inaugural fund and who hasn't, and that those who haven't yet donated are reportedly on a "grievance list." Trump has even been tracking how well companies have fared according to their balance sheets and stock prices, and is apparently using that information to shake down CEOs.

"You guys made this amount of money last year and you're gonna make so much more now because of me," Trump said according to an unnamed confidant.

"But when I needed you, where the f— were you? You weren't with me and maybe you were with her," he reportedly added, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris.

This account was corroborated by another company's consultant, who told Axios that he saw Trump with a "client and soon-to-be-donor" and that the president-elect was "raking them over the coals" for not giving him money, saying: "Where were you the last four years?"

One of Axios' sources emphasized that this was not a pay-for-play scheme, insisting that while these CEOs were giving money to support Trump's agenda, the president-elect was not taking their money to support their agenda. This tracks with previous reporting by the New York Times, which found that despite companies like Meta, Amazon and Google giving $1 million apiece to Trump's inauguration, many top donors won't actually be getting anything for their money.

"On account of the shortage of seating at V.I.P. events, some donors have taken the unusual step of offering donations as high as $1 million without receiving anything in return," the Times reported last week.

"A lot of these guys are going down [to Mar-a-Lago] taking victory laps because he's taking their money and they're in for a rude awakening," an unnamed corporate consultant told Axios. "Sure, he'll throw an inaugural party with their money but he owes them nothing."

"The money is just pouring in at Mar-a-Lago. Trump doesn't have to lift a finger," a Trump advisor anonymously told the outlet. "Everyone's coming to him."

"He'll take your money and then tell you, 'I don't give a f— what you want.' He did that during the campaign," they added. "He's going to do what he wants, what the base wants."
https://www.alternet.org/trump-ceos-cash/
Interactions between U.S. presidents and organization crime figures is the focus of author Eric Dezenhall's book "Wiseguys and the White House: Gangsters, Presidents and the Deals They Made."

Dezenhall discusses a range of presidents, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Joe Biden.

But The Guardian's Martin Pengelly quotes Dezenhall as saying that “the thing that makes Trump different from all of the other presidents is he's the only one who has been shockingly open about talking about" crossing paths with mob figures along the way.

The author said of Trump, "To him, it's a branding thing. Everybody else is running from the mob context. Trump, he's on Letterman, telling you he knows them. And not only does the public not punish him for it, they elected him twice. They're fine with it. And yet, the idea that somebody would run for office using mafia connections as part of their branding is really something to behold."

Pengelly notes that in 2023, photos of Trump talking to major mob figures "surfaced" —including Philadelphia mob boss Joey Merlino and John Alite, an infamous hit man for the Gambino crime family of New York City.

During a 2013 appearance on "The Late Show," Pengelly recalls, Trump told host David Letterman that he "really tried to stay away from" organized crime "as much as possible” but added, "Growing up in New York and doing business in New York, I would say there might have been one of those characters along the way…. I have met, on occasion, a few of those people. They happen to be very nice people."
https://www.alternet.org/trump-mafia-denenhall/

TOS just is applying a shakedown racket, "Pay to Play". It is what he learned from his lawyer years ago, Roy Cohn AKA the "Mafia's Lawyer".
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: 'Money is just pouring in': Trump reportedly berating CEOs to fork over millions in cash

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A lot contributed to his Inaugural Committee, even Tim Cook of Apple. One report said there are only 3 inaugural balls, but there are receptions. Places where the rich and powerful can rub shoulders with officials of the new administration. It goes on during every administration, this year it's getting more media attention.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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