Stability. Fairness. Safety. Prosperity. These words used to be the lynchpins undergirding the American brand. It was the reason why the best of the best came here to invest, trade, work, and grow. It's why the World Trade Center was located in New York City.
When you are the strongest, greatest country in the world, no other country can destroy you. Only you can destroy yourself. We are busy doing that right now, and this is nowhere more evident than in once-world-class New York City.
As you know, the militant partisans who have taken over the legal system in New York have been busily working to bankrupt and crush former president and current leading candidate Donald Trump. Unable to prove a negative in the case of flaky writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump has already coughed up $92 million to post that bond while he appeals. Now, leftist judge Arthur Engoron, in concert with N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, is demanding Trump put up another $464 million in cash so he can appeal their monstrous judgment against him.
Of course, no one has that much cash on hand, even people worth billions, and Trump is no exception. Most insurers can't post it, either, and so the Donald is stuck. Since James is interested in political retribution, not justice, she isn't even trying to work with him. She is now threatening to start seizing his assets.
When Engoron first announced his ludicrous judgment against Trump, you could almost hear the rushing sound as New York real estate investors started heading for the door. Now that Trump's lawyers have said it's unlikely he will be able to post bond (without which he cannot appeal the ruling, as per NY law) and James has threatened to seize his assets, anyone who was still on the fence has seen enough.
As my colleague VodkaPundit already explained:
[A] wild precedent has been set that normal business practices where no one felt ripped off and everybody made money, can lead to a ruinous judgment and essentially no chance of appeal. When James says she'll seize Trump's assets, it made the hairs stand up on the arms of every single developer in the city.
"What if I piss off Letitia James?" is now at the top of the list of concerns that is usually limited to economic matters.
Related: 'Escape From New York,' Starring Donald Trump... and Every Other Developer
Kevin O'Leary, a successful Canadian businessman and commenter, went on Fox News and summarized what this means for the United States better than I could:
You think about America; the reason this is the number one economy on earth is that we have laws and we have due process and we have property rights. It attracts foreign capital from all around the world. All of that is being shaken to the core here.
The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that's never been issued — no insurance bond company's ever issued anything near this, so there was no chance it was going to happen, and only giving 30 days' notice in time — that's a really bad message. And I think New Yorkers should think well past Trump, whether he's president or not, or whether this attorney general is gone in four years or not — it's irrelevant. This is case-setting against the American brand.
The most stable country on Earth, anywhere, to put capital to work over a long period of time, particularly real estate, is the United States of America. This is an assault on what we believe to be core, and I find it extraordinary, I think it's very troubling. […]
This is an attack on America, and I don't know how you can look at it any other way. And as a, as an investor — and I know plenty of investors who are completely disturbed by this — but I mean, no one's going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down.
O'Leary's last words were hopeful of some deus ex machina relief:
The whole world is watching and everybody's waiting for one thing we haven't got yet: adult supervision. Where is it? Where are the adults in this crazy narrative? Certainly, there's got to be adult supervision at some point — and I understand, you know, the war going on here and all the political yatta yatta woof woof woof — but we need an adult in the room now. This is the United States of America, under siege.
There is certainly an argument that Trump could make an emergency appeal for relief to a higher court, citing violations of the 8th Amendment (excessive fines) and the 14th Amendment (due process). But in the United States of America, it should never have gotten this far. And at this point, the rot in our legal system has become so advanced and reaches so high that there may no longer be any adults to call into the room.
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You can watch Kevin O'Leary's excellent analysis here:
🚨Kevin O’Leary Rips NY AG Letitia James: "This Is an Attack on America"
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 19, 2024
🔥🔥🔥
"This is the United States of America. This is this is an assault on what we believe to be core. And I find it extraordinary. I think it's very troubling."
"It has absolutely nothing to do with… pic.twitter.com/3rFOWOzk4b
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