Jimmy Kimmel slyly notes Trump's father didn't lose money in the '80s. Samantha Bee gets proof from Ivanka.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Donald Trump lost nearly $1.2 billion from 1985 to 1994, his prime deal-making years. "So not only isn't he a great businessman, as he claims, he isn't even a bad businessman," Jimmy Kimmel said on Wednesday's Kimmel Live. "He is the worst businessman in America for years — the worst!"
"The president, of course, lashed back at this report," Kimmel said, reading Trump's tweeted defense. "That's right, he says it was smart to lose money back then and that it's 'fake news.' ... But here's the thing: Trump's father, Fred Trump, was also a real estate developer, and he made lots of money those years. So which one's the idiot and which one is smart?" Kimmel had his pick.
"Anyway, the president's Fox friends did what they could to put a smiley face on the fact that their artist of the deal lost more than a billion dollars in 10 years," Kimmel said, laughing at their spin. "Where did we get we ever get the boneheaded idea that Donald Trump was good at business in the first place?" He let's Trump explain.
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Trump was responsible for "2 cents out of every dollar of every business loss in the entire United States," Samantha Bee agreed at Full Frontal. "I used to think Donald Trump's fortunes took a dip in the early-'90s recession. Now I think maybe he was the early-'90s recession." She gave some consideration to Trump's defense: "Was Trump really just pretending to lose all that money? I call as my next witness Ivanka Trump." And that 2003 interview kind of sealed it.
"Look, the only thing that Donald Trump really had going for him as a candidate was that he was supposed to be a great businessman," Bee said. "Now we know that not only is he a bad businessman, he is one of the worst in American history." Watch her discuss all the other "shame" Trump is trying to hide below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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