Former President Donald Trump was ruthlessly mocked in The Washington Post on Wednesday following his court loss in the New York civil fraud case, with columnist Philip Bump giving his readers a "tool" that allows them to appraise their own home's value the same way that Trump does for his properties.
It follows New York State Judge Arthur Engoron's blistering opinion Tuesday accusing Trump of effectively living in a fantasy world by making sky-high valuations — like almost $300 million for his Seven Springs property in Westchester County, which assessors actually value at under $30 million.
"Instead of defending the Trump Organization’s inflation efforts, you can put them to work for you," wrote Bump. "The tool below allows you to choose a property value between $100,000 and $1 billion (for especially lucky readers) and see how those values might have been presented to investors had the Trump Organization’s inflationary metrics been applied. All of the calculations here are taken from the judge’s ruling, in which the presented value and assessed values are offered explicitly — as in the Seven Springs example above."
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For example, if you own a home worth $200,000, inflating it by the same amount as Trump Tower would make it worth almost $600,000; inflating it by as much as Trump's valuation of Seven Springs would make it nearly $2 million; and inflating it by as much as Mar-a-Lago would make it between $3 and $6 million.
"Congratulations on your sudden surge in net worth," Bump concluded mockingly. "And good luck in court."
Trump put forward a number of defenses for his valuations, including that his properties ultimately grew in value to closer to what he originally assessed them as, and even that he could find a buyer in Saudi Arabia who would pay at any price he wanted. None of this convinced Judge Engoron, whose ruling now potentially could dissolve the Trump Organization from doing business in New York State.
