Might be well to clarify: these are not personal bankruptcies (chapter 11).
These are debt restructuring moves (Chapter 13).
Trump did not get walk away scot-free....he still had to repay the money.
There's a question as to whether bankruptcy was even Trump's idea---one ex-Trump exec's book recalled Trump's exec-team sometimes overruled him....made him do things he did not want to do.
The A/C bankruptcy benefitted banks---they had lent him so much money, they were literally in business w/ him....if he went down, they went down. So restructuring that debt benefitted them
not accurate ma’am, sorry....but it misses the point.
The point is this: his business career is held up as proof that he understands the macro economy and can turn it around. Even if his career did not include 4 bankruptices, it would not be proof of that. Even if he had worked his way up from nothing - while more compelling - personal wealth does NOT NOT NOT translate necessarily to the ability to stir the entire economy. Especially when that personal wealth is largely tied up in self assessment of the value of the name.
The only way to do that is to get government the hell out of the way - and I’ve heard precious little from him about that.
Actually Chapter 11 is the corporate bankruptcy (restructuring) venue, not Chapter 13. Also Trump's first Chapter 11 bankruptcy did impact him personally because he used his personal wealth as collateral, a lesson he learned from when structuring subsequent corporate debt.
Your point about having to repay the debt is well taken however.