Posted on 02/27/2016 12:19:21 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Many people believe that higher education is a de facto scam. Trump University, Donald Trump's real-estate institution, was a de jure one.
First thing first, Trump University was never a university. When the "school" was established in 2005, the New York State Education Department warned that it was in violation of state law for operating without a NYSED license. Trump ignored the warnings. (The institution is now called, ahem, "Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.") Cue lawsuits.
Trump University is currently the defendant in three lawsuits - two class-action lawsuits filed in California, and one filed in New York by then-attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who told CNN's New Day in 2013: "We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university."
Trump U "students" say the same. In his affidavit, Richard Hewson reported that he and his wife "concluded that we had paid over $20,000 for nothing, based on our belief in Donald Trump and the promises made at the [organization’s] free seminar and three-day workshop." But "the whole thing was a scam."
In fact, $20,000 is only a mid-range loss. The lead plaintiff in one of the California suits, yoga instructor Tarla Makaeff, says she was "scammed" out of $60,000 over the course of her time in Trump U.
How could that have happened? The New York suit offers a suggestion:
The free seminars were the first step in a bait and switch to induce prospective students to enroll in increasingly expensive seminars starting with the three-day $1495 seminar and ultimately one of respondents’ advanced seminars such as the "Gold Elite" program costing $35,000.
At the "free" 90-minute introductory seminars to which Trump University advertisements and solicitations invited prospective students, Trump University instructors engaged in a methodical, systematic series of misrepresentations designed to convince students to sign up for the Trump University three-day seminar at a cost of $1495.
The Atlantic, which got hold of a 41-page "Private & Confidential" playbook from Trump U, has attested to the same:
The playbook says almost nothing about the guest speaker presentations, the ostensible reason why people showed up to the seminar in the first place. Instead, the playbook focuses on the seminars' real purpose: to browbeat attendees into purchasing expensive Trump University course packages.
To do that, instructors touted Trump's own promises: that students would be "mentored" by "handpicked" real-estate experts, who would use Trump's own real-estate strategies. Here’s Trump making the pitch himself:
But according to the New York complaint, none of the instructors was "handpicked" by Trump, many of them came from fields having nothing to do with real-estate, and Trump "'never' reviewed any of Trump University's curricula or programming materials." The materials were "in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies."
Furthermore, Trump's promises that the three-day seminar ($1,495) would include "access to 'private' or 'hard money' lenders and financing," that it would include a "year-long 'apprenticeship support' program," and that it would 'improve the credit scores' of students were empty.
Those empty promises are the subject of a new series of anti-Trump ads by superPAC American Future Fund:
According to Bob, "I never heard from anybody about giving me a list of hard-money lenders":
Kevin, another Trump U "student," says Trump University "ruined" his credit score:
And according to Sherri, a single mother who participated in Trump U: "It was all supposedly supervised by Donald Trump, run by Donald Trump. All of it was just a fake."
In fact, Sherri isn't alone. No student ever met the Donald. Despite hints from Trump University instructors that Trump was "going to be in town," "often drops by," or "might show up," he never did. As Matt Labash recounted in The Weekly Standard: "At one seminar, attendees were told they’d get to have their picture taken with Trump. Instead, they ended up getting snapped with his cardboard cutout." Bob.., had such an "opportunity":
There could be many more ads to come. The New York lawsuit alone represents some 5,000 victims.
Meanwhile, Trump - who maintains that Trump University was "a terrific school that did a fantastic job" - has tried to bully his opponents out of the suit. Lawyers for Tarla Makaeff have requested a protective order from the court "to protect her from further retaliation." According to court documents, Trump has threatened to sue Makaeff personally, as well as her attorneys. He's already brought a $100 million counterclaim against the New York attorney general's office.
But it's not working. Trump himself will have to take the witness stand in San Diego federal court sometime during the election season - and because of the timeline of the cases, a "President Trump" would be embroiled in these suits long after November.
Meanwhile, if there is any doubt that Trump U was designed to be a scam, The Atlantic puts that to rest with a few other choice tidbits from that "Private & Confidential" playbook used by Trump presenters:
Every university has admission standards and Trump University was no exception. The playbook spells out the one essential qualification in caps: "ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED IN FULL." Basically, anyone with a valid credit card was “admitted” to Trump University....
If a member of the media happened to approach the registration table, Trump staffers were instructed not to talk to him or her under any circumstance. "Reporters are rarely on your side and they are not sympathetic," the playbook advises.
And:
At one point, the playbook advises Trump staffers: "If a district attorney arrives on the scene, contact the appropriate media spokesperson immediately."
Sounds legit.
And Trump will do the same thing with “Clinton Foundation”.
Bankruptcies - Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney.
divorces - Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, about half of the American people
fraudulent universities - “universities”? still an accusation
strip clubs - no knowledge on my part
wrestling impresario - a gag
beauty pageants - and your problem with that?
gambling casinos - don’t personally like them, but are legal
intimate of mafioso - accusation
prize fighting impresario - ?
failed football league - evidently first time in world history a business venture failed.
serial litigation - when you accrue 10 billion dollars, you will understand.
failed businesses - again, Trump is unique in that, to you.
serial lying - accusation
bombast, braggadocio, bullying - a lot of people think it is fighting spirit.
intimate relationship with Democrats - “intimate”?? You are confusing acquaintance with relationship.
financing of Democrats - his contributions equal out with both parties.
financing of rinos including Mitch McConnell and his ilk - repetition of above.
hiring illegals - Trump hires only his top people; his contractors hire illegals, just like they do in my home town.
lying about opposition to Iraq war - he is on video opposing it at a very early date.
lying about opposition to a Libya - ?
“Perhaps the most damning allegation of all, he causes his supporters to ape his worst characteristics by cheapening the debate and debasing discourse with phrases like:”
“with 5 minutes of observation” cannot be beat as a damning allegation.
you pulled the whole thing straight out of our (sic) ass
Excuse the typo, I meant “our of your ass”.
McD employees are paid for their hours at “Hamburger U” and they are indeed selected by the employment process. You cannot buy an admission to Hamburger U.
Trump U was great and fantastic and anyone who disagrees is a lightweight loser and part of the establishment :)
There are several lawsuits filed against Ted Cruz’ eligibility to be president too and millions of people think he is uneligible. Are these lawsuits legit? Must be.
And this OpEd, posted to "Editorial" giving that information, just got dropped into the "Cheese" trash can and me bumped off the site (so that I have to sign back in again).
HELL NO! I could teach his classes to stoops like you!
If anybody gets sucked into any get rich quick seminars, they deserve it. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I have no pity nor mercy for any twit that lost money on any scam and I've lost millions in the greatest scam of all time, the stock market.
It was my own decision to turn over the handling of much of my money to my "friends and brokers", so I have no pity on me, it's called...NEXT.
bttt!
What you said.
wait.. you where expecting a rational argument from a Trump supporter?
Thank you for a look at the real situation. So tired of all the hit pieces on Trump I but suppose it will only get worse from here on out....
Cruz supports a VAT tax. Nonstarter for me. Everything else aside.
Trump reminds me of a Time Share Pimp! All Hype, no substance, manly lies and half truths.
No, I think with all those allegations you were right the first time it is "our" ass.
Wait! On the other hand now that I think about it Donald Trump has got a huge ass and perhaps all of these charges about Donald came out of his ass for which there is no doubt room for even the many unlisted allegations. Room for all these endless charges except perhaps not quite room enough for Donald Trump's ego.
“Cruz supports a VAT tax. Nonstarter for me. Everything else aside.”
That is as big a fib as “Cruz is for amnesty.”
https://www.tedcruz.org/tax_plan/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/jobs-and-opportunity/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/secure-the-border/
https://www.tedcruz.org/cruz-immigration-plan/
Of course, Ted Cruz proposes nothing of the sort, he wants real income tax reform.
Donald Trump wants to tax the wealthy and we know where that will lead - to a definition of the middle class as wealthy.
Oh how silly of you to use this as an argument. Thought we all knew the truth of this fake story by now. You realize that Trump offered the woman a large amount of money for her home, right? She said no. Then, he offered her money and a home for life in one of his buildings. She said no.
Trump walked away. She lived in her home and it was not bulldozed.
RoflMAO> Call it a flat tax or a sales tax, it is still a VAT tax.
In exchange for some "free" gambling chips all we had to do was listen to a timeshare sales pitch.
We told them up front that we were not about to buy a timeshare and just wanted the $50.00 in chips. That was initially OK with them UNTIL at the end of their high pressure arm twisting they discovered that in spite of their tactics we really weren't going to buy anything. Then they all but threw us out of the building.
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