“Possibly he saw them as a way to get out of paying someone their just due?”
Assigning that thinking seems to suggest the bankruptcy was purposefully done and not a consequence of a poor business environment.
Trumps businesses are all leisure related and in a recession the very first businesses to suffer are leisure since they receive all their income from the clients discretionary spending and this is the first to stop during financial hard times.
Trump’s bankruptcies happened during financial hard times.
Just looking at it through a different view point. We know how some folks see things.