“Donald Trump, master of reinvention, has a new title: tech entrepreneur. It’s overkill for the 75-year-old, who doesn’t even use email and prefers to scribble notes with marker. But he doesn’t mind jumping into companies where that he has little prior experience, and this job should prove to be much more lucrative than the presidency. In fact, he’s already increased his net worth by $430 million.”
Trump has spent much of his life, and his presidency, exaggerating his wealth.
In a “Net Worth Summary as of June 30, 2014” that Trump released when he announced his presidential bid in 2015, Trump claimed to be worth $8.7 billion. “I’m really rich,” Trump said in his campaign ad that year. “I have a total net worth of $8.73 billion. I’m not doing that to brag. I’m doing it to show that that’s the kind of thinking our country needs.”
“Real estate values in New York City, San Francisco, Miami, and many other places where you own property have risen sharply during this time period,” the statement stated. “Your debt is a very small percentage of the value and at very low interest rates. As of this date, Mr. Trump’s net worth exceeds TEN BILLION DOLLARS.” (ALL CAPS was in the original release because, well, it’s Trump.)
Trump’s actual net worth in 2015 was $4.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Trump also spent his presidency lamenting the fact that being president was costing him money.
Pinpointing Trump’s exact wealth is extremely difficult due, in large part, to the fact that he refused to release any of his tax returns while running for president or during his four years in office. Trump insisted that tax returns did a poor job of cataloging a person’s wealth, which is not true.