The White House has targeted opponents, including a Fed governor, for having more than one primary residence on their loan papers. ProPublica found that, in one case, a Trump cabinet secretary got two such mortgages in quick succession.
It’s extremely clear what is going on here. Trump’s company was prosecuted in NY for a type of mortgage fraud where he overstated the values of his commercial properties in order to get more favorable terms on loans. So now that we have put him in charge again, he is desperately looking for any excuse to project that onto his opponents, even though this situation is totally different.
This involves personal residences, and strict definitions about what counts as a “primary residence”. Notably, from the article it seems like living in a house for a year ad a primary residence satisfies the terms of the lower rates in many cases. And you never really have to go back after the fact and tell a lender “Hey, I am moving and this is no longer my primary residence”. So simply having two loans with “primary residence” paperwork doesn’t imply any fraud, as long as the buyer was honest with the lender at the time of the purchase. Lenders know all the buyer’s assets outstanding loans, after all. It is implausible that the buyer would hide the fact that there is another loan outstanding. Many of these folks are rich and have other assets to seize in the unlikely event of a default, making them more attractive to loan to anyway and would have qualified for better treatment anyway.
This is different than what Trump did, which was to overvalue his properties so he could leverage them further. The fact that he paid all those loans back doesn’t make up for the fact that his valuations were fictional, and those fictional valuations had a material positive impact on his ability to do business.
But this isn’t about any of those technical details. It’s about petty revenge on the part of an immature man who is leader of the free world. He wants to weaponize government against his political opponents, while protecting his political allies. He is telling the handful of people on the fence “protect me, and I will protect you!”
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
It’s extremely clear what is going on here. Trump’s company was prosecuted in NY for a type of mortgage fraud where he overstated the values of his commercial properties in order to get more favorable terms on loans. So now that we have put him in charge again, he is desperately looking for any excuse to project that onto his opponents, even though this situation is totally different.
This involves personal residences, and strict definitions about what counts as a “primary residence”. Notably, from the article it seems like living in a house for a year ad a primary residence satisfies the terms of the lower rates in many cases. And you never really have to go back after the fact and tell a lender “Hey, I am moving and this is no longer my primary residence”. So simply having two loans with “primary residence” paperwork doesn’t imply any fraud, as long as the buyer was honest with the lender at the time of the purchase. Lenders know all the buyer’s assets outstanding loans, after all. It is implausible that the buyer would hide the fact that there is another loan outstanding. Many of these folks are rich and have other assets to seize in the unlikely event of a default, making them more attractive to loan to anyway and would have qualified for better treatment anyway.
This is different than what Trump did, which was to overvalue his properties so he could leverage them further. The fact that he paid all those loans back doesn’t make up for the fact that his valuations were fictional, and those fictional valuations had a material positive impact on his ability to do business.
But this isn’t about any of those technical details. It’s about petty revenge on the part of an immature man who is leader of the free world. He wants to weaponize government against his political opponents, while protecting his political allies. He is telling the handful of people on the fence “protect me, and I will protect you!”
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”