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Has the Teflon or Kevlar coating protecting Donald Trump finally been penetrated? Has the serial entrepreneur who almost impossibly was able to turn every adversity, no matter how damning, into profit, finally lost that touch? And will the final inability to post a $454 billion bond put an end to Trump's political career when 91 indictments so far have not?
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Some 30 companies failed or refused Trump's plea for a bond critical to allowing his appeals process to continue in the New York civil case. A question that Republicans should ask each other, beyond asserting that the size of the award was ludicrous, was if you had sufficient money to lend, would you trust the former president to repay you?
No matter the answer, how might Trump respond to this particularly threatening adversity that could end his ambitions for re-election?
In the past, Trump's default reaction, learned at the knee and other low joints of the controversial attorney Roy Cohn, was to double down. If Trump were sued for a dollar, he would sue for twice that. If someone took out a half-page advertisement attacking him, Trump would buy a page. Actually, this financial crisis is a no-brainer for the real estate mogul turned president.
Many of Trump's skills were honed over a dozen years on television with the very successful Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice shows. With about 32 weeks before Election Day, Nov. 5, Trump could design a TV series to run 24 weeks, giving eight weeks for planning.
The series could be called A Day with The Donald. For $20 million, an individual could buy the privilege of spending a day with the former president that would be recorded and televised.
Funding the whole series would amount to $480 million, more than enough to cover the bond. And of course Trump would sell the series to a willing network. Think of the ratings. Fox would be a prime candidate. Or Fox could be the stalking horse for a bidding war. Either way, Trump would have his bond and metaphorically eat it, too.
Taxes could be minimized through creative accounting. "Extras" would allow even more revenue. During these months, it seems entirely likely Trump will be in court. How much would it be worth to sit next to Trump at the defendants' table in court? To some, a great deal.
To push A Day with The Donald to its financial limits, how about A Round of Golf with The Donald, played on one of his many fine golf courses here or abroad? The single caveat is that scoring would be in accordance with Trump rules.
When Trump and North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, met, the legend goes that Kim asked Trump what his golf handicap was. Trump replied "5 or 6x." But added, as president, he did not play as much golf as he would like, inferring he was a better player.
Trump then asked Kim what his handicap was. Kim answered that while he only played once, it was 22. Trump was very curious, asking, "What did you score in one round to get that handicap?" Kim's response actually surprised Trump.
"I scored 22: 8 holes in one; 8 eagles; and two birdies. That is 22!"
A decade or more ago, this manufactured piece would not even have made good satire. Who would publish it? It was clearly too farfetched. (Although in a press conference, Kim did say the first time he played golf he did have eight holes in one). In American politics, however, this is no more fatuous or unlikely a scenario than Trump running for president in jail or his declaring bankruptcy.
Consider this parallel. The presidential elections in Russia were reported in the U.S. media as "shams, frauds and farces," with Putin winning about 87% of the vote. How might U.S. elections in November be characterized in Pravda or Izvestia? Would they be any less pejorative?
After all, some three-quarters of Americans do not want either Joe Biden or Trump as their president. Is that not farce in the extreme? Making fun of others is fine. But it is not so fine when we are not only targets, but legitimate targets of satire.
Interestingly, in this Alice-in-Wonderland-like world we inhabit, the idea of producing a TV show called A Day with the Donald makes eminent political, commercial and financial sense. And it could win the election for Trump.
Should Trump read this, perhaps I could become an executive producer.
Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and author of "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Follow him @harlankullman. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
