Has Trump run his scams by his own wits or is it only his lawyers and accountants who arrange them?

[repoman]

I personally think that Trump is not smart enough to run these scams, but only has like minded people he employs do them. But is there any proof of this either way?

Maybe I am wrong though, is it really hard to stiff people and let them have no recourse through advanced planning of contracts? Is it just a matter of having no conscience?

I would imagine that these particular people are the only ones he does not stiff - given that they are the most dangerous to him if they talk to the press, prosecutors or lawyers of civil plaintiffs.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

He probably ran those scams in the same way that Bush ran the Iraq war. He gave the general direction of what people are supposed to do, but left the implementation of how exactly it gets done to the people underneath him.

If there were a couple dozen unpaid contracts for various reasons over the decades, that would likely be the result of individual situations where something out of the ordinary happened. When there's the number that Trump has, however, it's indicative of a corporate policy coming from the top. He finds it more cost effective to stiff people on payments and pay some legal fees to his attorneys than to just pay up. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he stiffs these people too since planning ahead and thinking things through don't seem to be strong points for him.

 

[Elixir]

He probably ran those scams in the same way that Bush ran the Iraq war. He gave the general direction of what people are supposed to do, but left the implementation of how exactly it gets done to the people underneath him.

If there were a couple dozen unpaid contracts for various reasons over the decades, that would likely be the result of individual situations where something out of the ordinary happened. When there's the number that Trump has, however, it's indicative of a corporate policy coming from the top. He finds it more cost effective to stiff people on payments and pay some legal fees to his attorneys than to just pay up. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he stiffs these people too since planning ahead and thinking things through don't seem to be strong points for him.

Looks like you're right:

"Donald Trump casts himself as a protector of workers and jobs, but a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found hundreds of people – carpenters, dishwashers, painters, even his own lawyers – who say he didn’t pay them for their work."
-USA Today

 

[RavenSky]

He probably ran those scams in the same way that Bush ran the Iraq war. He gave the general direction of what people are supposed to do, but left the implementation of how exactly it gets done to the people underneath him.

If there were a couple dozen unpaid contracts for various reasons over the decades, that would likely be the result of individual situations where something out of the ordinary happened. When there's the number that Trump has, however, it's indicative of a corporate policy coming from the top. He finds it more cost effective to stiff people on payments and pay some legal fees to his attorneys than to just pay up. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he stiffs these people too since planning ahead and thinking things through don't seem to be strong points for him.

There actually was a former attorney who is on record as having been stiffed by Trump, but iirc it was a small law firm - which means they don't have the financial means to fight back. I would expect that Trump pays his primary law firm and accounting firm very very well and would not only never stiff them, but they are smart enough to have a very cushy retainer arrangement to be sure he can never stiff them.

As for his tax cheating, he pays someone to do that for him.

As for everyone else, I think that is entirely on him and depends on what mood he is in that day. He also seems to genuinely believe that it is such a privilege to work for him that everyone should do it for free and like it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

He's too out of touch with reality these days to be running them himself.