If you think that Donald Trump is going to ignore the news about him dropping on the annual Forbes list of billionaires then you are surely mistaken. There’s just no chance a guy with this kind of ego is going to let this report slide. While we as a nation continue to try and dig into how many conflict of interests deals our President has going on, we at least know that his business empire took a bit of a loss last year. Trump has slipped over 200 spots in Forbes’ recent annual billionaire list.
According to Guardian, the decline in Trump’s net worth is due to a drop in the value of office space in Midtown Manhattan, according to the Guardian. Forbes ranks Trump as the world’s 544th richest person, after coming in at No. 324 last year. He has famously refused to reveal his tax returns that would identify his actual net worth, but has claimed it’s “in excess” of $10 billion. Bill Gates once again sits atop the list. The Microsoft co-founder has now been the richest person in the world for 18 out of the past 23 years, per Forbes.. He has a fortune of $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year, while Warren Buffett ranks No. 2 with $75.6 billion. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is third with $72.8 billion, followed by Spanish clothing retailer Amancio Ortega and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
There are two things I’m expecting from this news. The first is some kind tweet from Trump that congratulates the guys at the top of the list. It’s like him to actually give credit to those he considers worthy of it. Along with that tweet will undoubtedly be some kind of “if I weren’t the President” tweet to accompany it making an excuse that he’d be way richer if all his White House stuff weren’t in his way.
The second thing is more dangerous. You know that whole conflict of interest thing? Expect it to get worse. Once Trump gets wind of this news he’ll utilizing executive power to make more money in his business interests. Mark my words.
