Donald Trump’s way of doing business is a window into his soul.
So his devastating loss Friday in a New York fraud case that threatens the empire on which he built his art of the deal mythology encapsulates more than a legal defeat.
It offers a character study of the behavior, beliefs and worldview that define the DNA of an irrepressible figure and unchained force who is again tearing at American unity, institutions, democracy and the rule of law as another contentious election looms.
A trial, which Trump tainted with histrionics and contempt for the judicial system, and Judge Arthur Engoron’s final, stinging judgment, revealed four foundational codes that explain Trump’s tumultuous path through a life that he simply sees as an endless stream of business and political deals he must close.
- Trump thinks rules are for other people. He will always break them in seeking more wealth, more attention, or more votes.
- If reality doesn’t get the ex-president what he wants, he conjures a new one.
- Trump is compelled always to fight — even when stepping back would be smarter.
- And when accountability finally arrives, he sees justice as an act of persecution by his enemies.
These Trump traits leap out of a staggering 92-page ruling handed down by Engoron, which left Trump facing a half-billion-dollar hole in his finances because of penalties and obligations in this and other cases.
The judge encapsulated the former president’s brazen refusal to play by the same rules under which everyone else must live — and that in this case are the key to a functioning banking and economic system — with the words: “ The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”
But evidence never swayed Trump before and will not now, despite his…
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