The Debanking Deception: How the President is Rewriting His Own Financial History (Again)

Oh, the plight of the persecuted billionaire! Our twice-impeached former President, a man whose very name is synonymous with gold-plated everything, would have you believe that the cruel, woke banking establishment has turned its back on him. Yes, according to a recent flurry of self-pitying pronouncements and conveniently timed leaks, poor Donald J. Trump is the latest victim of “political discrimination,” with those nasty banks refusing to hold his presumably vast piles of cash. It’s a tale of woe that would almost be believable if it weren’t for, well, reality.

Let’s rewind for a moment, shall we? Before Mr. Trump became the standard-bearer of the conservative movement, he was a businessman. A specific kind of businessman, one whose ventures had a rather unfortunate tendency to end in bankruptcies and unpaid debts. In fact, as the less-amnesiac corners of the internet will recall, a 2019 report in the New York Times noted that for decades, the only “mainstream financial institution consistently willing to do business with Mr. Trump” was Deutsche Bank, and this was attributed to his rather colorful “history of defaulting on loans.” So, forgive us if we raise an eyebrow at the sudden narrative of blue-blooded bankers inexplicably shunning such a financially sound and trustworthy individual for purely ideological reasons. The truth, it seems, has a long and rather litigious memory.

But fear not, our beleaguered former leader is not one to suffer in silence. In true Trumpian fashion, he has weaponized his personal grievance into a national crusade, alleging that these banks aren’t just picking on him; they’re discriminating against “many conservatives” and “Trump supporters.” And what is his proposed solution to this entirely manufactured crisis? Why, an executive order, of course! Because nothing says “small government” like siccing federal regulators on private businesses that dare to make decisions he doesn’t like.

The supposed impetus for this regulatory overreach? The dreaded “reputational risk.” You see, during the Biden administration (gasp!), those deep-state regulators might have raised an eyebrow at banks continuing to provide services to someone with Mr. Trump’s… extensive legal entanglements. But fret not, because this administration has already nipped that potential accountability in the bud. As Reuters so helpfully pointed out, the Trump administration has already directed the Federal Reserve to scrap “reputational risk” as a key metric in bank examinations. Problem solved, right? Except, of course, for the pesky fact that JPMorgan Chase still handles banking for other members of the Trump family and various Trump-affiliated campaigns. So much for a broad anti-Trump agenda at that particular institution. It seems their decisions might be a tad more nuanced than simple political animus.

Enter the corporate sycophants. JPMorgan Chase, rather than politely reminding the former President of his well-documented financial history, issued a statement practically begging to help the White House “get this right” on regulatory change. Because nothing screams “we made a sound business decision based on risk assessment” like immediately offering to rewrite the rules at the behest of the person you supposedly “discriminated” against. It’s a level of corporate kowtowing that would make a medieval courtier blush.

And let’s not forget the broader banking industry, ever eager for a good old-fashioned deregulation party. They’ve seized upon this moment of manufactured outrage to whine about “onerous rules” and “supervisory discretion,” hoping to ride the wave of Trump’s personal vendetta all the way to a lighter regulatory burden. It’s a cynical dance as old as capitalism itself: exploit a political moment to achieve your own long-term goals, even if it means validating a patently ridiculous premise.

Finally, we arrive at the propaganda arm. Never one to let a good victim narrative go to waste, Fox Business host and former Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow dutifully appeared on air to spin this entire farce into a heroic tale of Trump battling the nefarious “Biden regulators” who are somehow strong-arming banks into… making rational business decisions? The mental gymnastics required to jump through that hoop could qualify someone for the Olympics.

The truth, as always, is far less dramatic and far more self-serving. This isn’t about political persecution; it’s about a former President attempting to rewrite his own checkered financial past by crying foul and threatening regulatory retribution. It’s about banks desperately trying to avoid the ire of a powerful and vindictive figure, even if it means sacrificing a modicum of self-respect. And it’s about an entire industry salivating at the prospect of further deregulation, all under the convenient guise of fighting “discrimination.”

So, the next time you hear about the banks unfairly targeting conservatives, perhaps remember the name “Deutsche Bank” and the phrase “history of defaulting on loans.” This isn’t a principled stand against political bias; it’s a predictable and tiresome performance designed to deflect from personal failings and grease the wheels of deregulation. And in the grand theater of American politics, it’s yet another act in a very long and very cynical show.