My opponent has submitted the following argument via the comment section:
I put nothing past Donald Trump. It wouldn't surprise me if he declares bankruptcy invalidating all US debt.
Trump only cares about himself. If he can profit from a bankruptcy, he will do it.
Rebuttals:
"It wouldn't surprise me if he declares bankruptcy invalidating all US debt."
Irrelevant. As much as many would praise such a policy of debt abolition in these troubled times.
"Trump only cares about himself"
Irrelevant. I don't need to prove he cares about anything, as that is not the topic at hand. This is a red herring at best [
1].
"If he can profit from a bankruptcy, he will do it."
Irrelevant. What he would hypothetically do, has no baring on what distinguished him as a businessman.
My Case:
No personal bankruptcies
The topic refers to "himself," meaning the "endless bankruptcies" should be impacting him. If endlessly bankrupt, it would be self evident by him living on the street or couch surfing, instead of living at at the single most well known address in the world of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The fact is he has never been bankrupted. The lowest his wealth has ever been estimated to fall was to $150 million [
2]; when if any of us had 1% of that, we would never have to work another day in our lives.
Comparatively, many other billionaires have become truly bankrupt [
3].
Few businesses bankruptcies
The Trump Group was taken over by Donald Trump in 1971, which he lead until 2017. In those 46 years, only six out of about 500 of the companies he owns filed for bankruptcy [
4] . Were it even one per year it might be defining, as is, that's an abysmally low rate of bankruptcy for businesses. In fact of new businesses, only 25% survive even 15 years [
5]. This means as a businessman he is literally distinguished for the opposite of what the resolution claims.
Sources:
- https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Red_herring
- https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/weve-been-trying-figure-out-how-much-trump-worth-20-years/349875/
- https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-billionaires-who-declared-bankruptcy-2019-7
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trump_Organization
- https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1010/top-6-reasons-new-businesses-fail.aspx
One hour remains for you to post your arguments.
Right now you're resembling a False Flag Troll. You aren't making Trump look bad, rather you are putting time and effort into making Trump haters look mentally deficient (such as while starting over a dozen debates, unable to figure out how to press the submit argument button on this website).
An easy example of this kind of thing was my opponent on "Israel has no right to exist," whom I easily outed as really just an anti-Palestinian, trying to sow disdain for actual supporters of Palestinian independence (to whom he was badly impersonating). https://www.debateart.com/debates/1755/israel-has-no-right-to-exist
The main place I see this behavior is the religion forum, to which atheists pretend to be the most vile and offensive members of various religions, and vice versa, plus other variants.
In popular culture, actor Jussie Smollett could not find enough racism so hired a couple Nigerians to pretend lynch him.
Donald Trump was born a lowlife. He has been a lowlife as long as he has been around. he will die a lowlife.
For my fellow debaters, Donald Trump declares bankruptcy for only 1 reason...His personal benefit. So what if he puts thousands out of work like the casinos in Atlantic City..
If you say these casino workers file for unemployment, who do you think pays the bills ? The American taxpayers.
Research is a waste of time? No wonder you complain. Yes, your claims of bankruptcy on everyone else come too close to home. Just working for money rather than the alternative? Put your money to work for you, which is why Donald Trump has never declared personal bankruptcy. However, as the former scion of a 500+ company empire, he has used corporate bankruptcy of a few companies to stop their lack of productivity. It's a tool to protect the other companies from the drain of non-productivity. You would know that with research.
"1. How many bankruptcies is "endless?"
2. Did Trump ever declare personal bankruptcy?
3. Let's calculate the number of bankruptcies to the number of businesses under the Trump umbrella."
1. Endless would be pretty hard, but I'll give the hyperbole the benefit of say 1 per year (would not be continuous, but close enough).
2. No.
3. Just over 1%. Which by year works out to something like 0.0026 of a percentage point.
User_2006...
There are too many loonies at debate.org. This site is much better.
I am starting to feel like that Ramdatt is Hezikiah of DDO.
"Shouldn't one start with finding out:
1. How many bankruptcies is "endless?"
2. Did Trump ever declare personal bankruptcy?
3. Let's calculate the number of bankruptcies to the number of businesses under the Trump umbrella."
Nope...A waste of time.
You sound like you are a lover of Trump. Good luck in your bankruptcy because of our coming Great Depression.
Shouldn't one start with finding out:
1. How many bankruptcies is "endless?"
2. Did Trump ever declare personal bankruptcy?
3. Let's calculate the number of bankruptcies to the number of businesses under the Trump umbrella.
From #3, I would inquire if the instigator is as successful.
I put nothing past Donald Trump. It wouldn't surprise me if he declares bankruptcy invalidating all US debt.
Trump only cares about himself. If he can profit from a bankruptcy, he will do it.
If unable to post arguments in the usual section, please add them to the comments and I will firmly insist they be weighted as per normal.
I'm placing the bet on Ragnar.