One of the many things that Elizabeth Warren gets right about Trump is how “small” he is. USA Today (Huh? Wha? USA Today?) reported this week how Trump doesn’t pay his bills with contractors. Especially smaller ones who can’t take him to court.  He negotiates a price. Makes the first payment. The contractor delivers. And, then, Trump refuses to pay the agreed-to price and reopens negotiations.

We’ve all done business with people like this. I remember working for a computer games start up, a company that two of my friends created and that had financing from a shady rich guy in New York. I had to work really hard to collect my expense checks. And, to be clear, these expenses were modest, a few hundred dollars. Economy class flights. Marriott hotels and no room service. I’d call accounts payable and “Stephanie”—she had a Queens accent out of central casting—would assure me that my expense check was signed and in the FedEx envelope.  And, then two days later, I’d start the process over again.

Five or so years ago, the company I worked for had a contract dispute with a company in a business similar to Trump’s. I was trying to collect a much overdue completion milestone. The second of four scheduled payments. The representative of this “company” said to me at one point, “If I pay you, how do I know you won’t f_ck me.” I actually had to explain that we were part of a publicly traded company and had, like, a basic understanding of business ethics. I flew to San Francisco.  Met with the CEO. We worked out a deal. Shook hands. And then two days later he reneged on everything. He just lied to my face, and we brought in the lawyers and eventually worked out a settlement.

This is the kind of cheapjack that the Party of Big Business has nominated.  For president. In southwestern Pennsylvania we refer to these guys as “jagoffs”.  Here’s the USA Today link.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/