When we asked Trump about those staggering losses, he attributed the red ink to depreciation, a provision in the tax code that can allow owners of real estate to reduce their taxable income over time by the amount they spent on a building, excluding the cost of the land. But Trump had not spent enough on buildings he owned to generate that much of a deduction for depreciation. The truth was that Trump was hemorrhaging cash, largely from massive interest payments. But it was all other people’s cash. His entire operation, and his lifestyle, was a float. He was living, and creating a phony image,
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