Steve Forbes: Becoming President Has Hurt Donald Trump's Net Worth

ZURICH, Switzerland, January 24, 2019 (Newswire.com) - In a candid interview with Switzerland’s leading opinion weekly Die Weltwoche, Steve Forbes, editor in chief of Forbes Media, reports that President Trump’s net worth has shrunk since entering the White House.

The publisher of the annual “Forbes 400” list tells Die Weltwoche, “People want to wait to see what his popularity is going to be before committing.” Financially, Trump “has been hurt more than helped by being president.”

Forbes also reveals that Trump is the only person who actively lobbies to be on the “Forbes 400” list: “We’d get reliably two phone calls a year.”

In an hour-long conversation with Die Weltwoche reporters Urs Gehriger and Florian Schwab, Forbes opens up about growing up Forbes, why he attends Davos, and finding out Stormy Daniels spanked the president with a Forbes magazine.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

On Trump’s net worth:

• We have him at about three and a half, four billion. We think that’s legitimate.

• If he wasn’t always tripling our estimate, we’d have to say he has been very successful.

On the financial impact of the presidency:

• His net worth has actually gone down since he has become president... People want to wait to see what his popularity is going to be before committing.

• He has been hurt more than helped by being president.

Making the Forbes 400:

• Most people, if they had their choice, would not be on the list because the people who read the list most assiduously are fundraisers.

• One individual does want to be on the list, and he’s now our president.

• Before he became president, we’d get reliably two phone calls a year. One in the spring, before the global billionaires issue, complaining we’ve grossly underestimated his wealth. One in the fall for the “400” issue — same message.

• Back in 2015, when he announced he was running for president, we did a cover story on him for the “400” issue. He is running for president and he spent hours arguing with our editors about the worth of his various properties.

On porn star Stormy Daniels spanking Trump with a Forbes magazine:

•  I like to think that she realizes if she wanted to improve her life, she should read “Forbes.”

On Trump’s politics:

• He is not ideological... if it wasn’t for the antipathy on the part of the base of the Democratic party, Trump would be quite willing to sit down and disappoint his own supporters.

Discussing the Federal Reserve Chairman:

• ...the only good thing about Chairman Jerome Powell is that at least he’s not an economist.

On Peter Navarro, White House Director of Trade and Industrial Policy:

• He should re-read Adam Smith.

• I think Navarro is totally wrong on trade.

Read the full Steve Forbes interview here: https://www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2019-4/artikel-566167/forbes-die-weltwoche-ausgabe-4-2019

Die Weltwoche is Switzerland’s leading German-language opinion weekly with a readership of over 400,000 in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

Available on newsstands now.

Contact: Florian Schwab, Economics & Business Editor, Die Weltwoche. Email. [email protected]

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Source: Weltwoche Verlags AG