Yesterday, Warren Buffett issued a challenge to the Republican presidential nominee while speaking at a Hillary Clinton rally in Omaha, Nebraska. Buffett’s proposed challenge is one where he and Donald Trump both release their tax returns to the public and answer questions about the contents. Buffett outlined how Donald Trump lost “90 cents on the dollar” for investors with his publicly traded company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, beginning in 1995 and over the course of the following 10 years.
Today, Trump responds to Buffett on Fox Business’ Varney & Co .
“I don’t care much about Warren Buffett,” the billionaire presidential nominee stated.
Warren Buffett’s net worth is reported to be $64.4 billion by Forbes , making him the fourth richest person in the world. Donald Trump, by comparison, is the 324th richest person in the world, as reported by Forbes , and is estimated to have a net worth of $4.5 billion, or just shy of 8 percent of Buffett’s.
As previously featured by the Inquisitr , if Donald Trump had invested his $40 million inheritance in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A , BRK-B ) in the early 1970s and held the position until today, his net worth would be over $200 billion. Donald Trump has not demonstrated anywhere near the same talent for allocating capital and generating positive returns as Warren Buffett.
“If a monkey had thrown a dart at the stock page, the monkey, on average, would have made 150 percent,” Warren Buffett said of the years Donald Trump’s publicly traded company existed.
Speaking with Stuart Varney, Donald Trump discussed Buffett’s words. He stated that while he operated his company in Atlantic City that the town was “run down the tubes,” seemingly placing blame for the failure of the business on forces outside of his control.
Trump also made light of his “great timing” and how, he personally, made a lot of money in Atlantic City, despite Warren Buffett’s assertion that members of the public who invested with him lost “90 cents on the dollar.”
“I took a lot of money out of Atlantic City, which is what I’m supposed to do,” Trump explained. “I’m a businessperson.”
Trump spoke of “times going bad” in Atlantic City and noted fellow-New Jersey casino operator Caesars Entertainment’s bankruptcy. The Republican candidate also described a bad decision made on the placement of a convention center in the seaside resort town and the fact that an airport was never built of hindering the performance of his company.
“I got out seven years ago,” Trump told Varney. “My timing’s been good. Atlantic City’s had a hard time.”
Varney asked Trump if that was his “counter-punch” to Warren Buffett.
Trump said that there was no counter-punch. He said that Buffett had been a Democrat and a big “fan” of Hillary Clinton for some amount of time.
“And I think that’s fine,” Trump stated. “Hillary’s a disaster. She lied over the weekend… to Chris Wallace. She lied over the weekend. I’m sitting there listening to that interview and I couldn’t believe it.”
Varney pressed Trump that Hillary’s performance was not what was being debated by journalists today. The Fox Business host opined that the media were focusing on “that Khan thing ,” as previously reported by the Inquisitr , and now on Warren Buffett’s heaping of scorn on the presidential candidate as well.
Varney told Trump that his campaign’s goal of sharing “prosperity” with the United States is not being heard by the electorate because of these distractions.
Trump responded that all he was attempting to do was answer Varney’s questions, explaining again how he was a victim of poor business conditions in Atlantic City and that other companies had suffered similar fates. Once again, Donald Trump also lauded his own business acumen at the timing of his exit from Atlantic City.
Evidence of a response from Donald Trump to Buffett’s offer to mutually release tax returns and take questions on them from the public remains elusive.
Thank you Virginia! #ImWithYou pic.twitter.com/9inCh1BVwM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2016
[Photo by Steve Pope/Getty Images]