For several years, David Letterman ran a segment called “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches,” in which stirring clips of, say, JFK declaring “Ich bin ein Berliner” and Bill Clinton’s ringing “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America” would be followed by the latest instance of George W. Bush mangling his words or otherwise looking foolish (Letterman ran the concept into the ground, and it was still funny every time). In similar vein, let’s imagine a “Great Moments in Financial Reporting” in which your favourite snatches of oratory from David Tweedie or Andreas Barckow lead into the following, initially as reported by CNN:

• Donald Trump said his financial statements would always hold up in court — “except maybe in this court” — because of the disclaimers that are added to the statements.
• …The former president then pointed to the disclaimers on the financial documents saying that “They always hold up in court, expect maybe in this court, they always hold up in court, always. It’s a disclaimer.”
• “One of the reasons I never got too involved in these statements is that clause is on page one, as you know better than anybody,” Trump says. “And that’s why we shouldn’t be having a case here.”
• …The complaint filed by (Attorney General Letitia James) addressed disclaimers, stating while they may relieve accountants of certain obligations that would otherwise adhere to their work on a more rigorous audit engagement, they do not give license to Mr. Trump or the Trump Organization to submit to their accountants fraudulent and misleading asset valuations for inclusion in the statements.

And there’s more:

• Assistant Attorney General Andrew Amer’s examination of Eric Trump grew tense Thursday as the son of the former president grew visibly agitated when pressed about his understanding of his father’s financial statements that were used to support real estate transactions. 
• Amer used a series of emails dating as far back as 2010 and phone conversations to argue that Eric Trump was familiar with the statements, contradicting his testimony. 
• …“I understand we had financials as a company,” Eric Trump said. “I was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition. I did not work on the of financial condition. I’ve been very, very clear on that.” 

And there’s more:

• Donald Trump Jr., whose testimony began on Wednesday, repeatedly said that he relied on his accountants and was not involved with the preparations of financial statements for his father, even though he signed them as a trustee of his father’s revocable trust.
• As a trustee starting in 2017 once Donald Trump became president, Trump Jr. signed certifications for annual financial submittals required for Trump Organization loans at Deutsche Bank for the Old Post Office, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida.
• He testified that he didn’t draft the financial statements, and when he certified them as a trustee, he relied on the Trump Organization accounting and legal teams that he said would have assured him they were accurate to sign.
• The attorney general’s office and Trump’s lawyers got into a lengthy back-and-forth over attorney-client privilege after Faherty asked what steps the Trump Organization had taken once the attorney general’s investigation into the company began in 2019.
• Some internal policies and methodologies “have been bolstered” since the investigation began, Trump Jr. said. One of those changes, he said, was hiring a chief financial officer who is a certified public accountant.

And yet more:

• (Ivanka Trump) was presented with documents that reflected her involvement in securing favorable loans for the Trump Organization that required guarantees about her father’s net worth.
• But she also tried to distance herself from her father’s financial statements. She testified that she did not know what valuations were included in the documents. At one point, Ms. Trump said of her father, “I would assume he would have personal financial statements” but then quickly added, “Those weren’t things that I was privy to.”

Well, if it’s ever true that accounting is the language of business, it’s obviously not so for the Trump Organization (can lies and venality constitute a language?) I’m not qualified to talk about the legalities of due diligence obligations and suchlike under New York state law. But given that supposed business expertise and acumen is (or at least was) a key component of the vote-Trump rationale, the family’s collective vagueness (if one chooses, just for the hell of it, to believe them) about even the most basic aspects of their company’s financial reporting ought to be astoundingly damaging to their broader credibility. But then, the real essence of their political brand is inchoate wrecking-ball rage against everything in sight, against rationality itself, and the family’s collective plea of cluelessness does seem consistent with that broader positioning. The biggest and blackest joke of all is that the more destructively inadequate Trump shows himself to be, the stronger the case in the eyes of many for returning him to power. It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could exercise the right to vote so shamefully, but perhaps the wretchedness of Trump supporters is also covered and excused by disclaimers…

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.