When Donald Trump was still just that “asshole running for president” and not our embarrassment in chief, people began to point out how most of his businesses were just the result of a rigged real estate system. Like many one percenters’ achievements, these deals promoted corruption over merit and left the taxpayers fronting the bill. A prime example is Donald Trump’s Golf Links course at Ferry Point in New York City.

Contrary to statements made by the Trump campaign during the Republican convention, the city, not Mr. Trump, built the golf course at Ferry Point, for $127 million. Four years ago, in a deal finalized under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, the Trump Organization came on board to operate the course, assume the expense of upkeep and build a $10 million clubhouse, yet to be erected. Nevertheless, the greenway, maintained to luxurious standard, has the effect of abrading principle away. [...]

The structure of the deal the city forged with the Trump Organization at Ferry Point does not require it to remit licensing fees to the city until 2019, at which point the company will pay 7 percent of gross revenue (or $300,000, the cost of a well-appointed summer rental in Southampton, whichever is higher). In its first year of operation, according to the city, revenue totaled $8 million, meaning that if fees had been collected, the city would have received $560,000 — $175,000 short of what, in its contract with the Trump Organization, it projected it could make during the first year. Leaving that aside, even if the city were bringing in one million or even two million dollars annually from the partnership, we would still be looking well into the second term of a Barron Trump — or Barron Trump Jr. — presidency before the city would be getting back much of the $127 million of taxpayer money it spent to create the course in the first place.