What Trump is stealing from you. Part 5

Over the past week, we've looked at how Trump is using his ability to manipulate the markets to generate fresh fortunes for wealthy insiders while most Americans watch their savings shrink.

We've seen how Trump is throwing Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security onto the chopping block to pay off his billionaire backers.

We've looked at how Trump uses Elon Musk and DOGE to turn the services you've already paid for into profit centers that deliver less and charge more and how he's giving away public land—including our most vital wilderness—to appease his pals in the energy industry.

But all that is just the start. The reason that Trump is trying to rush so many things through so quickly isn't because he's concerned about social issues, or military capability, or "efficiency" of government. It's because he's trying to hurry along history's greatest daylight robbery before everyone wakes up to what he is doing.

Donald Trump is stealing from you.

He's stealing from you. He's stealing from your family. He's stealing from your friends. He's stealing from your children. He is stealing your property, your services, and your savings. And he is doing it in almost every way imaginable—including some that should be impossible in any functional government.

He's stealing your public buildings and facilities

On March 4, the Trump General Services Administration posted a list of over 400 federal buildings that it was putting up for sale without review by Congress or consideration of their necessity for government functions. These were not obscure little offices in the middle of nowhere; the list included some of the largest federal office buildings serving agencies that have — so far — not been destroyed.

That list was taken down just a day later, leaving behind an ominous placeholder titled "Non-Core Properties List (coming soon)."

Should the eventual list resemble that first published, included in this disposal spree are the FBI headquarters in Quantico, VA and the primary headquarters of the Department of Justice in Washington. Both buildings have been designated "not core to government operations.”

Justice, it seems, is out of fashion. But since Trump has already announced the government will no longer investigate bribes to or from foreign governments, allow shell companies to shuffle around money without fear of investigation, and no longer investigate charges of corruption or election interference, it's understandable that they would need less space for all that legal stuff.

Now it seems Trump isn't just defunding the police, he's also making them homeless.

Displacing federal justice is only a small part of this grand real estate deal. It's a big list, both in terms of the number of buildings and the locations affected. While Washington, D.C. is home to several buildings Trump is putting on the auction block, others are scattered across the country, including in places where Trump supporters are about to be shocked by what they bought last November.

Also on the list are the enormous Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indiana, the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center and the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco. Roughly 80% of the country’s 2.4 million federal workers are based outside of metropolitan Washington, D.C.

What Trump is doing is simple: By cutting the number of federal workers and selling off hundreds of federal buildings, he's creating a glut of office space that ensures he, his friends, and his family can pick up these buildings for pennies on the dollar. And not just these buildings. The sudden superabundance of square footage will depress the business real estate markets in many of the areas where the Trump Dump is taking place. Like Cleveland, Ohio. Or Atlanta, Georgia. Or Austin, Texas.

Despite a number of notable chains going out of business in the aftermath of the pandemic, the market for retail space in the U.S. remains extremely tight and prices are high. Demand for office space continues to increase despite the number of work-from-home positions. Those with inside information, who are aware of what buildings Trump is going to make available, can move quickly to secure incredible bargains in some of the most valuable areas of multiple cities.

Some of these areas have seen rapid growth in recent years and their real estate markets are tottering at the high end of a bubble. Trump is going to pop that bubble — and profit from the explosion.

Residential real estate markets are also going to be affected, as well. Thousands of federal workers are losing their jobs, being displaced, or being forced to move from homes that were previously owned by the federal government. Home listings in the Washington, D.C. area are already at a historic high with prices taking a tumble.

Just as with the stock market, wealthy investors stand to benefit immensely as Trump hands over buildings and wrecks local property values. But those not on the inside will see their home prices fall just as they are also being displaced from their jobs – making it much harder to move to pursue new employment.

What's happening here is classic disaster capitalism. Trump has manufactured a crisis, used his extraordinary power to create a breakdown in real estate markets all over the country, and is standing by to slurp up the profits.

Someone is going to make some incredible deals on those federal buildings and the homes of former federal workers. But it won't be you.

These properties and all the vital services they represent are being stolen from you.