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"Why are you out here protesting?"

It's a question local videographerKyle Gordon asked over and over to protestors in the summer of 2020. After spending 30 days protesting alongside those same people,he picked up his camera to make a series of videos focusedon the Black Lives Matter movement in Louisville and the protests following the death of Breonna Taylor.

Itturned into "Voices of the Movement,"the first major videoproject Gordon produced by himself.

"I wanted to be out there for them and not exploit the movement. I didn't feel like it was my story to tell. I was supposed to be just a body on the ground," Gordon told the Courier Journal.

Last summer, protestors swept across America in response to the death of both Taylor and George Floyd and while amajor spotlight was placed on the protests, often they were portrayed in a negative light. Many people, like Gordon,countered that narrative with their own footage of the peacefulness they witnessed during the movement.

"I feel through personal stories and being able to have conversations with one another that we can understand each other more," Gordon said.

In the beginning,the project didn't have a direction and evolvedas Gordon interacted with people.

"I let the project take me where I want it to take me. I had no expectations, so I set little goals," Gordon said. The project now consists of 50 videos across a variety of social media platforms.

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A father of mixed-race children, Gordon originally joined the protest movement in Louisville to help make the world a better, safer place for his twokids. He could often be spotted at the protests wearing his signature "Best Dad" hat,a reminder to himself to be the best dad and best version of himself he can be.

That hat, which he wears to gigs all around town, has become part of his brand.

"That kind of went into the business. I started getting tagged as the 'Best Dad' video guy. Like rappers, especially would tag me and say things like 'just go to work with the best dad' and things like that," Gordon said. "It kind of branded itself."

Gordon embraced the moniker andBest Dad Mediawas born.His family helps operate the business his children designed the logo and help him get things togetherand shoot videos. His partner also helps him with the back-end of the small business, which has fewer than five employees.

The mission of Best Dad Media is simple. "I would say, we really want to help people that don't get to tell their story," Gordon said.

Gordon has more than 10 years of video experience working alongsidemany Louisvillerecording artists such as The Real Young Prodigy's andMarc DiNero.His work can also be found in Oprah Magazine, TIME Magazine and other major media outlets.

Hestarted his career path while working full-time at a local church. He was in charge of anything creative, fromgraphics and paintings tostage design and more. The pastor eventually asked him to create a video and he began to learn as much as he could about videography.

"I was in a unique place where I really got to know things. They invested in me and helped me learn the craft. Once I started picking it up, I kind of went down the route of church videography, kind of like documentary-style testimony videos," Gordon said.

He then transitionedinto wedding videography and in 2018, he went into full-time videography with an emphasis onentertainment, like music videos and commercials.

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That's how he met Antonio Taylor and his wife, Nyree Clayton-Taylor. Theycreated a non-profit organization called Hip-Hop into Learningand hired Gordon to shoot a video for its social justice group,The Real Young Prodigy's. He helped film its first project called Raparations, which was about getting reparations,the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged, and is often part of the conversation surrounding the descendants of formerly enslaved Black people.

"He has worked on every project we have done since 2019. We love that Kyle has a passion for the kids, passion for the kid's voices and he has a real passion for the community as well," Taylor told the Courier Journal.

Gordon helped create The Real Young Prodigy'slatest video called Crown, a project that inspiredLouisville Metro Councilman, Jecorey Arthur (D-4),to file anordinance for the CROWN Actor 'Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair'in Louisville.

The ordinance, which was signed into law by Mayor Greg Fischer in mid-July,bansdiscrimination against a person based on their natural hair or hairstyles

"Kyle played a big role in that. He helped create a lot of concepts for the video. He was a big part of helping the kids reach their goal," Taylor said.

Gordon has been involved in many paid projects, but his passion projects, like the one at the recent protests, are what he enjoys the most.

"The projects that nobody was paying me to do. Nobody told me to do it. I wanted to do it," Gordon said of his work.

When COVID-19 and the death of Breonna Taylor overtook the city in 2020, Gordon took a step back to revaluate the path he wanted to take with videography.

"I was following the path of all these people before me, and they all kind of paved the path that I don't want to take," Gordon said."I don't want to shoot movies. I don't want to shoot commercials for Churchill Downs or Woodford Reserve. I just want to make videos that tell stories that matter."

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He was looking for things to shootand came up with the idea for his Stories of COVID-19video series.

"In the beginning, I was just going out and documenting. I like to document, that's how I process things," said Gordon. The series kicksoff with local artist Jaylin Monet Stewart, doing sidewalk chalk art by Norton Women and Children's Hospital andNorton Children's Hospital of healthcare workers during COVID-19.The videos also highlight a group of skaters, social media influencers, a nurse and more.

To him, the project was a great way for people to see something positive during a dark time.

"... and that was during a time where there wasn't a lot of smiles on people's faces, so it's just beautiful to see humanity on display in different ways," Gordon said.

He also started doing more videosfor non-profit organizations, likeUnity Runners, whichwas created byGina Wickstead and Nicol Hodges on June 11 of last year.

The duo, each avid runners, began to run in downtown San Diego to spread awareness about Breonna Taylor and racial inequality. They eventuallycreated "Run for Breonna," where multiple runners come together to run and spread awareness about Taylor,wearing bibs that read #RunForBreonna Justice for Breonna Taylor. The run has been held in more than 45 places in the US, Canada and Brazil.

According to Wickstead, they have raised $15,000 for the Breonna Taylor foundation and helped raise $44,000 for Until Freedom,an intersectional social justice organization rooted in the leadership of diverse people of color to address systemic and racial injustice.

The mission of the Unity Runners is to help give a voice to Black women who don't have one. Much like Gordon's videos,the group wants to spread awareness in their own way about social justice issues.

"That was tremendous work (Gordon) did highlighting all the people who do the Louisville group. We are really thankful for him," Wickstead said of the videos he shot ofthe Louisville branch of Unity Runners. "It's so important to keep Breonna's name out there because she's another personthat people need to pay attention to."

Gordon says his work differs from other videographers because of his rawness. He doesn't like to control certain things, like telling people to look at the camera, talking with their hands or using giant microphones.

"I think sometimes things can be overproduced and you can lose some of the rawness," Gordon said.

To watch Stories of COVID-19 and Voices of the Movement, go tobestdadmedia.com/.

Reach Features Intern Gabby Bunton at gbunton@courier-journal.com.

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'Why are you protesting?' Videographer captures the changing voice of Louisville - Courier Journal

Back in 2015, when Donald Trump was merely a candidate for office, he made a bold claim, telling The Washington Post, Im going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people. Its a claim that would have held up if best and most serious people were actually code for a collection of fuck-ups, racists, and criminals,though of course Trump meant best in the actual sense. Instead, in the years since, more than half a dozen of the 45th presidents associates have been arrested or convicted of a crime, and apparently, the number continues to grow!

On Tuesday morning, billionaire Thomas Barrack, one of Trumps closest friends, was arrested in the Los Angeles area and charged with violating foreign-lobbying laws, making false statements, and obstructing justice. According to the Post, the financier was indicted on charges related to his dealings in the United Arab Emirates. He and two other defendants have reportedly been accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018. Officials also claimed that Barrack lied to FBI agents in 2019 while being questioned about his dealings with the UAE.

The 45-page indictment charges Matthew Grimes, an employee of Barracks investment firm, with helping in the lobbying effort. Grimes was also arrested, officials said. A third man charged in the scheme, Rashid Alshahhi, is a citizen of the UAE who lived for a time in California. Attorneys for Barrack and Grimes did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Officials said Alshahhi remains at large; an attorney for him could not immediately be identified.

Officials said that the lobbying effort began as Trump was sewing up the GOP primary nomination in the spring of 2016 and that Barrack took steps to establish himself as the key communications channel for the United Arab Emirates to the Campaign. A real estate titan who became wealthy buying out-of-favor assets, Barrack was one of Trumps closest associates during the campaign and in office, regularly speaking to the former president, visiting him, and channeling him to others, including business officials and leaders in foreign countries.... Federal prosecutors say Barrack capitalized on his access to Trump and other high-ranking government officials, and his relationships with U.S. journalists, to advance the policy goals of a foreign government without disclosing their true alliances. On a number of occasions, the Justice Department alleged, Barrack pushed the interests of the UAE to the Trump administration without disclosing that he was working on the countrys behalf.

On a seemingly unrelated but crucial note, Barrack chaired Trumps 2016 inaugural committee, which is currently under criminal investigation by D.C. attorney general Karl Racine. Racinesuedthe Trump Organization, the Trump International Hotel, and the inaugural committee in January 2020,allegingthe groups funneled large amounts of inauguration cash into the first familys pockets via the hotel. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump have sat for depositions related to the probe, seeming to have misled investigators about their involvement in the planning of the inaugural events. After the lawsuit was filed, the Trump Organizationsaidin a statement that it was a clear P.R. stunt and that the rates charged by the hotel were completely in line with what anyone else would have been charged for an unprecedented event of this enormous magnitude and were reflective of the fact that [the]hotel had just recently opened, possessed superior facilities, and was centrally located on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Barrack joins a long, ignoble list of Trump associates, advisers, and friends whove found themselves on the wrong side of the law. In April, Rudy Giuliani had his home and office raided as part of criminal investigation into his Ukraine dealings. Giuliani is also reportedly the subject of a DOJ investigation into alleged foreign lobbying for Turkey. (Giuliani has denied lobbying on behalf of both Ukraine and Turkey.)

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Donald Trumps Best Friend and Inauguration Chair, Thomas Barrack, Arrested on Federal Charges - Vanity Fair

Nobodys ever gone through what I have, Trump added. They got me on all phony stuff.

Trump found fault with most of his fellow Republican leaders, past and present. Still clearly vexed by the ghost of the late Arizona senator John McCain, Trump without prompting brought up the partys 2008 presidential nominee, whom he had attacked for years.

John McCain was a bad guy, he said of the decorated prisoner of war. He was a bully and a nasty guy, bad guy. A lot of people disliked him. Last in his class in Annapolis. All that stuff, but he was a bad guy. I say it to you. I dont care. Does it affect me? I won Arizona, okay? By a lot. Didnt turn out that way in terms of the vote, but I won Arizona. Everyone knows it. He didnt affect me. I won the first time. I won it the second time.

Trump, who in fact lost Arizona to Biden, continued with this fix. You know, I did three rallies in Arizona, he said. I never had an empty seat. Governor Doug Ducey, who withstood Trumps pressure to overturn the result, was not a loyal party member, according to the former president. I think Ducey is a terrible Republican, he said. Ducey did everything he could to block voter integrity, to block people from making sure the vote was accurate.

Trump also complained about former House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom he labeled a super-RINORepublican in name only. And he said Mitch McConnell has no personality nor a killer political instinct. He faulted McConnell for refusing to eliminate the filibuster to ram through Republican legislation and for not persuading Senator Joe Manchin, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia, to switch parties.

Hes a stupid person, Trump said of McConnell. I dont think hes smart enough.

I tried to convince Mitch McConnell to get rid of the filibuster, to terminate it, so that we would get everything, and he was a knucklehead and he didnt do it, Trump said.

Trump said he wished he had had partners in Congress like Meade Esposito, who was the head of the Democratic Party machine in Brooklyn from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Esposito, who was close to Trump and his late father, Fred Trump, was known for his patronage and commanded respect.

Nobody would ever talk back to Meade Esposito. Meade Esposito didnt have a RINO like a Mitt Romney, you know, or as I said, Ben Sasse, whos a lightweight, Trump said, invoking two Republican senators who sometimes criticized him. He added, Mitch McConnell compared to Meade Esposito, its like a baby compared to a grownup football player with brains on top of everything else.

Esposito had run a citywide patronage system that doled out important jobs to loyalists and people providing gifts and favors. The party boss gained a fearsome reputation for his intimidation tactics and connections to organized crime. Amid an investigation of his work, Esposito retired in 1983; he was convicted of offering a gratuity and interstate travel charges in 1987.

Other presidents attend to philanthropic interests, write memoirs, and curate presidential libraries after leaving office. But not Trump. Many of his Palm Beach days have followed the tempo and style he set back in Washington, a reflection of his addiction to the twenty-four-hour news cycle and appetite to maintain political relevance. In the morning hours, he spends time alone in his private quarters watching television and making phone calls to allies and friends. Many days he plays a round of golf at one of his nearby clubs. And in the afternoons, he puts on his suit, applies his makeup, and emerges for meetings with whichever politicians or acolytes have made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. By early 2021, Trump had turned his club into a political base camp for his potential comeback.

Trump made no secret of his interest in perhaps running for president in 2024. Would he choose Pence again as his running mate?

Well, I was disappointed in Mike, Trump said. But, you know, Ill be making a decision at some point. I will say this: Based on the polls, those polls are great, the Republican Party loves Trump. Ninety-seven percent!

When we pointed out that Pence is said to be interested in running for president, too, Trump seemed to welcome the competition. Its a free country, right? he said. Its a free country.

But Trump all but ruled out running with Chris Christie, who had been runner-up to Pence in his 2016 veepstakes, and Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, who had criticized Trumps attempts to subvert the vote in repeated interviews with Tim Alberta of Politico.

Chris has been very disloyal, but thats okay, Trump said. I helped Chris Christie a lot. He knows that more than anybody, but I helped him a lot. But hes been disloyal.

As for his former ambassador, Trump said he was rebuffing her outreach. Nikki Haley wants to come here so badly, he said. She did a little nasty couple of statements...She has been killed by the party. When they speak badly about me, the party is not happy about it. Its pretty amazing. Theres not been anything like this.

Over the years, Trump rarely has expressed misgivings. But he regrets his response to protests last summer in Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, and other cities. I think if I had it to do again, I would have brought in the military immediately, he said.

Trump had no such second thoughts about his handling of the pandemic. He said he had been very tough in protecting the country by restricting travel, first from China and then from Europe. He said he did so against the wishes of his top medical advisers; in fact, most of them agreed with the restrictions before he made his decision, according to participants in the discussions and their contemporaneous notes. But he correctly said he pushed scientists at the FDA at a level that they have never been pushed before to get vaccines approved in record time.

I think we did a great job on COVID and it hasnt been recognized, Trump said, noting that other countries saw spikes in COVID-19 infections in the months after he left office. The cupboards were bare. We didnt have gowns. We didnt have masks. We didnt have ventilators. We didnt have anything...We brought in plane loads. We did a great job.

When we asked Trump why he encouraged people to believe things that werent true or to distrust science and the media, he delighted in talking about the scientific smarts in his familys genes.

First of all, Im a big person, he said. Do you know this? My uncle, Dr. John Trump, I think he was at [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] longer than any other professor. Totally brilliant man. He had numerous degrees. So thats in the genes. I always go with that stuff. But its a little bit in the genes and Dr. John Trump, he was a great guy. My fathers brother. No, Im a big believer in science. If I wasnt, you wouldnt have a vaccine. It depends. Are you talking about disinformation or are you talking about lies? There is a more beautiful word called disinformation.

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Im Getting the Word Out: Inside the Feverish Mind of Donald Trump Two Months After Leaving the White House - Vanity Fair

After literal decades of avoiding any and all consequences for a life of corruption that has included everything from incitingan attack on the U.S. Capitol to attempting toextort Ukraine, to allegedlydirecting his lawyer to violatecampaign finance laws,to lying to the public about COVID-19, to allegedlystiffinghundreds of contractors,is Donald Trump actually going to be held accountable for running a company accused of, among other things, conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying records? On the one hand, he never has, so why would anyone expect it to happen now? On the other, thanks to the work of Manhattan prosecutors and helpful witnesses, he appears to be closer than ever to a situation in which he spends numerous years in prison!

Weeks after the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, were hit with a slew of criminal charges, for which the latter faces more than a decade in prison and to which they both pleaded not guilty, the Daily Beast reports that Weisselbergs ex-daughter-in-law, whos been extremely helpful to Cyrus Vance Jr.s office thus far, provided the Manhattan D.A.s office with explosive information concerning Donald Trumps involvement in the crimes his company and longtime employee have been accused of committing.

According to reporter Jose Pagliery, during a Zoom call with investigators on June 25, Jennifer Weisselberg, who was previously married to Allens son Barry Weisselberg, told investigators that she was in Trumps office at Trump Tower during a January 2012 meeting in which the real estate developer discussed compensation with Allen and Barry, explaining that while the latter would not be getting a raise, his childrens private school tuition, which clocked in at more than $50,000 a year per child, would be paid for. According to Jennifer Weisselberg, Trump turned to her and allegedly said, Dont worry, Ive got it covered. While that might sound like an instance of the ex-president being an uncharacteristically generous guy, prosecutors have claimed that Allen Weisselberg was awarded numerous fringe benefits over the yearslike a free apartment, cars, and, yes, private school tuitionfor the express purpose of avoiding paying taxes. Which, according to the indictment against him, he did, to the tune of $900,000.

According to two sources, among the prosecutors on the call were Carey Dunne, the Manhattan DAs general counsel; Mark F. Pomerantz, a white collar crime specialist brought on for this investigation; and Gary Fishman, an assistant attorney general deputized to work on this joint investigation. If true, Jennifer Weisselbergs claims would directly tie Trump to what a New York criminal indictment described as a corporate scheme to pay executives in a matter that was off the books.

The scheme allowed the Trump Organization to evade the payment of payroll taxes that [it] was required to pay, an indictment for the Trump Organization claims. On the flip side, it also alleges that executives avoided having to pay income taxes on a huge chunk of their pay. The indictment, filed the very next week on June 30, does not criminally charge Trump as an individual, but it does describe how he signed checks that paid for the Weisselberg children to attend an expensive private school in Manhattans Upper West Side. While longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg could be crucial to a criminal case against Trump, its Jennifer Weisselberghis former daughter-in-lawwhos thus far been more helpful. Prosecutors have already useddocuments in Jennifer Weisselbergs divorce caseto explore how Trump paid more than $50,000 a year, starting in 2012, for the kids to attend the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.

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Report: Prosecutors Have Obtained Damning Information Allegedly Implicating Trump in His Companys Crimes - Vanity Fair

Jamel Toppin for Forbes

In April 2017, Press Secretary Sean Spicer took the podium in the White House briefing room and announced that the president was donating his first-quarter salary to the National Park Service. With a serious look on his face, Spicer pulled out an oversize check with an oversize signature. It was the first of several checks that Donald Trump signed while in office, handing over his $400,000 salary in exchange for good publicity.

That was pocket change for Trump. His real money came from the business he refused to divest, not from his government salary. An analysis of documents, some of which only became public in recent weeks, shows just how much Trumps businesses raked in while he was in office. Dig through everythingincluding property records, ethics disclosures, debt documents and securities filingsand youll find about $2.4 billion of revenue from January 2017 to December 2020.

If not for the pandemic, there would have been even more. Trumps business was hauling in about $650 million annually during the first three years of his presidency. But in 2020, revenues plunged to an estimated $450 million as Covid infected the business. Its hurting me, and its hurting Hilton, and its hurting all of the great hotel chains all over the world, Trump said in a March 2020 press conference at the White House. Its hurting everybody. I mean, there are very few businesses that are doing well now.

The biggest portion of Trumps revenue flowed through his clubs and golf properties, which generated approximately $940 million over four years. Trump National Doral, the golf resort in Miami, contributed roughly $270 million to that total. Mar-a-Lago, Trumps club in Palm Beach, brought in about $90 million. A New Jersey golf club, where the former president has been spending time this summer, took in $60 million or so. Those top-line figures didnt all end up in Trumps pocket, however. Golf clubs and resorts are expensive to manage, with operating profit margins running at 20% in good times.During the pandemic, Trumps traditional courses fared reasonably well, but his golf resorts had to contend with long shutdowns, causing his overall golf and club revenues to drop 27% to an estimated $190 million in 2020.

Donald Trump owns a 30% interest in 555 California Street, a San Francisco office building.

Fortunately for Trump, he also had high-margin commercial real estate holdings to bolster his bottom line. That proved especially critical in 2020, as commercial tenantsmany locked into long-term leasescontinued to pay rent. At 555 California Street, a San Francisco office building in which Trump holds a 30% stake, his rent actually inched up last year, from $42 million to $43 million, according to an analysis of filings. The same thing happened at New York Citys 1290 Avenue of the Americas, where Trumps haul increased from roughly $55 million to $58 million.

The hotel, licensing and management businesses, on the other hand, didnt fare so well. Estimated revenues stayed well above $100 million from 2017 to 2019 but dropped closer to $50 million in 2020.No part of Trumps portfolio was more poorly positioned to withstand such a blow, given the debt load against his hotels. Inside his Washington, D.C., hotel, revenues flatlined at about $52 million from 2017 to 2019. With the top line stalled out, the hotel didnt seem to be producing enough profit before the pandemic to cover the interest on its $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank. Things only got worse when Covid-19 hit, and revenues plunged to less $20 million. Its no wonder the Trump Organization tried to sell the place.

Just down the street from the White House stands the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

But the former president didnt have much luck offloading that hotel or other assets last year. Trump ditched $32 million of real estate in 2017, an estimated $53 million in 2018, then $32 million in 2019. In 2020, however, he pocketed just $435,000, by selling condos in Vegas. The lack of deals was one reason revenues dropped about 25% to an estimated $450 million. A smaller sum, to be sure, but still more than 1,000 times the annual salary he gave away.

Originally posted here:
Trumps Business Hauled In $2.4 Billion During Four Years He Served As President - Forbes