Dem
47
GOP
53
Jamie Dimon, CEO of the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase, and Donald Trump are locked in mortal combat now. Trump has sued both Dimon and the bank for closing his accounts after the failed coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump says he was debanked for political reasons. Dimon says it was because federal law requires banks to close the accounts of people engaged in illegal activities. Trump is on the offense here, but that doesn't mean he will win. Dimon is a very political animal.
Part of the reason for the lawsuit may be to punish Dimon for saying he is "barely a Democrat." Trump would have preferred "solid Republican." In that respect, it is just Trump's now-standard retribution again Democrats. Legal experts say that Trump will lose and the judge is likely to throw the suit out fairly quickly.
Part of the reason for Dimon closing Trump's accounts is that other banks had done that, too, and after leaving the White House, Trump had a lot of debt and no place to borrow money. This left him open to dealing with shady foreign characters and banks. Dimon didn't want to have Chase's reputation sullied by being involved with Trump's future questionable dealings. Trump was also facing about 90 criminal counts in four jurisdictions. At the time, it appeared likely that some of these would result in convictions. In the end, only those in New York did. Dropping a client who might impact a bank's reputation negatively is allowed—in fact, required—by federal law.
Dimon also knew at the time that the incoming Biden administration was going to tighten up the banking regulations that Trump had loosened. This gave Dimon all the more reason to get rid of a client who might attract the regulators' attention.
Trump generally picks on people who are weak. As CEO at the biggest bank by assets outside of China, Dimon is not weak. He also knows all the other major players in the financial world. In the end, Trump is almost certain to get nothing out of this, but Dimon is smart enough to give him some "concession" (meaning something he was already planning to do or is already doing), so Trump can brag of it as a win. For example, Dimon could say that Chase will now loan money to people who want to use it to buy a house, thus helping potential homeowners. Trump could then TRUMPet this as helping affordability. Will Trump learn anything about not picking on people his own size? We doubt it. (V)