The answer is probably very simple. He probably has enough assets to pledge them as collateral for a loan, but he doesn’t want to. He wants other people to pay instead. That’s how he always works and why no one in NYC will do business with him.
Pretty much… why pay anything at all if you can get somebody else to do it.
He doesn’t want to pay for it. He doesn’t want to pay the loan fees. The rich have always factually been above the law and in this case there seems to be more than a few people who are willing to go along with just giving the guy stacks of cash. Even if someone offered him the full amount i’m guessing he would keep soliciting for donations for it to see what he could get out of it.
It’s business fraud 101 and he’s a master of it. He wouldn’t be where he was if he was stupid.
He’s also trying to sway public opinion to be on his side, it props up his campaign and is on message of being politically persecuted whether or not it’s true. It’s on message with the republican party’s “the democrats are the enemy” unification strategy too. If the judge backs down and asks for less or maybe even nothing at all then suddenly he’s off scot free until the appeal is done. Odds are the appeal would not increase the fines either.