Former President Donald Trump’s big lie about widespread voter fraud that didn’t occur in the 2020 election is driving away potential partners. According to NPR, after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, associates from Deutsche Bank to the Professional Golf Association pulled back. The twice-impeached one-term president recently fell nearly 300 spots on the Forbes billionaires list. As Forbes reported at the time, “Had he sold out in 2017 and reinvested in the market, he’d be an estimated $1.6 billion richer.”
NPR notes that Trump’s polarizing brand isn’t helping the former president financially.
“Trump Tower embodies the contradictions of Donald Trump’s business post-presidency,” the report states. “There’s a cache to sell, but also, an extremely polarizing brand. Trump’s continued espousal of lies about the 2020 election have driven away potential partners.”
“Donald Trump did not put his name back on many company documents after his presidency; Weisselberg, who was indicted for 15 felonies, removed his own name from some corporate documents; only Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump’s names remain on many management filings,” NPR reports.
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“Even without all the brand challenges, Trump is heavily tied up in businesses such as office rentals and retail that are struggling post-pandemic,” the outlet reports. “Just this month, Forbes took the former president off its tally of the 400 richest people. Had Trump sold off his assets and invested in markets while he was president — which ethics experts advised him to do — he would have been $4.5 billion richer today, Forbes said.”
“Trump’s problems extend beyond New York City. In the years before he became president, Trump went on a spree of buying up golf resorts. Though golfing spiked in popularity as a result of the pandemic, Trump resorts from Doral, Fla., to Doonbeg, Ireland, have faced a loss of conference and tourism clientele,” the report continues. “Trump’s brand licensing business is largely stagnant. His hotel in Washington lost $74 million while he was president, Congress recently reported.”
According to the report, “Gail Norwood, a retiree from Alabama who had just shopped with her granddaughter at the Gucci store which rents ground floor retail space on Fifth Avenue, refused to go into the main building.”
“I won’t enter the floors,” she said. “I will not even walk on the ground. I feel that strongly,” adding that she didn’t know the Gucci store was in Trump Tower. “I did not know that. I might’ve waited out here and sent her in.”
I’m sure Trump’s newest venture, Truth Social, will go the way of Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage, Trump University, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Castle, Trump Plaza Casinos, Trump Plaza Hotel, Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts, and Trump Entertainment Resorts.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
