Reason # 46: The Apprentice
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
As discussed last time, the first introduction of the general public – outside of New York and New Jersey – where Donald Trump was generally loathed and reviled, was in the TV show The Apprentice. I never watched the show but understand that Donald Trump was the host, and two teams vied to work on one of his business ventures. Each week, one team would be declared the winner of a stage, and one member of the “losers” would be told “You’re fired”. Fans ate up the show; at least for the first year. Who doesn’t love a boss who humiliates you in public? Viewers decreased steadily over the next seven years, when it was cancelled.
One interesting feature of the show has received little attention. What are the Trump businesses that were featured on The Apprentice and were they winners or losers? Let’s check. The seven seasons dealt with, in temporal sequence,
1. Trump Tower Chicago
2. Trump Place
3. Palm Beach Mansion
4. Trump Entertainment
5. Trump SoHo
6. Cap Cana
7. VIP Golf Tournament
How did these ventures do over time?
1. Trump Tower Chicago: Success? difficult to say. Still operating, but Trump declared a $650 million tax loss because the property is “worthless”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_(Chicago)
2. Trump Place: Success? Definitely not. We have discussed this white elephant in a previous Reason. Originally scheduled to have been an enormous development including the tallest residential structure on earth, opposition from community activists forced massive downward revisions. Trump was ultimately forced to accept defeat. Most recently, the Trump brand has been removed from most properties.
3. Palm Beach Mansion: Success? Presumably this relates to Mar a Lago. Definitely a success, at least during the Trump presidency when occupancy was driven by sycophants, Saudi princes and secret service agents. $600,000 membership.
4. Trump Entertainment: Resorts: Unquestionably a colossal flop. As discussed in previous Reasons, Trumps casino ventures were a catastrophic failure. Enormous losses forced sale of his yacht, his airline and important hotel properties. Total loss near one billion dollars. Filed for bankruptcy in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Chris Christie wrote off most of Trump’s New Jersey tax bills. Trump Entertainment? Taken over by Carl Icahn and subsequently closed down.
5. Trump SoHo. Failure. Discussed in a previous Reason. Was doing reasonably well, when Trump’s behavior led to boycott, notably by LeBron James and NBA teams. Sharp losses forced removal of TRUMP branding and change of hotel name.
6. Cap Cana: Initial total failure of a resort in the Dominican Republic, perhaps rescued following Trump’s election and appointment of a business associate as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Unclear whether this is just a Trump branding business or whether he owns land sold at Cap Cana.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-conflicts-interest-dominican-republic/#:~:text=In%202007,%20the%20Trump%20Organization%20signed%20a
Many original condo buyers who spent a whopping $316 million to purchaser luxury condos as Cap Cana were screwed and sued to recover their investments when the project was “abandoned”.
7. VIP Golf Tournament: I am not sure whether this VIP tournament ever took place. I do know that Trump blew a highly profitable association with PGA and LPGA by opening his big mouth and slandering Mexicans. His subsequent actions in fomenting the Capitol invasion finished off any hopes of a reconciliation with PGA. Most recently, he scheduled a tournament at his Bedminster course to raise money for January sixth felons. The tournament has been delayed and he has announced that he will not be attending.
I believe it is reasonable to conclude that Donald Trump has botched his golf tournament businesses, losing enormous amounts of money from PGA tournaments, including the PGA Grand Slam!
To sum up, while Trump fans, who only know him from The Apprentice, believe his shtick that he is a business genius, only two of seven businesses featured on the show are qualified successes, while five are unequivocal failures.
When Mark Twain observed that
“You take the lies out of him, and he’ll shrink to the size of your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he’ll disappear.”
This characterization might well apply to Donald Trump.
Donald Trump, the genius, is a fictional character in a Television show. In real life he is a bungler and loser. Please don’t waste your vote on a loser.
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
Fred Grannis
September 3, 2024