Goodbye, Trump Plaza; Vaccine news boosts Big Gaming
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small (D) has found a nifty way to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City: Auction off the right to push the button that implodes Trump Plaza on Jan. 29. Small hopes it will bring in big bucks, a million dollars or more. Hey, if we had it, we’d pay it. The top bidder gets the right to demolish the Boardwalk’s worst eyesore and end the Trump Era in Atlantic City once and for all. “Some of Atlantic City’s iconic moments happened there,” Small allowed, “but on his way out, Donald Trump openly mocked Atlantic City, saying he made a lot of money and then got out.” The dilapidated edifice has been periodically crumbling onto the thoroughfares below and implosion is in the nature of a mercy killing, Trump Dump having been closed for six years now. And when it was still open its revenues would barely fill a Dixie cup. A new use for its site has yet to be determined but Small is going to pitch owner Carl Icahn on some kind of family attraction.
The release of Covid-19 vaccines is boosting gaming stocks, according to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, who says the gaming group is trading as much as 26% higher. “How 2020 started, evolved, and finished was manic and startling, with fundamentals and valuations settling on a more optimistic note at year-end, where our coverage universe is ending 2020 with broadly strong share price performance,” he writes, noting that Big Gaming is exponentially outperforming the S&P index. In Macao he sees a “gradual” recovery, redounding most to the benefit of Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Wynn Resorts and Sands China. For its “under appreciated” sports betting and regional gaming strength, Greff likes Boyd Gaming best, better even than Penn National Gaming.
What really gets me angry is the toxic mendacious combination of the extremely obvious attempts the Trump Administration made to get this “herd immunity” through letting the virus go unimpeded through the population, coupled with their specious denials that they are indeed doing just that… If you are going to let hundreds of thousands die, at least own it, they hired a doctor with no advanced training on viral disease who pushed this deadly crap, then they lied repeatedly this was what they were doing. Now its on paper, but anyone paying attention already knew this. Sweden at least admitted it was dumb to do this, no economic gain was achieved, in fact it destroys jobs and prosperity. Young people spend time with their parents and grandparents, we want our kids around us, this was both doomed and not scientific. I suspect more proof of this disgusting cavalier attitude about human life will surface…
Donald Trump was at the right place at the right time in New York City in the early 80’s. I read a very good book about New York City called Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down and Semi-Dirty in the Seventies by James Wolcott. Back then New York was somewhat seedy and there was porno theaters in Time Square, the Son of Sam killer, etc. You also had the nightclub Studio 54 and music venue CBGB which were both extremely popular.
Land was cheap and Donald Trump had the right connections and started building condominiums and hotels in the early 80’s. Then he wandered south to Atlantic City and started building casinos there. Mr. Trump also owned a USFL team called the New Jersey Generals. I remember seeing him on the David Letterman show while I was in college in the mid 80’s and he kept on talking and promoting and he is still talking.
Anyway my point is in his mind Donald Trump never lost. He would sue people if he lost so he could somehow blame the courts or the economy or Atlantic City or the NFL and so on.
But when you get into politics and you run for office you either win or lose. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was elected president of the USA and Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in 2020 and was elected president of the USA. Donald Trump lost and for the first time he cannot sue his way out of the current situation he put himself in. But it did take a horrible Covid 19 pandemic to help him lose the presidency.
By the way, Peter Alexander is an NBC White House reporter, Paul Alexander is the ignorant lackey hack calling for mass infection from a virus we know is deadly, and we don’t know anything about long term effects…