Two words: Mob ties. Yes, Donald “100 Percent Clean” Trump did business — repeatedly — with a man he believed (or, best case, seriously feared) to be the murderer of Jimmy Hoffa. He also employed an individual identified by U.S. and Canadian authorities as a member of the 14K Triad in a high-ranking executive role at Trump Taj Mahal. The evidence is ambiguous … but does Trump really want to get into explaining to the media the nuances of what does and does not make somebody an “organized crime” associate? That’s a no-win situation.
(Update: Oh, by the way, what happens to Trump’s promotional arrangement with Trump Entertainment Resorts owner Marc Lasry — including use of his familiar, orange-hued visage — if this “presidential” gimmick becomes reality. Lasry must feel like he’s just been blindsided by a truck. Can he put The Donald’s face on a billboard without it being an “in-kind” contribution?)
Trump’s no stranger to making “boring, nonfactual and highly inaccurate” allegations on all manner of subjects (like his net worth) and will soon have to refute some golden oldies about himself. Per longstanding custom, Trump will probably respond with personal attacks on his accusers and non-denial denials. He might also have to explain some uncomfortable inconsistencies. Why did the man who slurred Native American tribes as vulnerable to Mob influence, predicting “the biggest crime problem in the nation’s history,” later lend his name (briefly) to Spotlight 29 Casino in southern California? Typical Trump: Conjure up ethnic bogeymen when it suits the needs of the moment.
A decade ago, when he was still on the casino beat for The Press of Atlantic City, Joe Weinert was one of the few reporters willing to call Trump out on baloney like the never-built resort that was supposedly going to replace Trump World’s Fair. But for every Weinert there were too many others like the supposedly savvy editor who received an audience with The Donald in 2003 and returned to our office spouting the same old Trump propaganda like a zombie. New Yorker Editor David Remnick reaches a conclusion that the business and trade presses should have done a long, long time ago. “What is there to say anymore about Donald Trump? That he is an irrepressible jackass who thinks of himself as a sly fox? That he is a buffoon with bathroom fixtures of gold? Why bother, after so many decades? There is no insulting someone who lives in a self-reinforcing fantasy world.”
And the hits will just keep on coming. Note how early in his career — 38 years ago, in fact — Trump set a pattern that is now standard business procedure for him: Take credit when the going is good, then claim to have had nothing to do with it (“I was just chairman of the board”) when the toxic waste hits the fan. Das Donald can expect a daily diet of unwelcome media revelations for as long as his current TV-ratings stunt continues. And he’s too much of a pantywaist to endure 12-18 months of scrutiny. Which is why he’ll take the money and run like hell back to showbiz.
Kill the messenger. Although Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson probably thought he’d played his trump card when Florida Gov. Rick Scott‘s one-night stand at Venelazzo turned him into a born-again casino advocate, think again. Scott’s poll numbers are in the swamps and legislators are giving him the brush-off. I think we can safely pronounce Sunshine State casino expansion — or at least Scott’s deeply flawed formulation thereof — dead until the next budget cycle. Florida may be in a hole but Scott’s got a tough sell arguing it’s worth throwing lucrative Seminole Tribe revenue-sharing out the window on the basis of some blue-sky numbers handed him by would-be casino developers … i.e., not-unbiased sources.
Larry King at the Riv. No, not the avuncular talk-show host with the suspenders. Outgoing Sahara veep Larry King has been signed as CFO for Riviera Holdings (at a bargain price for a two-decade casino exec: $240K). The bad news is that King was part of the management team that rode the Sahara into oblivion. New Riv ownership has odd taste in executives, putting its Strip property in the hands of Tamares Group castoff Bobby Ray Harris. In King’s favor, one could make the argument that he’s no stranger to dealing with companies in dire straits, having done tours of duty with Tropicana Entertainment and Isle of Capri Casinos, one of which has reversed its fortunes while the other is still stuck in mid-turn.
It is obvious that you dislike Trump. Who doesn’t. He has some conservative value though, and that is asking the non political question, and in his own rather unorthodox way, has managed to retain some of his money. You are correct, he will never run for president. He could not handle reliving his past, nor the present. This is a publicity stunt that will bode well for him, specially when he announces that he declines to run. That will be one of the most watched media ciircus events of the year. On the other hand, he helped Obama show more proff that he was born in the USA. Howard Stern has said that all of the people that questioned Obama’s birthplace probably did not know that Hawaii was a state. He is wrong there. At least 50% had somone look it up for them. I am a rock hard conservative, but never doubted that Obama was born here. Trump can now say that he did what no one else could, and history will be written that way. For this election cycle, anyway.
I have to disagree with you Pilot about this going well for Trump. As bad as Trumps image is with most folks, we had no idea of his racial animus, so this is news to most. Just the fact that Trump immediately pivoted to imply Obama got favorable treatment in his education is another indication that he is willing to take liberties with the truth to smear Obama. I hope conservatives like yourself re-think the “conservative value” you credit him for in the light of the dishonesty of the message. Honesty equals value.