Real estate mogul Donald Trump and his supporters tout Trump’s business acumen as a reason why he should be president. However, a thorough examination of Trump’s business record shows that a lot of what he did in fact failed. And failed badly. Here is a list of his failed enterprises.
United States Football League
The USFL was a league that provided Americans with another season of football after the National Football League’s season ended. The USFL was successful at first because their season was held in the spring, so they didn’t have to compete with the NFL. That all changed when Trump bought the New Jersey Generals and convinced the other owners into changing the USFL’s season to the fall, forcing it to compete with the NFL.
Naturally, the USFL faded away and Trump reacted by suing the NFL since he claimed the league was a monopoly. The judge awarded the USFL a whopping $3.76 (no seriously, three dollars and seventy-six cents), while Trump lost $22 million in the lawsuit.
“The sports business is a lousy business,” Trump told Playboy at the time.
Trump Steaks
Trump launched his own steaks venture in 2007 through Sharper Image, claiming he “raised the stakes” on steaks and exercised his narcissistic ego by calling them the “world’s greatest.” They were anything but, as the reviews on QVC suggest:
- “I got these as a gift for a party I had. They were awful. Kansas City steaks are much better. They are greasy and gave me and my husband belly aches and he has a stomach of steel!”
- “These burgers were tasteless loaded with fat and very messy to clean up after. Mr. Trump stated on the air that they were low in fat and would be helpful to anyone who is trying to watch their weight. This just is not the case they are so full of fat that the color of these burgers are white with a little pink. I am no stranger to Angus beef and high quality lean cuts of meat—–having a butcher in the family. I believe his burgers are not what they say they are.”
- ” I purchased the burgers for health reasons as they only have 9 grams of fat per burger. Therefore, I was amazed when I cooked them as they were VERY greasy and didn’t have much flavor. ”
Trump Steakhouse in Las Vegas 2012 was cited for 51 health code violations, and eventually Trump Steaks was discontinued.
Trump Vodka
Trump launched Trump Vodka in 2006 with the slogan “Success Distilled.” Unfortunately for Trump, his vodka line was discontinued in 2011 because nobody was interested.
Trump’s board games
Trump launched his own board game, Trump: The Game, in 1989 as his own “Monopoly-esque” board game. It flopped and production stopped the following year. Trump then launched The Apprentice board game in 2005 to try his hand again at making his own board game, and that too failed very quickly.
Trump Airlines
The Daily Wire has previously reported on how Trump proposed putting passengers at risk in order to cut costs at Trump Airlines. Trump Airlines came into existence after Trump bought out Eastern Airline Shuttle. The airline folded in 1992 since it never made a profit.
Trump Mortgage
For being such a real estate mogul, one would think that Trump’s own company on financing homes would be successful. But like many other of his ventures, this too failed after merely a year-and-half.
GoTrump.com
Trump launched his own travel website, GoTrump.com, where he gave vacation-spot recommendations based on his own favorite locations. Trump claimed it was his “biggest venture to date,” yet nobody was interested. The site folded a year later.
Trump Magazine
Trump launched his own magazine in 2007, even though the market for print magazines was not particularly good at the time. The magazine was discontinued a year-and-a-half later.
Trump’s four bankruptcies.
Four of Trump’s hotels and casinos underwent corporate bankruptcies.
And then, of course, there was Trump University, which was also a scam.
It’s one thing to go belly up on private business ventures and quite another to do so with the world’s most important economy. Failure in the latter isn’t an option.