Friday, January 15, 2021

The Trump Organization is Toast

It was never that great of a business, but the Trump Organization found a way to thrive under the Trump Administration, largely from the outright corruption of the President. During the Trump presidency, being attached to a highly polarizing and unpopular president was a big minus for the business. But that was more than outweighed by Trump making it clear to everyone that the guy in the most powerful office in the world would give preferences to anyone who did business with his company. So dictators booked rooms in Trump Hotels, sometimes when they had no intention of even staying there. Governments trying to curry the President's favor would rent expensive office space from the Trump Organization, and wouldn't bother to put anything there to get Trumpt to change U.S. policy.

With Trump leaving office in just days, the entire calculus that made the Trump Organization successful in the last four years has changed. The organization has all the negatives it has had all along. Trump is still highly polarizing and very unpopular. But he is losing his ability to affect U.S. policy or do favors for people or governments that line his pockets. It is hard to see how a big for-profit business like that can stay afloat when half of the public associates the name on its brand with criminals and nazis. So this is not just predictable, but it will probably spell doom for Trump's businesses over the next few months. And that's not even accounting for all the criminal investigations and civil cases.

ADDING: As I was saying...