Bookbinder said the president should have completely divested himself of his business at the outset of his term.
Donald Trump shot to prominence with a business empire that bears his name, but after four years of political tumult capped by his supportersโ violent attack on the Capitol, the US presidentโs brand stands tarnished, threatening his businesses, experts say.
Companies that stuck with Trump throughout his term are cutting ties in an 11th-hour stampede, including Signature Bank which closed Trumpโs personal accounts and the PGA of America which scotched a plan to hold its 2022 championship at Trumpโs New Jersey golf course.
Such announcements not only reflect the business communityโs skittishness to proximity with a widely-condemned figure, but further hem in his company, already hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the looming loss of US taxpayer revenue tied to Trumpโs visits.
The presidentโs role in the Capitol calamity that killed five people and drew international shock has generated withering criticism from diverse groups ranging from the Business Roundtable to the AFL-CIO labor federation.
Trumpโs โname is really an albatross,โ said Michael DโAntonio, who authored a 2015 biography of Trump, adding that January 6 was a game-changer for the presidentโs brand.
โHe is the most disgraced president in history. This is a person whoโs synonymous with a mob attacking the US Capitol,โ he said. โI just think this went a step too far.โ
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern Universityโs Kellogg School of Management, said Trumpโs brand will suffer long-term damage due to the chaos.
โBefore his term, Trump stood for wealth, success and over-the-top luxury,โ he said. โNow the brand has associations with anti-government views, racism and extremism. This makes the brand fairly toxic.โ
Mixed bag
Recent reports in US media, including The Washington Post, have chronicled low occupancy at Trump properties in Washington and Chicago as the US contends with the Covid-19 crisis.
In addition, Trump owes some $400 million to Deutsche Bank, which reportedly also plans to halt business with Trump after the Capitol siege.
Trumpโs company did not respond to written questions from AFP.
The president has dismissed business challenges, stating in an October 15 televised event that the $400 million is โa tiny percentage of my net worth.โ
Assessing the state of Trumpโs finances is difficult because of the opaque nature of government disclosure information and the private status of the Trump Organization.
However, winning the presidency has most certainly cost the company some business, as when the Trump Organization bowed out of a luxury hotel in Soho, New York, where the president is unpopular.
The overall impact of Trumpโs presidency on his business is really hard to estimate, said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
His sons, Don Jr and Eric, who now run the Trump Organization, had floated a pair of new hotel chains, Scion and American Idea, aimed at the โred statesโ that are home to large portions of Trumpโs base.
But the brothers pulled the plug on the venture in 2019, citing obstacles which they blamed on political opponents.
New directions?
In spite of these setbacks, Trumpโs properties have enjoyed a reliable stream of taxpayer revenue courtesy of the presidentโs regular stays at his clubs and golf courses where he is joined by White House staff, family and Secret service.
CREW estimates that Trumpโs properties garnered over $100 million from more than 500 visits by the president, according to a September report.
The document criticized Trump for some 3,400 conflicts of interest tied to hotel stays by foreign governments or lobbyists and fundraising events by other politicians, such as Representative Jim Jordan, who defended Trump during last weekโs impeachment debate.
Instead, he used his presidency to promote it, while his sons became vocal champions of his presidency, effectively โmeldingโ Trumpโs business and political endeavors.
That decision could limit the brandโs ability to appeal to consumers outside his political base.
โWhat you have now is a smaller but extremely devoted cult following,โ Bookbinder said.
DโAntonio thinks Trump is likely to shift away from his legacy businesses and evolve into โsort of a TV, political evangelist,โ perhaps creating his own widely-floated television network then charging fans to watch it.
Under such a scenario, Trump might sell current assets to pay off his Deutsche Bank debt, which DโAntonio said could mean โthere may not be any Trump towers or Trump hotels or Trump golf courses 10 years from now.โ
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