For a while, Donald Trump was the king of Atlantic City.
“When profits were easy in Atlantic City because of its monopoly on gambling east of Nevada, Trump did well,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has covered Donald Trump for decades.
“But he didn’t reinvest in his casinos, he sucked them dry as fast as he could, while others reinvested and those casinos continue to earn profits.”
The bestselling author of The Making of Donald Trump said Trump didn’t do much for the city. “Other than minor acts, like his casino hotel kitchens donating excess food, Trump did nothing to remake and improve Atlantic City,” Johnston said. “Indeed, at every opportunity he talked about what a hell hole he considered it.”
After Hillary Clinton attacked Trump’s record of stiffing small business owners in this week’s debate, Atlantic City native Arielle Brousse shared her impassioned thoughts about Trump and her hometown on Twitter:
I've said it before: I grew up in Atlantic City. My parents, my friends' parents, my neighbors, they all worked in Atlantic City.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
As a matter of course, he hired small local businesses as contractors, did not pay them, and then filed bankruptcy.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
But also consider what it's like to be the small business owner who takes on a huge, glittery contract and then NEVER 👏🏽 GETS 👏🏾 PAID. 👏🏿
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
Trump orchestrated his own mini version of the housing bubble in my hometown. He came in. He prospected. We're left dragging his failures.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
He's an ego. He's a character. He's a joke. But that joke has human cost. It's financially and culturally destroyed the town I grew up in.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
It's insulting. It's gaslighting. To watch a man destroy you, and to hear him tell other people how good and powerful it makes him.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
These stakes are personal to me. Trust me: I have seen firsthand the damage he can do in a home community. A nation would be catastrophe.
— she is, instead, alive (@thewordunheard) September 27, 2016
He’s not a great businessman. His business model is “run up huge debt and then refuse to pay it.” Those who have followed his career in Atlantic City know to expect the worse.
I hope it is true that he’s ruining the family business brand. I wondered if people would buy Ivanka’s dresses knowing what they know about her and the family now. Will people buy his “brand” and stick it on their developments now? Will people want to frequent his clubs? Will Mar-a-Lago become a mausoleum of old geezers? Will even foreign banks refuse to loan him money? Inquiring minds…
I’ve been reading about some new hotel of his, in Wash DC?, practically opposite the White House I think. Very centrally located, in any case. And they can’t rent any of the event rooms because nobody wants to have a conference with “Trump” all over it. The hotel rooms are down to $160 a night or something, and nobody’s booking them.
Wouldn’t it be nice to never have to see or hear his stupid name again?
Quixote:
Could it be that The Donald is fixin’ to cut another bankruptcy notch in his ever-expanding belt?
The only problem is that this time he’ll be screwing the taxpayers directly.