The Trump Taj Mahal Factor

Ask a Trump supporter where their “deal- maker” president made his mark and they’ll probably cite Manhattan real estate. But the truth is Donald Trump’s past has more to do with Atlantic City New Jersey than anywhere else.

Donald Trump started making a name for himself back in 1982 when construction began on Trump plaza in Atlantic City New Jersey. A month later Harrah’s, the gaming unit of Holiday Inn, joined the project and according to author Dan McQuade, they basically funded Trump. The property was named Harrah’s at Trump plaza and it opened in 1984. But their partnership soon soured. Harrah’s wanted to open a parking garage and Trump rejected the idea of day visitors in favor of a wealthier class of high-rollers. Meanwhile Harrah’s other locations made more money than at Trump plaza. Harrah’s and Trump parted ways soon after.

By 1987 in Atlantic City the Taj Mahal was already a towering unfinished project started by the late James Crosby when Trump bid on it. With the Taj Mahal and his two other casinos Trump had the Idea that he would soon dominate East Coast gambling. He completed this proposed project of 1 billion dollars by raising 700 Million of mostly junk bonds. The casino immediately went through a prepackaged bankruptcy after its opening in 1990. During this same period the Trump Taj Mahal became a favorite gambling spot for Russian mobsters, according to the feds.

In the following years Trump’s financial investments into his casinos grew, but did so on borrowed funds. He also shifted his personal debts into the casinos while spending little of his own money. When Trump Casinos and Hotels and Casino Resorts did poorly the financial burden fell on his Investors and those who bet on Trump. According to an article written by Jess Bollyut entitled “9 Ways Trump might have ruined Atlantic City,”

Nevertheless Trump continues to sugar-coat his Atlantic City days. “The money I took out    of there was incredible,” he said at a fundraiser. While many in Atlantic City maintain he ran those businesses into the ground.

In fact, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts 13 -year run was a disaster and a loss of billions. And all the banks and investors, who lent the company money as well as their workers eventually got stiffed. Initially the New Jersey Casino Control Commission took Trump’s side in a case brought upon by lenders and the banks. But later concluded Trump cannot be considered financially stable.

So, what does the Atlantic City casino years of the eighties and nineties have to do with the Trump of today? Well during those years, apparently the Wall Street banks quit extending credit to Trump. And according to the New York Times they cited a phrase called “The Donald Risk,” It is also during this time where Jennifer Rubin, Maxine Waters, the Moscow Project connect the dots to Russian organized crime and perhaps collusion. It starts when the Trump organization is 3.4 billion in debt, 800 million of which Trump was personally liable for. Unable to get help from US banks he started taking out loans from Deutsche bank and the Bayrock Group. The Deutsche bank is the same bank that received penalties for helping Russians secretly funnel money offshore. And the Bayrock Group was owned by a former Russian official with ties to the Russian Mafia.

Later after a long period where Russian oligarchs invested in American real estate, as well as, but not limited to, many Trump properties. Along comes the 2014 sanctions against Russia and there is noticeable drop of their ownership. The proposed theory is that they had a vested interest in Trump becoming president in order to lift the sanctions, ergo collusion.

But collusion is not yet is prove-able. So what’s the take home from this? The take home is we have president who built casinos, bankrupted them, and was partly responsible for the Atlantic City downfall, but he saved his own skin. Now he’s at it again only this time it’s with US trade war, tax breaks that drive us further into debt and bullying of refugees.

Republicans right now are going after Rod Rosentein, trying to discredit the Mueller investigation. Perhaps it started with his losses when he started borrowing with overseas banks.