The Trump offspring are hard at work trying to figure out how to turn their father’s base of political support into family profit, and they think they’ve found the answer: putting hotels in states Donald Trump won, even if it means developing hotels that are not Donald Trump’s idea of the pinnacle of elegant luxury or luxurious elegance, or however he’d describe his decidedly inelegant aesthetic. In a word, the Trumps are ready to go downmarket.
Last fall, the company announced the creation of a four-star hotel chain called Scion, which is meant to offer upscale service in U.S. cities that could not support a full-fledged Trump luxury property. More than two dozen letters of intent have been signed, though no ground has been broken yet.
Among the possible locations being considered: Texas, parts of the South, and perhaps the nation’s capital, where the hotel would exist with the Trump luxury property in the former home of the Old Post Office not far from the White House. The company is also in the very early stages of considering a three-star hotel chain. [...]
Similarly, daughter Ivanka Trump has made a pitch for Trump’s blue-collar supporters by replacing her high-end jewelry line with a mass-market brand.
Are there ethics concerns? Naaaah. They’re just independently using the publicity to benefit the family business and expanding in the way that makes the most sense from a profit standpoint. It’s not a conflict of interest, it’s just plain old capitalism!
As for those conflicts of interest, Uday and Qusay insist they’re not talking to their father about the business they now “run” while he still owns it—and can take profits at will.
“We don’t talk about the business. At most it’s ‘How’s Turnberry? Turnberry’s great,'” Eric Trump said, referring to a Trump golf property in Scotland. He would tell his father, if asked, “A profit or loss in a quarter, that’s it.”
“That doesn’t talk about any business sectors, that doesn’t talk about any assets, that doesn’t talk about anything specific in the business. That is a pure number, one number on a piece of paper,” Eric Trump said. “That’s more than permissible. None of these laws even apply to him — he’s the president — but that is more than permissible in a trust structure.”
Ethics experts disagree, but who are they when compared with the ethics expertise of Donald Trump’s second son?