If you’re still thinking of Donald Trump as a real estate developer, stop that right now.
The business model for Trump’s company started to change around 2007, after he became the star of NBC’s The Apprentice, which boosted his national and international fame. Rather than constructing Trump’s own hotels, office towers and other buildings, much of his business involved striking deals with overseas developers who pay his company for the right to slap his name on their buildings. (The last building constructed by Trump with his name on it is the Trump-SoHo hotel and condominium project, completed in 2007.)
Trump simply sells Trump. As in the five letters,T-R-U-M-P. That’s his business. The whole business.
One of the few truthful things that Donald Trump has said over the last year is that his net worth ebbs and flows. Right now, a single point in the national polls is likely worth millions on Donald Trump’s bottom line because it adds directly to the attractiveness of his primary asset. Every time the press makes a big deal about Hillary Clinton’s cough, Trump can hear the cash register ring.
But the fact that Trump is only as deep as his name isn’t the real issue. It’s where he’s been peddling those five shiny letters.
A close examination by Newsweek of the Trump Organization, including confidential interviews with business executives and some of its international partners, reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals, although there is no evidence the Trump Organization has engaged in any illegal activities. It also reveals a web of contractual entanglements that could not be just canceled. If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.
The structure of Trump’s organization leaves Trump and his family an enormous open path for both receiving and distributing bribery from foreign countries. If you’ve ever wondered why he’s running, here’s why: Winning the presidency could be an extremely lucrative prize for Mr. Trump.
The list of Trump’s overseas connections is a long one, and it’s filled with some unsavory characters (Trump began his licensing deals with a South Korean company that was busted for accounting fraud), but the biggest issue may be that the Trump Organization is directly in bed with foreign governments.
Many foreign governments retain close ties to and even control of companies in their country, including several that already are partnered with the Trump Organization. Any government wanting to seek future influence with President Trump could do so by arranging for a partnership with the Trump Organization, feeding money directly to the family or simply stashing it away inside the company for their use once Trump is out of the White House.
The only way to ensure that Trump didn’t directly profit from US foreign policy would be for both he and his family to completely get out of the Trump Organization. Not put it on hold with some fiscal babysitters, but sell it, drop it, step away for good.
… without a permanent departure of the entire Trump family from their company, the prospect of legal bribery by overseas powers seeking to influence American foreign policy, either through existing or future partnerships, will remain a reality throughout a Trump presidency.
Through his business dealings, Trump already has entanglements with oligarchs, with political parties, and with leaders. He made an effort to get Muammar el-Qaddaf to build a Trump resort, and he’s ticked off Turkish leader Erdogan. He’s made conflicting connections in India and around the world.
There is almost no move that Donald Trump might make overseas as president, that wouldn’t have a direct impact on Donald Trump, the business. Which turns every action into a potential conflict of interest. Meanwhile, unlike Hillary Clinton’s statements on the Clinton Foundation, Trump has made no signal on just what he intends to do with an organization that he owns 100 percent.
Donald Trump has made a mess out there. For him, it’s been a profitable mess. After all, selling a single syllable for multi-million licensing deals is about the best business model imaginable. Especially when you can turn around and sell the same “product” over and over. And it’s extra-super good when you don’t care that the people you’re selling to are crooks, dictators, or both—so long as you get your money.
What’s in a name? Everything. And Trump shows no sign of stepping away from the mess he’s made with his.