After any election numerous enterprising groups and individuals look for ways in which to cash in on the new president’s popularity or even his shortcomings. The fact that Donald Trump’s background is unlike that of any individual ever elected to the office of President. His various business and entertainment ventures alone provide a great deal of inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs.
One example comes from a group of investors in Atlantic City who are exploring the option of building a museum in Atlantic City which will focus on his casino ownership in the city and his role in the effort to make Atlantic City a premier gambling destination.
Trump opened the doors to the Trump Taj Mahal in 1990 after about one billion in costs were incurred. The Trump Taj Mahal is in many ways a perfect example of the Trump Image, even though Trump already owned two casinos in Atlantic City.
From the time of the resort’s groundbreaking ceremony, the Taj Mahal was a complicated project. In order for the construction to be complete and the doors to open an incredible number of deals and negotiations were necessary. When it appeared that the construction would never actually be completed, Trump negotiated a buy-out deal with his business partners and the construction was completed. During the course of the negotiations Trump used most of the traits and tactics that he used and talked about during his election campaign, including getting into a very public dispute with another celebrity, Merv Griffin who made an attempt to make a better deal with Trump’s partners.
Atlantic City was only the second major city to legalize gambling and the “Taj” was part of a larger effort to make Atlantic City Great again by siphoning a great deal of the East Coast travel and gambling revenue from Las Vegas. The Taj became an important part of the Atlantic City economic plan and did in fact help establish the city as a gambling destination. Trump introduced a number of new ideas including the first strip club located in a casino as well as staging spectacular entertainment events. Trump also sponsored world class poker tournaments and other gaming competitions. Online casino and poker sites frequently partnered with the Taj Mahal for promotions. This type of promotion no doubt helped the growth of the online casino industry with sites like online Casino Cruise and others becoming popular internet entertainment and gaming destinations. It is unlikely that the world famous Borgata casino would have been built or that online casinos would have ever been legalized in New Jersey if it had not been for the Taj.
The Trump Taj Mahal stands not only as a triumph for its owner but is also an example of what many of Trump’s detractors say is a pattern of bad faith deals, poor negotiation and people management stills, and a penchant for stating only partial truths and immense bravado. The Trump Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy two different times. The latest was in 2014 when it was announced that the Taj would close. Two days before the scheduled closing billionaire Carl Icahn announced he was investing more than $20 million into the Taj Mahal and the casino remained open.
The casino came out of bankruptcy in 2016 maintaining the Trump name although Donald Trump no longer held any ownership. Just a few weeks prior to the presidential election, the Trump Taj Mahal was closed.
One of the backers of the museum ideas stated that he wants to “make sure people know this is meant to be a bipartisan, nonpolitical museum with professional standards.” The Trump Taj Mahal and its namesake is not a partisan issue and all sides of the story and history can, and actually should, be told.
Trump will eventually have a presidential library. However, most presidential libraries focus on the political careers of their namesake. A Trump “casino” museum will not only help educate people but give them a clear idea of how the President of the United States thinks in real life situations.
