Trump: Empire Wobbles, Hair Remains Immobile

Like Santander, Mikhail Prokhorov and Arab art collectors before him, Donald Trump is proving that if you sleep on a bed made of money, the world is yours for the taking during this crisis. Right when the construction industry is in turmoil because no-one’s got any money to build things, he’s going ahead and slapping his £1bn golf resort on the side of Aberdeen. He says he will fully fund it, and because he has “a lot of cash”, the financing will be smooth. So he’s basically paying developers in suitcases fully of money. How wonderfully simple!

Alex Salmond, he of foolishly defiant nationalism fame, applauded the plans, saying he’s happy to let some ickle birds get murked in exchange for Trump’s cash: “I believe that the economic and social benefits for the north-east of Scotland substantially outweigh any environmental impact”. The benefits are massive – 6000 jobs are being created, as well as the tourism industry being buoyed for years to come.

Still, not everything is going smoothly for Trump at the mo. A plan to put a rather silly giant spire on top of the Trump Tower has been postponed for a couple of weeks, though this isn’t some hubristic madness from Trump but rather an order from Chicago’s Mayor, who decided Trump’s flat-topped building needed a little more pizazz. Probably more pressing is the fact that only a third of the condos in it are sold and the outstanding debt on it is $800m.

Furthermore, this Trump-branded resort in Mexico looks like it’s going down the toilet, thanks to the credit crunch. No-one’s bought his mixed-martial-arts reality TV show (sounds great though), and his beauty queens can’t seem to stay off the weed!

Ivanka’s had a nice week though – she’s converted to Judaism before her marriage to Jared Kushner. Bet the anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists have a field day with that one.

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | November 4, 2008 11:43AM |