Trump rebranding hopes may be slim

In the span of four days, President Trump’s family business has lost its online store, the buzz from Mr. Trump’s promotional tweets about its luxury resorts and bragging rights as host to one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments.

The mob attack on Congress last week by Mr. Trump’s supporters has spurred a reckoning for the Trump Organization by businesses and institutions, at a scale far greater than his previous polarizing actions.

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The backlash is part of a broader shunning of Mr. Trump and his allies unfolding in the wake of the deadly assault on the Capitol. Schools stripped the president of honorary degrees, some prominent Republicans threatened to leave the party and the New York State Bar Association announced it had begun investigating Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, which could lead to his removal from the group.

  NYT

FYI: That does not mean he'll lose his license to practice in the state.

The Trump Organization had already been facing considerable financial challenges. Many of its golf and resort properties had been losing money, and the pandemic had forced it to close some restaurants and bars and drastically reduce hotel occupancy, including at its hotel a few blocks from the White House. And with more than $300 million in debt coming due in the next few years that the president has personally guaranteed, there had been some urgency for the company to line up new deals.

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The fallout began on Thursday, when the e-commerce provider Shopify said it had terminated online stores affiliated with the president.

The biggest blow came on Sunday, when the P.G.A. of America announced it would strip Mr. Trump’s New Jersey golf club of a major tournament.

Mr. Trump was said to be “gutted” by the P.G.A. decision, according to a person close to the White House, as he had worked personally for years to push the tournament executives to hold events at his courses.

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The tournament itself is not a major source of profit, but hosting an internationally recognized event is enormously valuable for marketing. It also would have bestowed greater legitimacy on Mr. Trump and his brand, which includes 16 golf clubs around the world.

“It has become clear that conducting the P.G.A. Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the P.G.A. of America brand,” Jim Richerson, the P.G.A. of America president, said in a video statement.

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In a statement that hinted at a potential legal challenge, the Trump Organization called the decision “a breach of a binding contract,” adding that “they have no right to terminate the agreement.”

[...]

Unfortunately, we've seen the quality of lawyers he's able to retain these days.

“There’s no question they’re going to lose more events because many groups are saying, ‘We don’t want to be associated with this brand.’”

That became even clearer on Monday night when the New England Patriots’ coach, Bill Belichick, said he would refuse the Presidential Medal of Freedom because of the “tragic events of last week.” The president had planned to give Mr. Belichick the award on Thursday.

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[E]xecutives of the Trump Organization said they planned on cashing in on Mr. Trump’s global fame with overseas branding deals.

“There has never been a political figure with more support or energy behind them than my father,” Eric Trump, the president’s son, who helps run the family business, said in a statement on Monday.

We'll see.

The family is also already considering starting a media outfit that would cater to Mr. Trump’s tens of millions of supporters, an effort that gained some urgency last week when Twitter and Facebook barred the president from their platforms.

“There will be no shortage of incredible opportunities in real estate and beyond,” Eric Trump said.

Their best hope is probably the idea of a media empire.

Even plans to launch a Trump media platform will face obstacles. If Mr. Trump seeks to forge a new conservative news network, or join an existing one like OAN or Newsmax, corporate advertisers are hardly guaranteed to support him.

“There’s only so much that My Pillow guy can subsidize,” said Jon Klein, the former president of CNN U.S., referring to Mike Lindell, the chief executive of My Pillow who is an outspoken supporter of the president. “It’s suddenly a lot more daunting a proposition than it was a week ago for OAN and Newsmax.”

Instead, Mr. Trump might find more success in generating a newsletter — embedded with a link to a streaming channel — for millions of paid subscribers, said Mr. Klein, who is chairman of TAPP Media, a subscription streaming service. “He has ignited the passions of his tribe and subscription services are all about tribalism.”

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As his presidency ends, Mr. Trump is returning to a far different business than the one he ran when he took office.

Several hotel properties that carried his name have been erased from the portfolio, including ones in New York, Panama and Toronto. Plans for two new budget-friendly hotel lines, once a priority, have been indefinitely shelved. And a product branding windfall, which led Mr. Trump to endorse an array of items from steaks to mattresses, has dwindled.

The company also faces a criminal investigation from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is examining whether the president and his company committed any financial or tax crimes in recent years.

Sad!

Leaving the White House, however, means that Mr. Trump will no longer face ethical restrictions like bans on international deals, potentially opening new business possibilities. The company could look for new deals in places where company executives believe Mr. Trump remains popular, such as Brazil, Argentina, Israel, Saudi Arabia and India.

Those deals have no doubt already been hashed out just waiting for Trump to no longer be US president.

Mr. Trump could also hit the speaking circuit, collecting large payments for each appearance, a company executive said.

That's probably highly likely. If his fans don't kill each other off via Covid-19.

In Miami, at Trump National Doral, the bar was busy at happy hour on Friday, as was the members-only clubhouse, with customers overheard talking both about golf games and business deals, almost none of them wearing masks.

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“What we are seeing is an overreaction,” Mr. McCarthy said. “Once he is out of office, I think he will be able to come down here and play a little more golf.”

Because he was too busy being president before???

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.