Trump Still a Chump | The Motley Fool
By: Seth Jayson (The Motley Fool)
MOTLEY FOOL ARTICLE FROM 2004
They (and a lot of other people) tried to warn us.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Seth Jayson May 3 2004
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The Donald's so-called empire is all capped teeth and comb-over.
Ask anyone in America to name a successful businessman, and odds are, you would hear "Donald Trump." His insipid but successful reality show The Apprentice may have fooled a TV nation that's easily distracted by bright, shiny things, but Donald J. Trump the business -- Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (NYSE:DJT) -- isn't fooling anyone capable of third-grade math.
Last quarter, the company lost $1.63 per share. That's a much bigger loss than last year's negative $1.09, and it's almost as much as the value of one share -- $1.80 as of close on Friday. This, while General Electric's (NYSE:GE) network is brazenly hawking The Donald's latest books on financial success.
"Reality TV" my ascot. Hey NBC, how about putting Trumpster's real numbers up on the tube? I won't hold my breath. After all, the real reality is that America's billionaire CEO du jour operates a farcical, wealth-killing, penny-stock empire. Who wants to apprentice for a phony like that?
Here's the truth: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts is failing on all fronts. While competitors like Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD), Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE:HET), Mandalay Resort Group, (NYSE:MBG), and Caesars Entertainment (NYSE:CZR) rake in record sales and earnings, Trump's properties posted revenue declines.
For his part, the intractable president and CEO did his shameless best to spin the results vis-a-vis the TV show. "The success of The Apprentice has generated significant exposure for our company's largest asset, the Trump Taj Mahal," he claimed, but the ailing joint actually took in 5% less than last year's Q1. If those are the wages of success, I think Trump should run from the sequel.
But that's not his style. The Donald may not generate any shareholder value, but he pays himself well -- between $1.5 million and $6 million a year, lately. Fellow Fool Rick Munarriz was willing to give the Donald a thumbs up on the assumption that his show offers a modicum of business education to its viewers.
I can't be that charitable. He looks like a deadbeat to me. Extravagant living funded by borrowing, defaulting, and groveling for more is already too common in this country. Why should we celebrate a CEO whose eponymous corporation epitomizes that financial folly?
Talk The Donald in the Fool's Trump's Apprentice discussion board.
Fool contributor Seth Jayson thinks NBC ought to take its cameras to the next meeting between The Donald and his creditors. He has no stake in any firm mentioned above. View his Fool profile here.
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20 years ago they were blowing the whistle on Trump's bs.
Alarm bells went off in my brain the first moment I saw him on TV.
We all knew. Some of us thought he would change when he got to be president, some of us didn't care. Then there were the people who knew what a dirtbag he really was and voted for him anyways.
I don't know anyone who thought he would change.
One share is only a buck eighty?
How does one lose money in a casino. The whole idea of a casino is that people just hand over their money for a small glimmer of hope...which is usually dashed in about 3 hours
Trump couldn't manage a lemonade stand.
Poor phrasing on my part. Some of the talking heads kept repeating the line almost as a mantra.
So desperation has reached the point that we have to go back 20 years to find a negative Trump article to post? This is as relevant as Biden having to drop out of the democrats primaries for plagiarism. Trump is a narcissist doucebag. Surprise! And Biden was so worthless with zero accomplishments that he plagiarized another’s life as his own. Surprise! Neither has changed. Trump is still a narcissist and Biden is still a worthless idiot.
LOL !!!!!
Are you serious? I could find ten "negative" articles about Trump from TODAY in a matter of seconds.
The point of seeding a 20 year old article is to show that Trump was never someone who should have been put in office. He was never fit for office, and MAGA elected him anyway. That is on them and we should never forget that.