In Donald Trump's wave-making interview Wednesday with The Washington Post, the celebrity presidential candidate let it all hang out -- his attitudes toward everything from Muslims to Ben Carson to the GOP debate ratings.
WaPo's Chris Cilliza described it this way: "If an alien came to earth today and asked you to explain Donald Trump to him/her/it, you could simply provide the transcript of this interview and be done with it. It's that good/bad/amazing/terrible."
In fact, what Trump said to Cilliza to promote himself as a big-gigantic-humongous winner left one GOP consultant seething.
First, here's what Trump said: "I’ve been winning all of my life ... My whole life is about winning. I always win ... My whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose.”
Pipe down, blowhard, responded Liz Mair in a more civil manner in her Wednesday email than I've just characterized: "This is funny," she said, "because, contrary to popular belief, Trump has failed and lost at plenty in his life."
Mair, former Republican National Committee operative, is leading a "guerrilla" offensive against Trump called Trump Card LLC. Here are the counterpoints she delivered in her email to the Donald's I'm-a-big-winner boasts:
No. 1: Record corporate bankruptcies (four, to be precise)
“No major U.S. company has filed for Chapter 11 more than Trump's casino empire in the last 30 years.” (Source: CNN Money)
No. 2: Huge personal losses for Trump, thanks to bankruptcies.
“Trump's first bankruptcy filing was probably the most personally painful for him. To come up with the funds he needed, he sold a 282-foot yacht, as well as the Trump Shuttle, the airline he operated at the time that flew between Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, according to media reports at the time. He had to give up half of his ownership stake in the Trump Taj Mahal…” (Source: CNN Money)
“[In his second bankruptcy, Trump] gave up half his interest in the New York Plaza to Citibank…” (Source: CNN Money)
“[In his third bankruptcy, Trump] turned over majority control of the company to his bondholders…” (Source: CNN Money)
“Trump also pumped $72 million of his personal fortune to help keep the restructuring afloat.” (Source: WaPo)
No. 3: Tanking the share price of his company.
“In 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts, formed in the aftermath of the Trump empire’s bankruptcies, itself declared bankruptcy after missing a $53 million bond interest payment. The company, which ran the Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal, was forced into court, scattering investors and sending its $4 share price plunging to about 25 cents.” (Source: WaPo)
No. 4: Failure in the vodka business.
“On 'Larry King Live,' he said he got into the vodka business to outdo his friends at Grey Goose. Six years later, Grey Goose is still on top shelves throughout the country. As for Trump vodka? Yeah, we'd never heard of it either. The New York City blog Gothamist reports the vodka has stopped production ‘because the company failed to meet the threshold requirements.’ Two weeks ago, Trump's company filed an injunction to prevent an Israeli company from selling Trump vodka without his consent or authorization. Meaning the Donald stopped the only people in world who wanted to drink his vodka from doing so.” (Source: TIME)
No. 5: Failure in the airline business.
“Trump pushed to give the airline the Trump touch, making the previously no-muss, no-fuss shuttle service into a luxury experience. To this end, he added maple-wood veneer to the floors, chrome seat-belt latches and gold-colored bathroom fixtures. But his gamble was a bust. A lack of increased interest from customers (who favored the airline for its convenience not its fancy new look) combined with high pre–Gulf War fuel prices meant the shuttle never turned a profit. The high debt forced Trump to default on his loans, and ownership of the company was turned over to creditors.” (Source: TIME)
No. 6: Attempting to get in on the mortgage business as the property sector was imploding, kicking off the great meltdown of 2008.
“In April 2006, Trump announced that, after years in the real estate business, he was launching a mortgage company. He held a glitzy press conference at which his son Donald Jr. predicted that Trump Mortgage would soon be the nation's No. 1 home-loan lender. Trump told CNBC, ‘Who knows more about financing than me?’ Apparently, plenty. Within a year and a half, Trump Mortgage had closed shop. The would-be lending powerhouse was done in by timing (the housing market cratered in 2007) and ironically enough, given Trump's Apprentice TV show, poor hiring. The executive Trump selected to run his loan company, E.J. Ridings, claimed to have been a top executive at a prestigious investment bank. In reality, Ridings' highest role on Wall Street was as a registered broker, a position he held for a mere six days.” (Source: TIME)
No. 7: Doing a “great” job of “negotiating” sky-high interest rates on junk bonds financing his property developments.
“He also said that the interest rate on debt would be reduced to 8% from 15%...” (Source: The Street)
“The first Trump-tied bankruptcy, in 1991, was of Trump’s biggest Atlantic City casino, the Trump Taj Mahal, whose $1 billion construction was financed by junk bonds at a staggeringly high interest rate of 14 percent.” (Source: WaPo)
No. 8: Missing a $53 million bond interest payment.
“In 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts, formed in the aftermath of the Trump empire’s bankruptcies, itself declared bankruptcy after missing a $53 million bond interest payment.” (Source: WaPo)
No. 9: Knowingly overpaying for the Plaza property.
“Trump seems to have had an inkling from the get-go that the Plaza deal may not have been the best he ever made. ‘I haven't purchased a building, I have purchased a masterpiece -- the Mona Lisa,’ he wrote in a 1988 essay in New York magazine. ‘For the first time in my life, I have knowingly made a deal which was not economic -- for I can never justify the price I paid, no matter how successful The Plaza becomes.’” (Source: The Street)
No. 10: Winding up poorer than a beggar.
“Around that time, Trump later told The Washington Post, he passed a beggar in New York and told his now ex-wife, model Marla Maples, ‘You see that man? Right now he’s worth $900 million more than me.’” (Source: WaPo)
When asked who is backing her offensive against Trump, Mair wouldn't say. "I’m the spokesperson," she told Sunshine State News.
The Wall Street Journal claims she is backed by high-level and high-profile secret donors to “defeat and destroy” the celebrity businessman’s candidacy.
A widely circulated memo from Trump Card LLC said, “In the absence of our efforts, Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race. The stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton will become president.”
WSJ says media consultant Rick Wilson is lending a hand with ads. He told the newspaper in November he isn’t involved in fundraising but predicted a number of Republican donors will start bankrolling an anti-Trump effort.
“People are finally taking the threat that Trump will destroy the Republican Party and lose the general election to Hillary Clinton seriously,” said Wilson, member of a super PAC team backing Sen. Marco Rubio.
If you follow SSN, you know I've been worried about Trump not going away since August, when I wrote about it.
What I like about Mair's list of Trump "losings," frankly, is her strategy. It's good to see Republicans coming together to expose this unlikely candidate, not only for his carnival rhetoric, but for the kind of plundering example he set for American business.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
