Will Trump return to Las Vegas or even the casino business? Don’t bet on it
By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports
January 20, 2021 at
After four tumultuous years, Donald Trump is no longer President of the United States.
Impeached twice and the provoker of a failed insurrection, the man who set out to shake up Washington D.C. certainly accomplished the task. It’s not easy to have 400,000 Americans die of a containable coronavirus pandemic and walk away without a simple acknowledgment of the great loss, but Trump managed to do that and more.
The focus now shifts to Trump’s post-presidential life. Although from what I’ve seen Mar-a-Lago is lovely. After he finishes licking his wounds Trump undoubtedly will get bored and will be tempted to launch into a new venture. He’s nothing if not indefatigable.
The real estate investment trust that operates the Queen Mary in Long Beach and owns 26 other hotels filed for bankruptcy protection this week, signaling what could be the start of a wave of bankruptcies in the hospitality industry.
The 85-year-old former ocean liner-turned-floating hotel has been suffering, like the rest of the nation’s hotel industry, from a dramatic drop in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eagle Hospitality Trust’s Chapter 11 filing represents the latest setback for the iconic vessel that Long Beach had hoped would be the crown jewel in an eventually thriving leisure district.
The city of Long Beach, which owns the ship, issued a statement saying it will try to determine what Eagle Hospitality’s immediate plans are for the Queen Mary. The tourist attraction has been closed since May because of the pandemic.
For Donald Trump, the cost of an incendiary presidential career started adding up on Day One: Macy’s department stores stopped selling his menswear collection after he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” during his first campaign event.
A few months later, after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States, he lost another partner, a Dubai company that had a license to sell Trump furniture in the Middle East, Africa and India.
Since then, his outrageous comments and controversial presidential actions have lost his business empire a slate of lucrative partners and investors.
In the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 riots by Trump supporters that led to a second impeachment, a fresh wave of businesses have canceled partnerships and contracts with Trump, tarnishing a once-lucrative brand so badly that hospitality experts and brand reputation consultants say it may never recover.