Trump Doesn't Own Most Of The Products He Pitched Last Night

[Rob L 3,811]

A security agent stands near a display of Trump-branded products that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had for guests, including meat, wine and water, before Trump's Tuesday night press conference after the Michigan and Mississippi primaries.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It appears that the attacks on presidential candidate Donald Trump's business record seem to have touched a nerve.

Despite three more primary and caucus victories on Tuesday, Trump eschewed a traditional victory speech, adding in a press conference — and something else: a table piled high with a veritable Trump-ucopia of Trump-branded products.

"I have very successful companies," the New York billionaire told reporters at the event at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter, in Jupiter, Fla., as raw steaks, bottles of wine and vodka, and magazines stood near the man himself.

In particular, Trump appeared irked about last week's speech by 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who declared, "Whatever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there's Trump magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not."

So what's the backstory of those products Trump pitched as a sign of his success?

Trump Steaks

Raw meat — of the real and rhetorical kinds — was front and center last night.

"Do we have steaks? We have Trump steaks," Trump boasted. "If you want to take one, we'll charge you about, what, 50 bucks a steak?"

Trump did have an eponymous steak line, sold via Sharper Image. The company's website notes, however:

"Unfortunately, Trump Steaks are no longer available, but their legacy endures."

A search for "Trump" on QVC's website finds various Melania Trump jewelry products, a line of Trump mattresses and one entry for Trump Steaks. But they're not actual steaks; they're "Certified Angus Beef Steakburgers" and QVC notes, "We're sorry, this item is not available at this time."

A reporter present at Trump's press conference notes that the steaks on the table were not actually a Trump brand, but appear, ironically, to have come from a company named "Bush Brothers."

Trump Magazine

"[Romney] said Trump Magazine is out. I said, it is? I thought I read one two days ago. This comes out, and it's called The Jewel of Palm Beach, and we — it goes to all of my clubs," said Trump, before throwing a copy out to the audience.

There is indeed a magazine called The Jewel of Palm Beach published by the Palm Beach Media Group that is described as "the exclusive publication of Donald J. Trump's spectacular Mar-a-Lago Club" and other Trump properties.

Trump does not appear to own the publisher, and the magazine only comes out on an annual basis.

There was a Trump magazine, which went out of circulation in 2009. The New York Daily News reported:

"The last iteration of the luxury lifestyle mag reached a circulation of 100,000 and sold for $5.95 before it flopped. Issues are nowhere to be found online and hardcopies are likely a rare collector's item."

Trump Airline

"Well, I sold the airline, and I actually made a great deal, complicated and in really terrible times. The economy was horrible and I made a phenomenal deal," said Trump, referring to the Trump Shuttle.

NBC News recently looked back at the venture, and summarized Trump's ownership this way:

"Back in 1989, Trump pounced at the chance to buy the troubled Eastern Air Lines shuttle service for $365 million. He put the Trump name on the planes, dressed them up inside — and waited for business to boom. It didn't. But the business took on too much debt and eventually defaulted. It was sold to USAir."

Trump University

Trump launched Trump University in 2005 to help budding real-estate entrepreneurs, but it ran afoul of regulators, who noted that it was not a degree-granting institution. Former students sued, claiming they were tricked into spending tens of thousands of dollars for seminars that didn't do anywhere near what was advertised.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is also suing and claiming that Trump and his associates defrauded students of a collective $40 million. The now-renamed Trump Entrepreneur Initiative is mostly dormant.

Trump is challenging those lawsuits and says he will win and that, when that happens, he will reopen Trump U: "It's going to do very well," Trump said, "and it will continue to do very well."

Trump Winery

The table was stacked with bottles of Trump Wine, and Trump declared of the winery, "I own it 100 percent, no mortgage, no debt."

The winery's website says something different: "Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates."

Trump, who is a teetotaler, also used to sell Trump Vodka, although that venture has also been discontinued. A review described the vodka's taste this way:

"Vodka from The Donald. Nosings reveal dry, earthy scents of grain, paraffin, kid leather, jasmine, flowers, moss and soot. Palate entry displays far better than average grain focus and viscosity; at midpalate, the taste profile turns off-dry, intensely breakfast cereal-like and biscuity. Finishes oily/creamy and snack cracker-like."

Trump Water

There were also pallets of Trump Water on stage. On Trump's website, the water is touted as "one of the purest natural spring waters bottled in the world."

"I mean, we sell water, and we have water, and it's a very successful," Trump said, "you know, it's a private little water company, and I supply the water for all my places, and it's good."

So does Trump own the natural springs or bottle the water himself? According to reporters at the event who looked the label, probably not.

As Trump himself put it Tuesday night, "So you have the water; you have the steaks; you have the airline that I sold. I mean, what's wrong with selling? Every once in a while you can sell something. You have the wines and all of that, and Trump University, we're going to start it up as soon as I win the lawsuit. Does that make sense? I mean, that's it. OK."

[eieio 1,594]

It was a great speech. We are going to buy a bottle or two of Trumps wine to try it out. If it is anything like Trump as a candidate…..It will be fantastic.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Trying to zoom up on the security dude's hands!! What a shmuck.

[ExPatty 502]

Half truths and misdirection. He is beating the professional politicians at their own game. But as I have said every time somebody pretends trump isn't a wildly successful businessman, they are wasting their time. If you don't like him hit him on the actual issues.

Really nobody gives a damn about trump steaks. This is far meatier: http://gawker.com/trumps-casino-was-fined-650-000-for-catering-to-a-raci-1763293532

[Rob L 3,811]

Half truths and misdirection. He is beating the professional politicians at their own game. But as I have said every time somebody pretends trump isn't a wildly successful businessman, they are wasting their time. If you don't like him hit him on the actual issues.

Really nobody gives a damn about trump steaks. This is far meatier: http://gawker.com/trumps-casino-was-fined-650-000-for-catering-to-a-raci-1763293532

"Nosings reveal dry, earthy scents of grain, paraffin, kid leather, jasmine, flowers, moss and soot. Palate entry displays far better than average grain focus and viscosity; at midpalate, the taste profile turns off-dry, intensely breakfast cereal-like and biscuity. Finishes oily/creamy and snack cracker-lik

[ExPatty 502]

Yum

Edited March 10, 2016 by ExPatty

[Rob L 3,811]

Yum

wait what happened to "Hijacking your own thread? Man, you gotta leave the grudges behind. Let it go, what happens in a thread stays in a thread. " ?

[Jacque67 7,328]

Half truths and misdirection. He is beating the professional politicians at their own game. But as I have said every time somebody pretends trump isn't a wildly successful businessman, they are wasting their time. If you don't like him hit him on the actual issues.

Really nobody gives a damn about trump steaks. This is far meatier: http://gawker.com/trumps-casino-was-fined-650-000-for-catering-to-a-raci-1763293532

Yep. As I mentioned in another thread, he owes the boys in Atlantic City. He usually is smart enough (?) to use a third party in dealings with them.

wait what happened to "Hijacking your own thread? Man, you gotta leave the grudges behind. Let it go, what happens in a thread stays in a thread. " ?

When you have a BMW the rules don't apply!

[Rob L 3,811]

BBB Explains D-Minus Grade for Trump University

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bbb-explains-minus-grade-trump-university/story?id=37491525

Donald Trump's now-defunct university received multiple complaints from students, resulting at one point in a "D-minus" grade from the Better Business Bureau, a business ratings agency, said today.

Trump University has been a pointed source of contention during the 2016 presidential race, and the nonprofit BBB is now clarifying its grading of the online education company after Donald Trump’s assertions that the program has an “A” rating from the BBB.

"During the period when Trump University appeared to be active in the marketplace, BBB received multiple customer complaints about this business,” the New York area BBB and its national headquarters said in a statement released today. "These complaints affected the Trump University BBB rating, which was as low as D- in 2010," the statement said.

"As the company appeared to be winding down, after 2013, no new complaints were reported. Complaints over three years old automatically rolled off of the Business Review, according to BBB policy. As a result, over time, Trump University’s BBB rating went to an A in July 2014 and then to an A+ in January 2015.”

The Controversy Surrounding Trump University

Donald Trump has been saying in his front-running GOP presidential campaign that Trump University, which was later renamed Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, has an "A" grade from the BBB.

"We have an "A" from the Better Business Bureau. People like it," Trump said during the Republican presidential debate last week.

But the BBB noted today that the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative "does not currently have an A rating."

"The BBB Business Review for this company has continually been 'No Rating' since September 2015. Prior to that, it fluctuated between D- and A+," the statement said.

Trump’s education company, which effectively ceased operations sometime after 2010, is the subject of three active lawsuits, including one by the New York State Attorney General seeking $40 million in damages for people who were affected by the program.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation into the program in 2011, and filed the lawsuit against it and Trump in 2013, accusing the now-defunct school of "engaging in specific fraudulent, deceptive and illegal acts."

In court papers, Trump has called any claims of fraud patently false and unsubstantiated.