If President Donald Trump plans to keep running the United States like he’s been running his family business, we’re all in trouble. The Washington Post reported this week that a Trump-branded golf course in the Bronx has for the first time actually been losing money recently, finishing 2018 with a loss of $122,000. That massive gap between expenses and earnings persisted even though the city wasn’t even requiring any rent from the Trump Organization for the course through last year, and it was covering irrigation bills for the property — but Trump still managed to lose money on the project.
Geoffrey Croft of the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates quipped:
‘He’s managed to do the impossible: get this amazing gift from the city, and lose money.’
One major culprit is his name. It’s not like golfing at a Trump-branded golf course is an attractive option for the millions upon millions of Americans opposed to the president. Even with minor bumps sparked by some of his supporters feeling free to come out of the shadows, the percent of the population that approves of the job Trump is doing in office has stayed mostly well under 50 percent for the entirety of his presidency. That’s not exactly a winning business model, and it has led to the Trump Organization losing control of a number of properties from Panama to New York City during Trump’s time in office. Often, those driving the change have explicitly tied their push to Trump’s antagonistic, egomaniacal politics.
Other issues besides the behavior associated with his name The Post notes with Trump’s golf course in the Bronx include the supposedly delayed course clubhouse opening and the large fees that the Trump Organization has been charging to use the course. They’ve charged as much as $224 per round, but the publication says that most “of the city’s other public courses charge $53 at most.” Rounds played at the course have been declining since its opening.
The Trump Organization apparently blames the city of New York for the clubhouse delay, complaining about an “inadequate gas pipe installed by” New York city authorities that had made the clubhouse have to languish inaccessible to patrons until this year, although the president’s company had an “opening ceremony” for the facility last year. When pressed by The Post, which had obtained some of this information following an apparent public records request, neither the Trump Organization nor the city would provide much further in the way of details about questions like “the size of the pipe and the size of their dispute.” The New York parks department did say, though, that they “do not believe the City is responsible” for the Trump Organization’s apparent issue.
The city will actually start looking for rent from the president’s business for the course come next year, and the projected fees — hitting $300,000 — are more than double the losses that they reported for this past year, so the financial future of this course is uncertain. The aforementioned clubhouse is now open, but can it alone provide some half a million dollars in yearly revenue?
If Trump had to close a course while spending so much time golfing while in office, that would be deeply ironic to say the least.
Featured Image via screenshot
