Showing posts with label #TheRealDonaldTrump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TheRealDonaldTrump. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2016
USA Today: Trump Unfit To Lead #nevertrump
From USA Today
USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump unfit to lead
http://usat.ly/2dIjh8C
In the 34-year history of USA TODAY, the Editorial Board has never taken sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them. Because every presidential race is different, we revisit our no-endorsement policy every four years. We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach. Until now.This year, the choice isn’t between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences. This year, one of the candidates — Republican nominee Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
The Small Business Owners Trump Never Paid In Full #NeverTrump #TheRealDonaldTrump
(CNN)"It was like we won the lottery," Beth Rosser remembers. Her dad, Forest Jenkins, had just secured a $200,000 contract to work at the biggest prize in Atlantic City: Donald Trump's Taj Mahal.
His company installed toilet partitions -- not exactly glamorous, but important nonetheless. It was 1988, and a six-figure contract was huge.
"It was a big job. It was great. We were all excited," says Forest's son Steven Jenkins. Jenkins spent a month working at the Taj. "I had the fuzz from those carpets on the wheels of my dolly for months after that job."
But what seemed like a winning ticket soon turned into a nightmare when the paycheck never came.
"We weren't this big company," remembers Rosser, who now runs the company with her brother, Steven. "We didn't have tons of money in an account somewhere to cover things."
Jenkins says his dad, who built the company from nothing, nearly lost everything.
Forest Jenkins
The Taj Mahal, the most expensive casino ever built in Atlantic City filed for bankruptcy in 1991, just two years after its glitzy grand opening. The bankruptcy meant companies like Triad Building Specialties didn't get paid.
After years of fighting through bankruptcy court, the Jenkins ended up with just 30 cents on the dollar. Their company was owed $231,000, according to the bankruptcy claim filed in the case. The Jenkins family received $70,000.
The Jenkins family realized they weren't alone. Dozens of contractors who had worked on the construction were also getting stiffed.
"It's 27 years later. I grit my teeth every time I see him on television blustering about what a wonderful businessman he is," Rosser says. "He stepped on a lot of people."
CNN reached out to the Trump campaign about each of the business deals mentioned in this story. Those calls went unanswered.
'I tried to stand up to him ... but it's exhausting'
Nat Hyman also knows what it's like to lose money at the hands of Trump.
"When he's nice, he's very, very nice. And when he's nasty, he's immensely nasty. He is as rough as they get," says Hyman, who claims he spent years buried in litigation with Trump.
In 1996, Hyman was a young entrepreneur who thought he landed a great deal when he secured a kiosk inside the Trump Tower lobby for his costume jewelry company, Landau Jewelry. His nascent business flourished and, eventually, the jeweler was able to negotiate deals with Trump to open additional kiosks inside his Atlantic City casinos.
Hyman's kiosk Landau Jewelry at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
But then Hyman's success was stymied. He claims his kiosk inside Trump Tower was in a prime location, so Trump tried to force him out of the spot. Trump's lawyers sent letters citing "the poor quality of the merchandise" -- a claim Hyman says was unfounded.
When Hyman wouldn't move, he says Trump retaliated against him by canceling his leases for the Atlantic City casinos and burying him in legal paperwork.
"I think I spent over a million dollars in litigation with him," Hyman says.
Hyman eventually left Trump Tower after 14 years. Trump replaced the jeweler's kiosk with his own merchandise that bore his name.
If he had to do it all over again, Hyman says he would have never gone into business with the real-estate tycoon.
"I tried to stand up to him everywhere I could but it's exhausting, and it's silly. To him, it's a sport. To him, it's fun."
A family business that was 'blackballed'
On the campaign trail in June, Trump promised the crowd that his business experience would create thousands of new jobs.
"We will make it very, very good for our companies, for our small business and for people that want to survive and do well in our country," Trump pledged.
But Paul Friel says his dad's small business went under at the hands of the billionaire.
Paul and Joann Friel
The Edward J. Friel Company built cabinets for Trump's first Atlantic City casino in the early 1980s. The company was awarded a $400,000 contract to build cabinets for the slot machines at Trump Plaza.
After the work was completed and approved by the general contractor, Friel expected a payment of $84,000, which would have covered the final expenses and all of the profit. But Friel says Trump bought out the construction contract from the general contractor, Perini Corporation, and then refused to make the payment.
It was a shock to his father, Friel remembers.
"We had already worked for three (general contractors), and every single one of them lived up to their word until Donald Trump came to Atlantic City," Friel says.
The slot machines at Trump Plaza.
Friel's father tried to recoup the money he was owed but eventually gave up. Friel believes Trump used his enormous influence to block his father's company from working on any future Atlantic City projects.
"I think it surprised him the most that Donald Trump had blackballed him ... even though we had an excellent name in Atlantic City," Friel says.
After struggling to stay afloat, the Edward J. Friel Company filed for bankruptcy several years later.
"He was devastated. The fact that we had seen such a huge future in Atlantic City for his business that all of a sudden because of one deal ... his business in Atlantic City was done," Friel says.
At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Trump promised to prosperity for America, saying: "I have made billions of dollars in business making deals. Now I'm going to make our country rich again."
Friel says he's speaking out on behalf of his father, who died in 2006.
"He would say, 'Paul, do this for us...let the country know what kind of man this is."
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Never Trump For Dummies #nevertrump
Donald Trump speaks in New York, Sept. 8. PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
Q: How can you call yourself a conservative columnist when you’re rooting for Hillary Clinton in this election?
A: Because Donald Trump is anti-conservative, un-American, immoral and dangerous.
Q: And Hillary Clinton is a conservative who personifies all that we hold dear as Americans and has a terrific record in government?
A: Not at all. She’s conventionally liberal, politically opportunistic and ethically challenged.
Q: And you support her?
A: I wish it weren’t so. But what’s the choice?
Q: The choice is a Republican candidate who may disagree with Wall Street Journal orthodoxies on trade and immigration but otherwise wants to cut taxes and regulations, strengthen defense, appoint conservative judges, and take advice from people like Mike Pence and Paul Ryan.
A: You seem to think we elect a policy menu. My fundamental objection to Mr. Trump is that he is unfit, as a person, to be president.
Q: Oh, please. I’ll grant he’s a bit rough around the edges, but that’s because he’s a nonpolitician. He’s also a brilliant businessman who made billions of dollars.
A: I might believe that claim if he would release his tax returns, or if six of his businesses hadn’t gone bankrupt, or if he hadn’t been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits, or if he didn’t routinely shortchange his suppliers or stiff his charities.
Q: Spoken like an elitist who doesn’t know what it’s like to run a business.
A: The successful entrepreneurs I know run their businesses with prudence, openness and integrity.
Q: Still, you can’t argue with success.
A: What Mr. Trump has achieved isn’t success. It’s notoriety. He has more in common with Kanye West than he does with Steve Wynn.And he isn’t just rough around the edges. He’s rotten to the core.
Q: Why, because every so often he says something ill-considered or politically incorrect? We’ve all said things we regret. Hillary lies all the time.
A: The difference is that Mrs. Clinton lies tactically to protect herself politically. Mr. Trump lies compulsively to aggrandize himself or belittle vulnerable people, whether it’s a handicapped reporter or a bereaved mother.
Q: They’re both flawed characters. But we’re electing a president, not the pope. And as a conservative, his views are much closer to mine.
A: Mr. Trump’s nativist brand of politics is much further removed from conservatism than Mrs. Clinton’s mainstream liberalism.
Q: And how do you define conservatism?
A: A principled commitment to limited government, free markets, constitutional rights, equal opportunity, personal responsibility, e pluribus unum and Pax Americana.
Q: Trump believes in most of that.
A: Except he doesn’t, starting with the Constitution. His plan to end birthright citizenship runs afoul of the 14th Amendment. His threat to “open up those libel laws” so he can sue his critics is a threat to press freedom. His attack on “Mexican” Judge Gonzalo Curiel was an assault on the American creed.
Q: That was just Trump spouting off.
A: What you call “spouting off” is an insight into Mr. Trump’s mind. It betrays an instinctive illiberalism. That’s why he attracts so much praise from Jean-Marie Le Penand David Duke. It’s why he keeps praising Vladimir Putin.
Q: Trump praises Putin because he’s popular at home, respected abroad and gets things done. That used to be true of U.S. presidents like Eisenhower, but it isn’t true of Barack Obama. Isn’t it time we had an effective leader?
A: Putin isn’t respected. He’s feared. Any thoughtful conservative would sooner have an incompetent democratic government than an efficiently autocratic one.
Q: We’ve got $19 trillion in debt, a murder rate on the rise, Islamic State on a rampage, and millions of working-age men who have given up looking for work. Sorry, but these are not normal times.
A: We’ve overcome worse—think of the 1970s. What isn’t normal is the sudden taste for buffoonish leaders preaching drastic remedies. It’s one thing for the Philippines to elect a character like Rodrigo Duterte. It’s another for his American equivalent to become leader of the free world.
Q: This is America, with institutions to provide checks and balances against an overreaching president. Speaking of institutions, what have you got to say about the fact that we’re one justice away from losing the Supreme Court to liberals for a generation?
A: What makes you so sure that a man who disdains a strict interpretation of the Constitution would appoint strict constructionists?
Q: Look, with Hillary I know what I’m getting and it’s a disaster. With Trump, there’s a chance he’ll keep his promises and grow in office.
A: If you’re truly confident in American institutions, then we’ll ride out Mrs. Clinton just as we have Mr. Obama. As for Mr. Trump, the man you see as nominee is the man you’ll get as president, only with more vanity and vastly more power. As the man himself likes to say, “You think I’m going to change? I’m not changing.” That’s one promise you know he’ll keep.
By bstephens@wsj.com.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Hotel Workers To Trump: Want To Make America Great Again? Start At Your Own Hotel #NeverTrump #TheRealDonaldTrump
LAS VEGAS, NV - "Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again,'" said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. "Mr. Trump should start right here in Las Vegas with workers at his hotel. Many of them are immigrants who work hard to provide for their families. They deserve equal treatment and should be respected for their contributions to this great city."
On Friday, August 21, 2015 at 5 p.m., employees from Trump International Hotel Las Vegas will march from Las Vegas Boulevard to their hotel to demand equality. They will be joined by clergy leaders, community organizations, elected officials, and union workers throughout the city. Over 500 Trump Las Vegas employees are seeking to unionize so that they can have the American Dream and have a better life for themselves and their families.
"I came from Mexico many years ago and became an American citizen to have a better opportunity for me and my family," said Maria Jaramillo, a housekeeper at the Trump Las Vegas. "This country is a nation of immigrants, and we all work hard and deserve to be treated fairly."
"I was born in America, and, with my union job, I have the opportunity to provide for my family. That's why I support Trump workers who want to unionize," said Pamela Parre, a banquet server at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, an MGM Resorts International property in Las Vegas. "Mr. Trump can make America better by treating his employees with dignity and respect, and make their jobs great jobs just like mine."
In June 2014, five Trump Las Vegas employees were unfairly suspended for exercising their legal right to wear a union button and organize their coworkers. After the Culinary Union filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Trump Las Vegas, these workers were returned to work with back pay.
In June 2015, the Culinary Union filed additional charges with the NLRB asserting that the Trump Las Vegas violated the federally protected rights of workers to participate in union activities. Some of the new charges include incidents of alleged physical assault, verbal abuse, intimidation, and threats by management.
The Culinary Union is the largest labor union as well as the largest immigrant organization in Nevada, representing hospitality workers who come from 167 countries and speak over 40 languages. The Culinary Union and the national organization UNITE HERE have long campaigned for immigration reform and the rights of immigrant workers, including the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride in 2003, and continues the fight to achieve comprehensive, worker-centered immigration reform.
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