Trump 39: The Return of the Wall

[fraurosena]

What the...?!

 

[fraurosena]

Huh.

So, again, concessions were made by America without receiving anything in return. Art of the deal, indeed.

[Dandruff]

27 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Huh.

So, again, concessions were made by America without receiving anything in return. Art of the deal, indeed.

Is Trump rushing home because of the Cohen testimony?

[fraurosena]

7 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

Is Trump rushing home because of the Cohen testimony?

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I posted a tweet in the Cohen testimony thread that said the presidunce was dismayed by the opening statement and wanted to rush home straight away. What that rushing home may accomplish, I do not know. The testimony has been given, the GOP showed its ugly face (again) and it's clear the committee is going to go after his and his org's financial statements and tax returns next. Alan Weisselberg will be called to testify before the committee, and quite probably Junior and Ivanka too. That must have him really scared. But he can't do a thing about it, except tweet and make disparaging comments. He would have done better by staying away and finishing the summit. Now he looks doubly the fool.

[fraurosena]

Always trying so hard to be clever and only succeeding in making himself looking stupid. 

Also, Cohen did not say there was no collusion. He only said he, Cohen, had no direct proof of collusion, but did have his suspicions. 

[fraurosena]

This is happening at the Pakistani-Indian border:

The presidunce thinks that's reasonably attractive. Let that sink in. He thinks it's attractive, and reasonably so.

 

[fraurosena]

*sniggers*

The Trump SoHo Hotel Was Struggling to Survive. Then It Dropped Its Name

Quote

At midnight on Dec. 20, 2017, the Trump SoHo New York faded into the history books. But the lights never turned off and the doors never closed. Instead, the David Rockwell-designed hotel—which commands some of the most impressive views in the city—took on a new name. When its guests woke up on Dec. 21, they became the first patrons of the Dominick.

In the year since the hotel’s rechristening, not much has changed. While at the spa you can now get a Detox & Glow facial from skin-care line Babor, instead of the former offering, Ivanka’s Choice, the lobby still bears the Trump SoHo’s signature travertine-and-gold aesthetic. The main restaurant, which closed long ago because of slow business, remains shuttered, and the ultraspacious rooms have maintained their custom Fendi furnishings and tufted-leather headboards. Even the staff has mostly remained in place.

But business has done a full 180. At a time when New York’s luxury and upper-upscale hotels are flagging—with demand, revenues, and occupancy all stagnant or slowing, according to data from research firm STR—the Dominick’s revenue per available room, or revpar, rose more than 20 percent from a year earlier, recovering fully from a prolonged slump. The hotel’s average nightly rate shot up $51, or 20 percent, compared with a citywide average increase of just 2 percent among its competitors. And the 391-room, 46-story hotel booked 7,000 more room nights in 2018 than in 2017.

What’s in a Name?

“Often times, changing your name alone is not the answer to turning around your business,” says Gesina Gudehus-Wittern, director of IpsosStrategy3, a branding consulting firm. If something is wrong with the product itself, changing what you call it won’t make a difference, she says. The Mondrian SoHo, a competitor to the Dominick, for example, has continued to sell at below-market rates after going bankrupt and then being sold and rebranded as NoMo SoHo.

“But if the challenge is in the name itself—if it no longer plays the role it was intended to play and has become a liability instead,” she says, “the solution can be as simple as that.”

Gudehus-Wittern says she thinks that’s the case with the Dominick. “No matter what your stance, one thing almost everyone certainly wants to take a vacation from is politics,” she says. “If you’re in town on business and billing a client, you want to leave politics out of the equation. And if Trump’s perspectives don’t align with your own, you don’t want to show yourself on social media at a hotel that bears his name.” Red, blue, indifferent—every demographic, she says, has an easy excuse to stay anywhere other than a hotel bearing the Trump name.

True to her point, the product itself was never problematic. The ex-Trump SoHo may be faulted for being slightly soulless, but its rooms are among the largest and best-priced among the hotel’s competitive set, its sky-high city views stretch in every direction (thanks to some exploited loopholes in zoning regulations), and it offers a condo-like experience in a well-connected corner of lower Manhattan.

“If you’re looking for something spacious downtown where you can feel comfortable for a full week, it’s the perfect hotel,” says Jack Ezon, founder and managing partner of high-end travel company Embark.

The perfect hotel with an imperfect name, that is. “Seven out of eight times people would say, ‘I’m not staying at a Trump Hotel’ when I suggested it,” Ezon says. LeBron James was one such guest; NBA players once loved the hotel for its extra-long beds, but the then-star of the Cleveland Cavaliers prominently refused to stay there with his teammates.

Now, Ezon says, former naysayers are back to booking the Dominick’s presidential suite: “Change the name on the door, and boom.”

Representatives from the Trump Organization didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[47of74]

Mr. Art of the Deal Strikes again

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/28/trump-north-korea-summit-1195227

And they had this piece of gold in the article;

Quote

 

[Dandruff]

7 hours ago, fraurosena said:

*sniggers*

The Trump SoHo Hotel Was Struggling to Survive. Then It Dropped Its Name

If it's still a Trump hotel, then they're making money from it.  I hope that potential clients are willing to do a little research on who they'll be giving their money to before making their travel plans...but I imagine that most won't bother.

[Howl]

A random tweeter just eviscerated Trump: 

 

[fraurosena]

15 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

If it's still a Trump hotel, then they're making money from it.  I hope that potential clients are willing to do a little research on who they'll be giving their money to before making their travel plans...but I imagine that most won't bother.

Good point. According to this 2017 NYT article, The Dominick doesn't belong to the Trump Organization anymore, so they're not making money off it. 

Trump Organization Will Exit From Its Struggling SoHo Hotel in New York

[Alisamer]

10 hours ago, fraurosena said:

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I posted a tweet in the Cohen testimony thread that said the presidunce was dismayed by the opening statement and wanted to rush home straight away. What that rushing home may accomplish, I do not know. The testimony has been given, the GOP showed its ugly face (again) and it's clear the committee is going to go after his and his org's financial statements and tax returns next. Alan Weisselberg will be called to testify before the committee, and quite probably Junior and Ivanka too. That must have him really scared. But he can't do a thing about it, except tweet and make disparaging comments. He would have done better by staying away and finishing the summit. Now he looks doubly the fool.

To be honest, once I heard he and Pence were both out of the country at once, my reaction was "Quick! Lock the doors!" I think if a wall would actually keep Trump out, it'd be built in three days at no cost to the government, at this point.

I'm a little surprised he's running back home. I'd have thought he'd have been negotiating with Kim and Putin to give him asylum, but I guess we aren't quite at that point yet. Is he holding out hope of creating the first super-luxury resort on the North Korean coast if he kisses Kim's butt enough?

[Dandruff]

2 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I'd have thought he'd have been negotiating with Kim and Putin to give him asylum, but I guess we aren't quite at that point yet. Is he holding out hope of creating the first super-luxury resort on the North Korean coast if he kisses Kim's butt enough?

Asylum talks may have already begun, for all we know.  I wouldn't be in the least surprised if Trump was speculating on potential properties in NK to Kim.

I suspect he rushed home to more easily be able to gather info and coordinate.

[formergothardite]

It looks like the negotiations weren't going so well. Trump probably was getting bored with the whole thing and his focus is now trying to stop Cohen from ruining his life. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

I could also have posted this in the cartoons and memes thread and it would not have been out of place. How SAD is that?

 

[AmazonGrace]

Many people don't know what it means= Ivanka just told him what it means. Again

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

The presidunce is so screwed. So, so screwed. And the best thing about it? It hits him where it hurts the most. His finances, and the image he crafted around them.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"About a dozen trees cut, dumped into Potomac River at Trump golf club in Virginia"

Spoiler

About a dozen mature trees and additional shrubs were cut down and dumped into the Potomac River from Trump National Golf Course property last week, an action that Loudoun County officials say could violate local ordinances covering work on floodplains.

The downed trees were spotted last Saturday by Steven Mckone, director of the Calleva River School, as he kayaked the river and turned into the George Washington Canal, a bypass often used by boaters to avoid a dam that blocks the river. Tree trunks, limbs and branches clogged the smaller passage.

“It was very fresh, the sawdust wasn’t even wet yet,” Mckone said. “Normally when people remove trees, they take the trees out, but these were dumped right in the river.”

Trees in a waterway can create dangerous conditions, where currents can pull watercraft into the branches, then trap boaters underwater in what is known as a strainer effect. In addition, trees along river banks are among the best ways to protect water quality and aquatic life, and prevent erosion, environmentalists say.

The general manager of the Trump property referred all questions to the organization’s corporate office, which did not respond to requests for an explanation or comment.

Loudoun public affairs officer Glen Barbour said the county’s urban forester and representatives from its planning and zoning office visited the site Thursday.

“Based on the initial observation, I am told that there appears to be an issue with a number of trees removed from the flood plain, which would require a permit prior to any operation,” Barbour said. “The county is currently determining whether a violation of the ordinance occurred, and if so, what the appropriate course of action would be.”

Potomac Riverkeeper Network employees Dean Naujoks and Phillip Musegaas took a jetboat to the property earlier this week to see the situation for themselves. They said they saw about a dozen stumps with diameters of 14 to 24 inches, indicating mature and healthy trees, and trunks discarded along the shoreline.

The clear-cut was just off the fairways of the golf course, in what had been a small copse, Naujoks said. He and Musegaas reportedthe situation to local and state officials.

“Clear-cutting large trees this close to the river will undoubtedly impact the river,” said Musegaas, vice president of programs and litigation for the organization.

The cut trees could pose a safety hazard for paddlers, he said, while rain and high water could flush exposed sediment in the river. “Bad for the river, and bad for people who use it,” Musegaas said.

In 2010, the Trump club removed more than 400 trees from its property when it renovated its courses, upsetting environmentalists and drawing some concern from Loudoun officials. That project also included efforts to clean up the riverbank, which was polluted with trash and debris, Trump officials said at the time.

Nine months later, Trump told a Washington Post reporter that the tree removal was done to create a better view.

“It was done so that people utilizing the services of the club — of which there are 1,000 members, it’s a very successful club — could have unobstructed views of the river, and because it was an environmental enhancement,” Trump said at the time.

At the time, the county considered but never enacted the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which would have protected a 75-foot buffer along its riverfront, as Fairfax County and other jurisdictions do.

How typical of Dumpy, ruin the environment so his club members can have a better view. The Potomac is a highly popular location for kayakers and boaters. Also, it's a major source for drinking water, so extra sediment and debris will have to be handled by the water treatment facilities.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

So this could happen. Both an indictment of a sitting president and invoking the 25th amendment. What are the chances of this happening, as well as an impeachment? I mean, in for a penny, in for a pound, right?

 

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

So this could happen. Both an indictment of a sitting president and invoking the 25th amendment. What are the chances of this happening, as well as an impeachment? I mean, in for a penny, in for a pound, right?

A lovely idea...except for the vice president...but it sounds like too much to hope for.