When the name “Donald Trump” flashes across your mind alongside “businessman” you can’t help but dream up images of his sprawling real estate empire and larger-than-life expenditures —like the famous Trump Towers or the Mar-a-Lago. According to Forbes, President Donald Trump’s combined properties are worth an estimated $2.4 billion. Surprisingly, a much larger part of Trump’s total current net worth comes from his Media and Technology group, a corporation he concocted to handle his social media company in addition to a couple of other projects. Trump has always positioned himself as a “self-made” billionaire, which was reemphasized during the 2024 presidential election in September when claiming that he had only received a small loan from his father to launch his business operations. Self-made is the last adjective I’d use for someone who received “a small loan” of $413 million from his father to upstart his business career according to The New York Times. The reason he chooses to regurgitate this narrative is simple: He wants to position himself as the harbinger of the highly sought-after “American Dream” to amass more support from civilians.
2000s Business
While it is undeniable that Trump’s real estate has flourished throughout the years, many of his lesser-known business prospects have suffered losses. One of the most notable is Trump Steaks, a business that sold various types of meat for two months before being pulled off the shelves. One of his more eccentric sales pitches includes Trump University, a course that claimed to reveal the secrets behind Trump’s impressive real estate portfolio, only to defraud thousands. There’s also the official Trump Game, which had an instruction manual consisting of 12 pages, rivaling my newly bought washing machine. But of course, we can’t discuss Trump’s business failures without mentioning the New Jersey Atlantic Casinos, a major set of casinos that crumbled under Trump’s supervision.
A Failed Gamble: Atlantic City Casinos
Trump’s New Jersey Atlantic City casino saga began in the 1980s when he partnered with Harrah’s Entertainment to complete Trump Plaza. Shortly after, he purchased and renamed a competing property, Trump Castle, forcing Harrah’s to exit the partnership. Trump later acquired the unfinished Taj Mahal, saddling it with $820 million in debt to complete construction. A New York Times report suggests he redirected funds from these projects to support his Manhattan real estate.
By the 1990s, Atlantic City’s gambling industry was in decline, but Trump’s casinos were impacted profoundly as they amassed over $1.3 billion in debt. To manage the financial strain, Trump transferred ownership of Trump Plaza to a public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. The company later acquired the Taj Mahal and Trump Castle, renaming the Trump Castle to the Trump Marina. This move shifted much of his debt onto shareholders, but the company continued to struggle, as, according to the same New York Times report, they “never logged a profitable year.” The industry began recovering between 1997 and 2002 causing Trump’s competitors to flourish, with an average annual revenue increase of 18%. Trump’s casinos flopped as their profits dropped by an average of 1%. Unable to afford pristine renovations to attract potential patrons, the casinos continued to lose money. After filing for bankruptcy a fourth time, Trump officially cut ties with his Atlantic Casino businesses in 2009 after quitting the board, with most of its ownership going to bondholders. Trump personally profited, averaging $3.2 million annually between 2001-2005 when the projects were the closest to collapse. When reflecting on the ventures, he boasted in a 2016 interview, “The money I took out of there was incredible.” As time passed, the casinos (Trump Plaza, Trump Marina, and the Taj Mahal), or what was left of them, were divided among various owners.
The Trump Plaza, which closed in 2014, was demolished in 2021. The Trump Taj Mahal was sold to Hard Rock International and reopened as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2017. In 2011, the Trump Marina was acquired by Landry’s Inc. and rebranded as the Golden Nugget Atlantic City.
After the failure of the Atlanta Casinos in 2004, Buckhead Meats, the meat supplier for the casino locations, partnered up with Trump again two years later to begin Trump Steaks. Trump then reached out to Sharper Image, an electronics company, to sell their meats in Sharper Image’s catalog. The meat officially launched in stores in July 2007 at Prices ranging from $199- 999 for different meat packages. At its inception, there was a lot of media attention on the new product, but that never reflected in the sales as many consumers found it subpar at best. One reviewer stated “What was I thinking? I guess I thought that for that price Donny was going to grill them for me. Not the best flavor at all. Sorry! I would have to say save your hard- earned money and don’t give it to Trump… on this one!!!!” Furthermore, Jerry Levin, then CEO of Sharper Image stated in an interview with ThinkProgress “‘If we sold $50,000 of steaks grand total, I’d be surprised.’” A unique outcome of this situation is that Sharper Image got a large boost in sales for other products due to Trump’s face on promotional material for the steaks attracting curious customers to the stores.
Trump Steaks were pulled from the shelves after a tenure of two months, and the trademark for the product was canceled in 2014, signifying the final nail in the coffin for Trump’s short-lived career as a steak salesman… Or did it?
During the 2016 elections, after primary victories in Michigan and Mississippi, Trump started pitching a batch of steaks during one of his rallies, claiming they were Trump steaks and making the bold claim that Trump Steaks was still very much in business. Reporter Tim Carman from the Washington Post embarked on an extensive journey, searching various Trump clubs and resorts where Trump claimed the meat was still being sold, but to no avail, as no one had the prized meats. Thus confirming the notion that no products under that name currently exist for retail sale/purchase.
Trump University
Two years before the failure of Trump Steaks, Trump was embarking on a different business venture: Trump University. This was an online course marketed towards older middle-aged people as the secret formula to Trump’s real estate success. However, three separate lawsuits revealed it to be a complete fraud. Two of them being class action lawsuits in California and one a civil suit spearheaded by then New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, who called the business endeavor a “classic bait and switch.”
According to the statement of Ronald Schnackenberg, the course initially used Gary Eldred’s “Real Estate Investor Training Program” to teach customers, but transitioned into utilizing in-person seminars in February of 2007. It was during these seminars that the fraudulent behavior occurred. The first seminar was free, but during it, employees would approach students and pitch either a “one-year apprenticeship” which consisted of a 3-day seminar and contacts to a ‘client advisor’ for $1,500, a mentorship program costing $10,000, and most astonishingly, the “Gold Elite” program costing a jaw dropping $35,000. The “Gold Elite” package claimed to offer direct mentorship from Trump himself, although employees testified that this was never the case– Trump had minimal involvement in the business. Yet, Eric Schneiderman estimates Trump made $5 million in profit from this endeavor. Schnackenbreg stated in his affidavit, “To my knowledge, not a single person who paid for Trump’s seminars went on to successfully invest in real estate based on the techniques they were taught,” According to leaked documents from the employee training handbook, employees were encouraged to use manipulative high-pressure sales tactics to coerce people to buy the packages. There were even scripted responses when potential victims seemed to be in doubt. For example, if someone said “I don’t like using my credit cards and going into debt” The response would be “[D]o you like living paycheck to paycheck? Do you enjoy seeing everyone else but yourself in their dream houses and driving their dream cars with huge checking accounts? Those people saw an opportunity, and didn’t make excuses, like what you’re doing now.”
The lawsuits succeeded in achieving a 25 million-dollar settlement, 21 million went to victims who attended the program after 2007, and 4 million towards the cost of the New York Attorney General’s case. Out of the 7,000 eligible to file a claim, 3,700 did so, earning between 80 and 90% of their money back.
This situation is one of the rare cases in which those who felt victimized by Trump’s actions were able to acquire some form of restitution through due legal process.
How Trump Capitalizes on “His Ideologies”
Trump’s inclination to unusual business ideas has not faltered in recent years, they have just adapted to suit his political agendas. For example, his Media and Technology group is responsible for a plethora of initiatives designed to propagate his ideologies; most prominently being TruthSocial, a heavily right -winged social media platform that resembles Twitter (now X). In addition, Trump Bibles and digital trading cards are all initiatives produced to embolden his coffers while he was undergoing a plethora of lawsuits during mid-2024.
Free Speech
Trump Media and Technology group, or TMTG, was founded by Donald J Trump in February of 2021 after he was banned from Twitter for tweets inciting the January 6th insurrection. This was before Elon Musk, now die-hard Trump supporter, took charge of the platform. After his controversial ban, Trump declared he was going to make his own social media platform that would not inhibit free speech as he claimed Twitter was. Thus, Truth Social was conceived by TMTG on February 21, 2021. In a twist no one could have predicted, a report from a non-profit, public citizen, found that this platform had been censoring left-wing posts.
The God Bless the USA Bible
The God Bless the USA Bible was originally inspired by Lee Greenwood’s hit patriotic song, God Bless the USA. It began printing in 2021 to an undisclosed publisher after its originally arranged publishing company, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, refused to produce it. In March of 2024, Trump announced his collaboration with the company, touting a new edition of the Bible as his “favorite book” in a promotional video posted to social media. According to the Bible’s official website, it has no political affiliations, and is not directly owned by Trump, but is licensed to use Trump’s name and likeness through one of Trump’s affiliate companies, CIC Ventures. The Bibles feature the King James translation of the holy text, in addition to copies of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. It also spotlights the lyrics of Lee Greenwood’s hit song. According to an investigation by the AP news, the Bibles are produced in China, for approximately 3 dollars each. However, the retail price for the Bibles is $59.99. It’s no surprise then, that CIC Ventures earned $300,000 in Bible royalties according to a financial disclosure Trump released in August of this year.
Trump has always tried to get the support of the “traditional, Christian, family man,” and this was his most significant attempt to do so. When it benefits him, as it did in the 2024 election, he adopts the ideologies and belief systems of American Christians so he can secure their allegiance.
Trading Cards and Meme Coins
Digital Trading Cards and Trump have had a brief but intertwined history. Trump launched his first collection of digital cards in 2022 when cryptocurrencies and online projects like NFTs were experiencing a huge wave of popularity. The card sold out within the day it launched, earning $4.5 million in profit. In August 2024, he announced a new collection of digital trading cards, each costing a humble $99. The cards feature images of Trump posed as a superhero, an astronaut, and many more. In a promotional video released to Truth Social, he declared that those who purchased 15 or more cards would get a physical trading card mailed to them, embedded with a piece of the suit he wore to the June presidential debate against Joe Biden. Those who purchased 75 cards or more, would get a personal invite to a gala dinner at one of his clubs in Jupiter, Florida. However, some speculate that this promotion may open him up to litigation.
His relationship with online projects was reinforced on January 17th, 2025, when Trump and his wife Melania launched a meme cryptocurrency coin. These projects, much like their name implies, differ from traditional crypto projects. Unlike established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, their values depend entirely on the popularity of whatever viral internet meme, trend, or significant event such projects are capitalizing on. In this case, $Trump was feeding off the hype leading to Trump’s Inauguration on the 20th of January. Shortly after it was launched, it reached a peak of about $72 per coin, and since then has experienced a value depreciation of 75%. Many speculate that this coin follows the same pattern as a popular scheme in the crypto industry called a “rug pull.” This occurs when insiders inflate the value of a meme coin only to sell it, effectively “pulling the rug” from other investors by instantly devaluing it. Trump’s meme coin distributes the value of the coin to its creators over three years, so ultimately the prices when they cash out will determine how much insiders will profit. That being said, estimates so far indicate that Trump and his fellow insiders have already made as much as $100 million due to trading fees. Meanwhile, small traders lost money when the coin’s value plummeted.
These projects have made Trump the first president to have a crypto side hustle. When asked if he would continue selling products to enrich himself personally during a 21 January press conference, he admitted he hadn’t even check up on the project after he launched it. Then, the reporter proceeded to tell him his projects may have made billions, Trump stated “That’s peanuts for these guys,” likely referring to his cohort of affluent insiders that helped launch the coin.
Donald Trump’s business ventures are like a buffet of bold ideas, served with audacious marketing. From high-stakes casinos to, well, steaks, his approach to entrepreneurship blends spectacle with selective memory. Whether it’s selling overpriced meat at an electronics store, convincing people they can unlock real estate secrets for the cost of a small car, or launching digital trading cards that seem more punchline than profit plan, Trump’s ventures showcase a rich talent for turning personal branding into a financial free-for-all. Yet, no matter how spectacular the implosions, Trump always walks away, all the richer and with a triumphant story to tell.
This pattern reveals not just a businessman but a master performer, leveraging each of his modern ventures to bolster his political display. By aligning his brand with patriotism, Christian values, and free speech (or at least his version), Trump has created a commercial pipeline to reinforce his political identity. These ventures are more about signaling his loyalty to a specific ideology, than as successful products. If his approach to past businesses, the executive orders of his first week, and consequent actions taken thus far is any indication, Trump’s method of running America might mirror his entrepreneurial style: bold, chaotic, and unapologetically centered on branding over substance. His track record shows a preference for high-stakes gambles that prioritize his narrative, often at the expense of those left in his wake. Whether this approach leads to triumph or turmoil for the nation remains to be seen. One thing is certain— Trump will spin it as a win regardless of the outcome.
One thing is certain — Trump will spin it as a win regardless of the outcome.