Donald Trump loves to boast about his biggest successes, but he’s not so quick to share the facts about his biggest failures.
Whether it’s Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, or Trump Mortgage, Donald Trump has been behind some extremely unsuccessful businesses. Let’s take a look at some of Donald Trump’s greatest failures that he probably wants you to forget about.
The Trump University Debacle
Donald Trump loves to tout that he’s good at making money. So why has his for-profit education venture, known as Trump University, been nothing short of a failure?
It all started in 2005 when he put forth his proposal for a school offering classes in entrepreneurship and real estate. By 2006, The Donald J. Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC was formally incorporated in New York.
Over time, however, people began coming forward with complaints about unfulfilled promises made by Trump University instructors. And these weren’t just random students: three lawsuits were filed against Trump U in California district court in 2009 (all have since been merged into one case).
In 2010, Donald himself stepped into defend himself and his beloved program – promising under oath that he never had anything to do with creating any part of it. “I don’t run it. I’m not even involved.” But the plaintiff’s attorneys say otherwise and point out that there are over 5,000 internal documents showing direct involvement on behalf of Mr. Trump.
The Billions of Dollars in Bankruptcies
As a real estate mogul, Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy four times, with his first filing in 1991. That failure left him with a mere fraction of his previous wealth.
The Atlantic reports that on top of these failures, Trump’s other ventures have also failed: an airline, a vodka, a steakhouse chain.
Some estimates say that he’s worth about $4 billion today. Though that comes into question as the NYT reported that he paid less than $1000 in taxes over a 10 year time span.
These failures will follow him throughout his life and will surely hurt his reputation. His business acumen could be, and is, perceived as suspect by many Americans.
The Many Lawsuits Against Trump
It’s easy to forget that Donald Trump is both a famous and controversial businessman—and he’s in many ways just as litigious as any other successful tycoon. He has been involved in approximately 3,500 lawsuits over his career, which is a staggering number.
Most recently, he was ordered to pay out nearly $300 million in damages after losing a case against an ex-Trump University student who claimed it didn’t live up to its marketing claims. It’s safe to say that trump has had some big successes and some big failures in his time.
Some of his most notable lawsuits include Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino v. NLRB, a lawsuit where he was fined $1 million by a US federal court for trying to move an employee from one job to another without their consent – commonly referred to as ‘coercion’.
Another example is The State of New Jersey v. Donald J. Trump & Fred C. Trump, where Donald and his father were charged with violating state casino laws through alleged violations in procedures for awarding bonuses.
The Family Business Scandals
Any discussion of Donald Trump’s greatest failures would be incomplete without mentioning his family business scandals. The Trump Organization—founded by Trump and currently run by his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr.—has had its fair share of run-ins with federal regulators for violations ranging from labor disputes to money laundering to accusations of racial discrimination.
But even if you don’t count these scandals as complete failures, they are serious blemishes. Even before he announced his bid for president, critics like Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston were already calling attention to a long history of shady dealings between Trump and those who have been put in charge of protecting consumers—including lax enforcement when it comes to real estate deals that have cheated small investors.
The Marriages
Donald Trump has been married three times, and he has had one high-profile engagement that never led to a wedding. He proposed to his first wife, Ivana Trump, in April 1977 while they were vacationing in Aspen, Colorado.
The two were married in a lavish ceremony at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel in December of that year. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump. However, Trump’s marriage to Ivana didn’t last long.
The couple separated after 12 years of marriage and their divorce was finalized in 1992. Trump went on to marry actress Marla Maples in 1993—the couple had one daughter named Tiffany Trump before divorcing in 1999.
In 2005, he wed Melania Knauss (Melanija Knavs), a model from Slovenia who became a U.S. citizen in 2006 (and uses her native name). Together they have one son named Barron William Trump who was born March 20th 2006. Trump is currently on his third marriage—one more than presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and both Roosevelts managed.
Lying About Giving to Charity
The Washington Post reported in August 2016 that an extensive review of public records indicated Trump had given less than $10,000 to charity between 2008 and May 2016, despite claiming he had donated more than $100 million.
Worse still, some of those donations came from other people’s pockets.
Trump used funds from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits against his for-profit businesses and buy items at charity auctions on behalf of another donor.
In one example cited by WaPo, Trump won a 2013 auction for a football helmet signed by Tim Tebow that he then gave to a Florida police department whose charity was affiliated with NASCAR. He reportedly paid $12,000 for it instead of using his own money.
