Mother Jones Illustration; Shuttershock
This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files“—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current president—on September 16, 2016.
If there’s one thing Donald Trump is determined to protect, it’s his name. From a brand of business cards to two real estate developers with the same last name, the Republican presidential candidate has never held back from suing over the word “trump.”
In 1989, the target business was Trump Travel & Tours, a family-owned travel agency in the small town of Baldwin, New York, owned by Jules Rabin and his daughter Claudia Rabin-Manning, according to Newsday. The paper reported that Donald not only wanted the small business to change its name, but he expected $4 million in damages.
According to Rabin-Manning, the agency was already named Trump Travel when she bought it, and the term was used in reference to playing cards. “I didn’t know what to do,” she told the New York Daily News in May. “I wondered, ‘Am I going to lose my business?’ I was so upset.” The case was settled out of court, but she told the Daily News that fighting the suit cost her almost $10,000 and she was forced to put a disclaimer on her business stationery, signs, websites, and emails declaring that the agency was “not affiliated with Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization.”
