September 15, 2020

The Trump Files: Yet Another Time Donald Sued Over the Word “Trump”

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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.”

 

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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