November 22, 2011

Donald Trump’s $3 Billion Name

That's my name, don't wear it out!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/5440390625/">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr

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Fox News has obtained a copy of Donald Trump’s upcoming book, in which he addresses a touchy subject: His net worth. The real estate magnate turned reality TV star turned Birther presidential wanna-be has never been keen on disclosing his true wealth—probably because it’s not as impressive as he’d like us to believe. In 2006, Trump sued a journalist who’d reported that he was only worth between $150 and $250 million; Trump claimed he was worth at least $2.7 billion.

Now, according to Trump’s book, he’s worth more than $7 billion. Of that, $3 billion is the value of the Trump brand, i.e., his name.

How do you get your name to be worth a purported $3 billion? First, you slap it onto every kind of product imaginable, from hotels to perfume to a vanity beer label. Here’s a selection from the more than 200 trademark applications The Donald™ has filed in his own name:

The Donald

Trump Style

Trump Class

Trump Touch

Donald J. Trump, the Fragrance

Trumpnet

Purely Trump

Trump Steaks

Oysters Trump

Trump’s Golden Lager

Trump’s American Pale Ale

Trump Vodka

Trump Ice

Trumptini

Trump Card

Trump Furntiture

Trump Home

Trump Office

Trump World

Trump Money

Trump Mortgage

The Donald J. Trump Credit Card

The Donald J. Trump Signature Collection

The Trump Art Collection

Trump Concierge Service

Trump D’Elegance

Trump Attaché

Trump Versailles

Trump Royale

Tour de Trump

Trump Super Speedway

Trump’s World’s Fair

The Trump World Open

Trump University

Trump Institute

Trump Airlines

Trump Air

Trump the Game

Trumped

Trump Tycoon

Trump Fire

Trump Power

Trump Icon

The Trump Follies

Source: US Patent and Trademark Office

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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