President-elect Donald Trump's "vast real-estate empire" is "neither vast nor an empire," Bloomberg View editor Timothy O'Brien argued in a column published Thursday. Instead, O'Brien says, the Trump Organization is more akin to a "family-owned boutique business" — which would really make it quite simple for Trump to extricate himself from the growing web of conflicts of interest, should he choose to do so.
If Trump is serious about his promise tweeted Wednesday to leave his "great business in total," O'Brien has the easy, breezy, two-step process already outlined:
Conflicts surrounding the Trump Organization could be addressed by 1) turning over the company's licensing deals to a third party (or selling them) and 2) selling 12 golf courses, two hotels, one commercial building, one resort, some retail and commercial space, and liquidating a handful of hotel and real estate partnerships. [Timothy O'Brien, via Bloomberg View]
No word yet on whether Trump has responded to O'Brien's claims with evidence circled in gold Sharpie that his business — like his hands — certainly isn't tiny. You can read the entirety of O'Brien's argument at Bloomberg View.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political violence: The rise in leftist terrorismFeature A new study finds that, for the first time in decades, attacks by far-left extremists have surpassed far-right violence in the U.S.
-
The GOP: Merging flag and crossFeature Donald Trump has launched a task force to pursue “anti-Christian policies”
-
October 7 editorial cartoonsCartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include Chicago in trouble, RFK Jr's medical advice, and more
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
