Trump's company removes his name from NYC skating rink because it's bad for business

Donald Trump’s name continues to disappear from buildings and other properties in New York City, as it has become toxic for business.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that two ice skating rinks owned and operated by the Trump Organization have removed his name from the property ahead of the start of the ice skating season.

The removal happened quietly, according to the Times. However it’s noticeable that his name — once flashed all across the rinks in thick red lettering — is gone.

At Wollman Rink, an ice skating rink in Central Park that Trump has run since the 1980s, Trump’s name has been removed from the signs.

The massive “TRUMP” sign that used to be seen above the ice skating rental window at Wollman Rink has been mostly covered up. Only the “T” is visible, with the rest of the Trump name covered up with taped on white paper, according to an image published by the New York Times.

These are not the first properties in the city to remove Trump’s name, or have suffered because of the association with the embattled businessman.

Trump Tower in Manhattan, the crown jewel of Trump’s real estate portfolio, is struggling to maintain commercial tenants, and has also seen a sell-off by condo residents in the building.

The Trump SoHo — a hotel in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood — changed its name to the Dominick because the association with Trump was reportedly bad for business.

Another building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan — which licensed the Trump name — removed the Trump name from the property in 2018 after tenants voted to replace it.

While Trump’s name has become toxic for some of the properties in his business empire, others have become a hotbed for influence peddling and corruption.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., for example, has been scrutinized over its ties to foreign leaders, special interest groups, and lawmakers, who have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively to stay at the property. Because Trump did not divest from his business holdings, he still profits off those stays, though the Trump Organization has for the last few years donated what it says are all the foreign profits the property has brought in.

More recently, the White House also announced Trump would host the 2020 G-7 summit at his struggling Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami, Florida, but was later forced to backtrack on the decision after a massive public outcry.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.