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    Donald Trump and The Trump Network - A Political Ponzi Scheme?

    By William K. Wolfrum on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:15am | Politics, Media

    A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post at Alan Colmes Presents Liberaland where I attempted to strongly point out that Donald Trump's talk of running for Presidency was a ploy and that Trump had no interest in holding any political office, let alone the Presidency.

    Nonetheless, the D.C. media is unable to avoid Trump and his increasingly incoherent Birther ramblings. While this unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Trump is once again showing off his true skill - hyping and promoting himself.

    This morning, while being interviewed by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, a team of anonymous users attacked Twitter with Tweets about "The Trump Network." A little about The Trump Network from Jonathan Budd:

    Everybody, and I do mean everybody, knows the name of Donald Trump. He’s done a lot of amazing things in real estate, and is well-known for his public recovery when he was near bankruptcy. His television program, The Apprentice, keeps him in the public eye – and has made “You’re Fired” a national catchphrase.

    And now he’s come out with The Trump Network… a multilevel marketing opportunity for you to market health and wellness products for the usual commissions and downline.

    The question on my mind, when I first saw this, was whether Donald has finally just plain lost it. Is this some sort of joke? “The Trump Network MLM Business” just sounds… wrong.

    I mean, really, MLM? Donald Trump, the very embodiment of big business, lending his name to a system like this? The entire MLM business is built around a grassroots effort, a small business opportunity, not something you’d expect Donald Trump to get behind.


    Mind you, promoting The Trump Network is just one of the benefits Trump is receiving from the media attention being poured upon him by the national media. But, much like The Trump Network itself, Donald Trump's recent foray into politics is smelling a bit like a Ponzi/Pyramid scheme.

    Not that I'm accusing Trump of running a giant scam, mind you. I'm just brave enough to ask the question. I think Trump himself can respect that.

    Update: A search of "Trump Network" on Google's Blog Search returns 44,900 hits, including countless mentions in the past 24 hours alone. Maybe someone should ask him about this.

    Update 2: Here's Trump talking about The Trump Network. A video "welcome" from Trump on the can be found at the Wayback Machine.

    --WKW

    Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Media

    Comments

    A Trump TV network is a god awful idea. Here's why - in my view, successful TV networks are founded and propelled by behind-the-scenes actors who orchestrate a channel towards success. Fox News isn't carried by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes and Current TV isn't even carried by Al Gore. They're carried by content that sells itself. What on earth is going to be the content of a Trump channel? Infomercials for the Hair Club for Men?

    For an example of what I am arguing here is Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Despite Oprah's massive celebrity and name recognition, the network is struggling deeply. A network provides content and the content attracts advertisers and viewers. Donald Trump's ridiculousness is not a sound business model.

    As for Trump's political presence, as a guy who succeeded and experienced challenges in the real estate market, his thoughts on that subject would be a whole lot more interested and relevant than his obsession with Barack Obama's birth certificate. Of course, nationalism and populism seems to sell alot better on economic matters than economics.


    by Orion on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:54am

    Actually it's not a TV network but a multi-level marketing scheme.


    by William K. Wolfrum on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:54am

    Trump has been running a scam for decades.

    He is nothing but the ultimate grifter with a strange hair cut!


    by Richard Day on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 1:56pm

    Hi William....I’m surprised I haven’t heard much recently about TTN.  Is anything happening lately?  It’s obvious The Donald’s focus now is on running for Prez.  I signed up with TTN in summer of 2009 when there was lots of buzz, but it seemed to fizzle.  I’m starting to have good results with a supplement called Protandim.  Seems to be the next generation & what a video they have.  I’m curious…..Is there much growth with TTN?  Anything new coming?  Conventions?  [email protected]


    by Dave (not verified) on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 5:48pm