Analysis by Summer Lane | Photo: Alamy
“Ultimately, Trump Tower became much more than just another good deal. I work in it, I live in it, and I have a very special feeling about it.”
These words, penned by Donald J. Trump in his famous 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, reflect the unique magic of one of New York’s crown jewels: Trump Tower.
The dashing skyscraper cuts a sharp silhouette against the blue sky in Midtown Manhattan, slicing upward 58 stories and boasting the architecture of Der Scutt, resulting in a style that Trump himself referred to as a “mystical aura” that attracted international attention.
Now the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump began his career as a real estate developer in New York City. He worked with his father, Fred Trump, to manage and build rent-controlled housing in Brooklyn and Queens.
“I learned a lot from him,” Trump wrote of his father. “I learned about toughness in a very tough business, I learned about motivating people, and I learned about competence and efficiency: get in, get it done, get it done right, and get out.”
While Donald Trump himself set his sights on “more glamorous” real estate forays, these foundational lessons from his youth and early career clearly set the stage for his success as one of the world’s best-known developers. He orchestrated enchantment with builds like Trump Tower, The Grand Hotel, Atlantic City, and even the Wollman Rink in Central Park.
Donald Trump’s name, for decades, was and is synonymous with the American dream. The Trump brand is immediately recognizable, linked to luxury, immaculate golf courses, international hotels, and undeniable mystique.
It is all the more disturbing that on March 25, New York State Attorney General Letitia James could very well move to seize Trump Tower and other Trump assets in the Empire State, all in the name of “justice.”
The legal battle
AG James’ multi-million-dollar case against Trump culminated in February 2024 when Judge Arthur Engoron levied what has now amounted to more than $450 million in fines, along with a three-year ban on holding a leadership position in a New York-based real estate company – a ban that extends to his sons, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump.
As reported by RSBN, Trump has been unable to secure the nearly half-billion-dollar bond amount from appeal bond companies ahead of the Monday deadline, putting his assets in jeopardy.
On Thursday, AG James made measurable steps toward seizing Trump’s assets in Westchester County, New York, where she set her sights on the president’s private golf resort and estates called Seven Springs, The Hill reported.
The president argued in a scathing filing the same day that the obscene bond amount was “unjust” and “unconstitutional.” His attorneys alluded to the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, whereby it is clearly stated: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Judge Engoron’s ruling has required Trump to post a bond close to the same amount as the actual fine itself to even appeal the ruling – an action that has drawn the ire of law experts. “You can’t just go to a person and say produce half a billion dollars if you want any other judge to look at what I did,” explained George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley while speaking with Fox News.
Kevin O’Leary, a successful businessman and one of the judges on the hit show “Shark Tank,” flamed the initial $355 million fine (plus $100 million in interest) on Fox News. He said, “You think about America. The reason why this is the number one economy on earth is that we have laws and due process.”
He also pointed out that what was happening to President Trump wasn’t about him – rather, it was about “an attack on America, and I don’t know how you can look at it any other way.”
The fallout from Judge Engoron’s ruling
Throughout his career, the Trump Organization has employed thousands of people in New York and given back to the community that built their empire. While selling luxury and fantasy, Donald Trump never forgot about the city that shaped his family’s success, which ultimately allowed him to learn, grow, and carve out his own path.
The president’s career in New York is ultimately a story of American resilience and capitalistic achievement, propelled by his unrivaled business instinct and inarguable chutzpah when it comes to negotiation.
“In my whole life, I have never met anybody who’s as brilliant as Donald is at building a brand … He’s an absolute genius at it,” said late New York public relations advisor and impresario Howard J. Rubenstein.
Indeed, Trump’s contribution to the New York skyline is a clear historic hallmark of what good business instincts and a relentless will can accomplish. In 2015, his decision to launch his presidential campaign during a speech held at Trump Tower was a whip-smart demonstration of good branding: Trump the businessman pivoting into Trump the national leader.
Trump’s real estate assets have often taken center stage, and there is good argument to be made that his real estate holdings were as much of a fixture of his political campaign and his White House administration as he was. From Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, to his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Trump has made use of his real estate empire for the purposes of campaigning and even hosting global heads of state.
In this light, Americans can see AG James’s bone-chilling intention to seize his real estate assets in New York as a representation of a cataclysmic fracture in the mosaic of American entrepreneurial spirit.
It seems that while New York autocrats pursue Trump relentlessly, this has sent a clear deterring signal to anyone else who may have had dreams of investing in what was once one of the hottest cities on earth.
National real estate investors are already calling it quits in the Big Apple in the wake of the staggering civil fraud ruling from Judge Engoron. Per Fox, Cardone Capital is pulling out, pointing out that the risks of investing in New York now “outweigh the opportunities” in light of the rampant politically fueled justice system.
Kevin O’Leary has also promised to halt his investments in New York, explaining, “New York was already a loser state like California is a loser state. There are many loser states because of policy, high taxes on competitive regulation. I would never invest in New York now. And I’m not the only person saying that.”
President Trump himself rebuffed the horrific economic consequences of Engoron’s ruling and AG James’ legal attacks, writing on Thursday, “This Witch Hunt, between a bad Judge and a Corrupt & Racist Attorney General, is horrible for New York. Businesses are FLEEING, while Violent Crime flourishes. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
The ruling against Trump in New York City represents the dying gasps of justice in the Empire State as equally as it represents the nail in the coffin of creative entrepreneurship in a state that, at one time, was rocketing to the moon regarding real estate development and business.
Now, New York has waved the white flag on the state’s industry potential and real estate landscape, choosing instead to pursue political agendas and slip a dagger into the heart of pure, market-driven Americana.
If the attorney general does indeed seize Trump’s properties, it will be a dark day for the American spirit and a demonstration of New York leadership’s utter rejection of the man who reshaped and enchanted their skyline for many decades.