Just one month after Donald Trump boarded Marine One and headed off to exile at Mar-a-Lago in January 2021, a symbolic coda to his career as a builder and politician took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After years of disrepair, the once opulent Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino came tumbling down to cheers from onlookers who had all paid $10 to watch the demolition from their cars.
The moment didn’t last, of course, as Trump made the greatest comeback in American political history four years later. But his Atlantic City years should have been a cautionary tale for all those who believed his alleged acumen as a businessman could make them rich. Trump, after all, is among the very few people to have repeatedly gone bankrupt running casinos. That’s not an easy feat.
