Donald Trump may be known as a real estate tycoon, deal maker and for his eponymous towers, but Michele Malkin reminds us of the crony capitalist sources of his wealth, namely that Trump is a serial eminent domain abuser.While casting himself as America’s new constitutional savior, Trump has shown reckless disregard for fundamental private property rights. In the 1990s, he waged a notorious war on elderly homeowner Vera Coking, who owned a little home in Atlantic City that stood in the way of Trump’s manifest land development. The real estate mogul was determined to expand his Trump Plaza and build a limo parking lot — Coking’s private property be damned. The nonprofit Institute for Justice, which successfully saved Coking’s home, explained the confiscatory scheme:
“Unlike most developers, Donald Trump doesn’t have to negotiate with a private owner when he wants to buy a piece of property, because a governmental agency — the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority or CRDA — will get it for him at a fraction of the market value,. . .
. . .
Trump has attempted to use the same tactics in Connecticut and has championed the reviled Kelo vs. City of New London Supreme Court ruling upholding expansive use of eminent domain. He told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto that he agreed with the ruling “100 percent” and defended the chilling power of government to kick people out of their homes and businesses based on arbitrary determinations:
Nice to see Trump talking up Gingrich; if that doesn't kill tea party support for Newt, I don't know what will.
Trump is a dirtbag and his utter rejection with the debate should be enough for him to stop pretending to be a Republican.
ReplyDeleteSo he endorsed Mitt today. What's up with that flip?
ReplyDelete'Dawg, the Trumpster wrong footed me on that one. But I still agree with SarahB on his overall level slime.
ReplyDeleteLooks like he went with fellow dirtbag, Romney. I'd say that rewriting this post with Romney substituted for Gingrich would do fine.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't put it past Trump to believe it was a dirty trick. I don't think the tea party is behind any Presidential as a group. We need to build a deeper bench. Many of the top tier candidates that might have generated tea party support didn't run, Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie come to mind.
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