Trump’s brand is now 'synonymous with fraud and failure' after $450M judgment: columnist

Former President Donald Trump's business empire was dealt a severe blow by New York Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday, and one longtime Democratic strategist is arguing that the nine-figure judgment is a lasting stain on Trump's image as a savvy business magnate.

In a Saturday column for the Guardian, Sidney Blumenthal — who was a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton — wrote that despite his father, Fred, trusting him with both his sizable real estate portfolio and the family's name, Trump has been "steering the family legacy on to the rocks."

"Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling on Friday concludes the nearly century-long history of the Trump Organization in New York in disgrace and ruin," Blumenthal wrote. "The Trump brand is now adjudicated to be synonymous with fraud and failure."

The $355 million judgment Engoron handed down comes with roughly $90 million in interest that accrues every day the sum is not paid, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. That means the former president's civil fraud judgment hovers around the half-billion mark. According to Blumenthal, this marks a new low for Trump, who — along with his father Fred — reached their "pinnacle of acceptance" in New York City in the late 1970s.

In his column, Blumenthal detailed how Donald's brother, Fred Jr., had seemingly failed the family after rejecting his father's calls for him to pursue a career in the business world by becoming a pilot instead. When Fred Jr. succumbed to alcoholism and resigned himself to living in his family's Queens home, Donald became his father's next best hope.

According to Blumenthal, Fred hoped to get his son connections in politics, and recalled a story from a "friend" who was a Democratic National Committee (DNC) official during the Jimmy Carter administration. During a function at the home of a power player in New York politics, Fred asked the DNC official about getting his son "experience in Washington." When an apparently unenthused Donald began to speak out in protest, Fred reportedly told him to "shut the f--- up," adding that "we didn't f---ing ask you" and barked "who the f--- cares what you think?" Blumenthal wrote that "Donald shut up" after that exchange.

Blumenthal wrote that when Trump sought to expand his family's real estate empire from Brooklyn into Manhattan, he pledged to be "bigger" than billionaire real estate developer Harry Helmsley, who owned the Empire State Building. The columnist noted that Helmsley was eventually charged with inflating the value of his real estate holdings and for tax evasion in 1988 but was deemed too frail to stand trial. His wife, Leona, didn't escape justice. She was convicted and sent to prison.