Trump Destroys Vegas with Biggest Scam Yet

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast Summary Episode: Trump Destroys Vegas with Biggest Scam Yet
Release Date: April 30, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas delve into the controversial impact of Donald Trump on Las Vegas's economy and tourism industry. Combining sharp political analysis with their signature brotherly banter, the Meiselas brothers explore the parallels between Trump's historical business practices in Atlantic City and his current influence in Las Vegas.

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Trump’s Impact on Las Vegas Tourism and Economy

David initiates the discussion by highlighting the severe decline in Las Vegas tourism, attributing much of the downturn to Donald Trump's actions and rhetoric. He states:

"Donald Trump is causing severe damage to Las Vegas, which relies on tourism dollars." [01:22]

David explains that international tourism, especially from Canada, Europe, and Australia, has plummeted. This decline is linked to widespread boycotts of U.S. products and services, fueled by negative perceptions stemming from Trump's administration's immigration policies and harsh treatment of migrants.

"They're hearing stories about migrants being thrown in detention centers... and essentially treated like criminals." [01:22]

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Historical Context: Trump’s Atlantic City Ventures

To provide context, David revisits Trump's troubled history with Atlantic City casinos in the early 1990s. He narrates how Trump's overambitious projects led to significant financial losses and eventual bankruptcies.

A pivotal moment in the discussion features a clip from a 1990 ABC investigative piece:

James: "Step beyond your wildest imagination." [04:38]
Emily: "The hotel was advertised as the eighth wonder of the world when it opened in 1990." [04:31]

The Taj Mahal casino, touted as a symbol of Trump's real estate prowess, failed to sustain its operations, leading to its closure in the early 2010s. David underscores the mismanagement and unrealistic expectations that doomed the ventures:

"Marvin Roffman... said the Taj would have to make close to a million three a day to break even. No casino in the world ever had that kind of number." [07:03]

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Current Crisis in Las Vegas

Drawing parallels to the past, David outlines the current economic hardships in Las Vegas:

• Visitor Volume Down: Recent statistics show a 12-15% drop in visitor numbers.
• Gambling Revenue Decline: Gambling revenues have decreased by hundreds of millions of dollars, reflecting a 15% downturn.
• Employment Impacts: Major employers like MGM are laying off employees, exacerbating the local unemployment crisis.

He emphasizes that these issues are eerily similar to the financial disasters Trump orchestrated in Atlantic City, suggesting a pattern of economic mismanagement.

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Media and Public Reaction

The episode highlights critical media responses to Trump's actions, particularly from The Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by Trump mega donor Miriam Adelson. A recent op-ed condemned Trump's pardon of Michelle Fiore, a former Las Vegas councilwoman convicted of fraud.

David: "The Las Vegas Review Journal described the decision by Trump as a debasement of presidential pardon power." [15:02]

The editorial criticized the pardon as undermining the integrity of the judicial system and sending a negative message to public officials.

Additionally, Howard Stevenson Stutz, a Nevada independent reporter, attributes the decline in Canadian tourism to both tariffs and the perceived disrespect from the White House.

Howard: "It's not the tariffs, it's the disrespect... all the rhetoric coming out of the White House." [13:41]

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Comparative Analysis: Then and Now

David draws a comparison between Trump's past business failures and his current political maneuvers. He points out that Trump's promises during elections often mirror his unsustainable business strategies, leading to similar outcomes of economic instability and public distrust.

"Trump was defrauding Vegas right there because all they had to do in Vegas also and elsewhere..." [10:08]

He further critiques Trump's financial disclosures, highlighting numerous bankruptcies associated with his enterprises:

"The Trump Taj Mahal... filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel... filed in 1992." [10:58]

This history of financial failures underscores the ongoing skepticism about Trump's business acumen and ethical practices.

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Local Contractor Testimonies

In exploring the human impact of Trump's business dealings, David shares accounts from contractors adversely affected by Trump's bankruptcies. Charlie, a former contractor, recounts:

"Had I known that Trump was going to take over the job, I would have never done the job." [07:40]

He adds:

"He promised if we did a good job, we would get paid. He didn't have the money." [07:53]

These testimonies illustrate the tangible harm caused by Trump's financial mismanagement, leading to unpaid debts and destroyed livelihoods.

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Current Economic Indicators in Las Vegas

David presents current economic indicators to paint a comprehensive picture of Las Vegas's struggles:

• Visitor Volume: Down by 12-15%.
• Gambling Revenue: Decreased by approximately 15%.
• Room Rates: Dropped below $100 to attract visitors.
• Employment: Significant layoffs at major establishments like MGM.

He underscores that the economic downturn is not merely seasonal but a direct consequence of Trump's policies and actions.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with the Meiselas brothers asserting that Donald Trump's influence continues to wreak havoc on Las Vegas's economy, mirroring his past failures in Atlantic City. They emphasize the importance of supporting democratic values and hold Trump accountable for his detrimental impact on both local and national scales.

David: "Utter destruction by the Trump regime. Trump's Encore, right?" [15:02]

The brothers call on their audience, the MeidasMighty, to remain vigilant and support initiatives that uphold democracy and economic stability.

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Key Takeaways

• Historical Parallels: Trump's past business failures in Atlantic City are repeating in Las Vegas.
• Economic Decline: Significant drops in tourism, gambling revenue, and employment in Las Vegas.
• Media Criticism: Local media outlets are increasingly critical of Trump's actions and decisions.
• Public Impact: Contractors and local businesses suffer due to Trump's financial mismanagement.
• Call to Action: Emphasis on supporting democracy and holding Trump accountable to prevent further economic harm.

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Notable Quotes

• David: "Donald Trump is causing severe damage to Las Vegas, which relies on tourism dollars." [01:22]
• Marvin Roffman: "The Taj would have to make close to a million three a day to break even. No casino in the world ever had that kind of number." [07:03]
• Howard Stevenson Stutz: "It's not the tariffs, it's the disrespect... all the rhetoric coming out of the White House." [13:41]
• Charlie: "Had I known that Trump was going to take over the job, I would have never done the job." [07:40]
• David: "Utter destruction by the Trump regime. Trump's Encore, right?" [15:02]

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Final Thoughts

This episode provides a comprehensive analysis of Donald Trump's detrimental effect on Las Vegas, drawing from historical events, current economic data, and personal testimonies. The Meiselas brothers effectively argue that Trump's relentless pursuit of personal and political agendas continues to undermine the very foundations of democracy and economic prosperity in key American cities.

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Join the MeidasTouch Podcast every Tuesday and Friday morning for more in-depth political analysis, comedy, and discussions on supporting democracy.

Transcript

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[David]

Donald Trump, the bankrupter of Atlantic City is back for his encore, no pun intended, bankrupting Las Vegas. Donald Trump is causing severe damage to Las Vegas, which relies on tourism dollars. As we've reported before on the Midas Touch Network, tourism from Canada, from Europe, from Australia and elsewhere is down significantly, reaching levels that are almost non existent now. Canada started the boycott of tourism in the United States and a boycott of all products from the United States. That boycott has spread to Europe, to Australia and elsewhere. In addition to boycotting tourism to the United States, it is also obvious why tourists are not coming into the United States. They're hearing stories about migrants being thrown in detention centers, not getting due process and being sent to concentration camps in El Salvador. And they're hear backpackers and tourists who are entering the United States who are being treated like it's the inquisition, being thrown in detention centers, getting strip searched, cavity searched and essentially treated like criminals and deported and being held for days and sometimes weeks in detention centers into the United States. So for that reason, tourism has declined significantly. Las Vegas relies on tourism dollars now. If you've traveled to Las Vegas recently. If you've been following the Las Vegas trades, if you've been following what's going on at mgm, the largest employer in Las Vegas, and following what the head of the tourism bureau in Las Vegas is saying, it is reaching a dire situation. Employees are getting laid off. And remember, Donald Trump, as part of his scam, his scheme, his fraud on Vegas and elsewhere in Nevada, which voted for Donald Trump this time, talked about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. Of course, Donald Trump has not enacted that. Trump also said on day one, prices would be lower. He also said there would be peace in Ukraine in 24 hours and that there would be housing that would be so plentiful that you wouldn't even know what to do with it. But of course, of course it is all a lie. I want to talk about what's happening in Vegas now, but I think to properly contextualize it, let's go back to the early 1990s when Donald Trump bankrupted his casinos in Atlantic city about eight, nine years ago. The great investigative team here from the 90s, from ABC, it resurfaced nine years ago and they reported on Donald Trump bankrupting these casinos. Let me show you what went down when they talk about how Donald Trump started with this heavy promotion and everything was going to be great. Watch what happened when Trump went to Atlantic City in the early 1990s when he defrauded Atlantic City. Play this clip.

[Emily]

The hotel was advertised as the eighth wonder of the world when it opened in 1990. 1.

[James]

Step beyond your wildest imagination.

[Emily]

A symbol of Donald Trump's meteoric rise as a real estate tycoon filled with Trump's signature glitz and gold. It cost nearly $1 billion to build.

[John]

Is it necessary to build on such a scale?

[Charlie]

The scale, Charlie, is what brings the people.

[David]

The opulence, the size, the everything is.

[Charlie]

What really is going to make the Taj Mahal, I think, the most successful hotel anywhere in the world.

[Emily]

But Monday at 5.59am, the doors were locked at the Taj after 26 years, leaving thousands of middle class workers without jobs. So how did Trump's crown jewel go from this?

[Charlie]

I'm really happy with what I'm seeing to this.

[Emily]

I got to show you a picture of what the casino looked like. It was, it was pretty remarkable. Take a look at this.

[David]

Now, there were people in Atlantic City who also had financial acumen, who were aware that Donald Trump's casinos were likely going to cause devastation. Whistleblowers, people who tried to raise the Red flag. Donald Trump got those individuals fired, retaliated against them. Let me show you one such story. Play this clip.

[Emily]

One man said he knew it wasn't sustainable. Marvin Roffman, a gaming industry financial analyst.

[Marvin]

And I said, well, why would you want to have three casinos? One is going to cannibalize the other.

[Emily]

Just weeks before the casino opened, he told the Wall Street Journal, when this.

[Marvin]

Property opens, he will have had so much free publicity, he will break every record in the books in April, June, and July. But once the cold winds blow from October to February, it won't make it. The market just isn't there.

[Emily]

These are the quotes that made Donald Trump angry.

[Marvin]

Live it.

[Emily]

What came next made headlines. Nightline covered Rothman's story.

[James]

You apparently saw things with some clarity. Yes, at least as far as the Taj Mahal was concerned. And yet when you spoke out on that, you got canned.

[Emily]

Donald Trump was so upset with Rothman's grim prediction for the Taj Mahal that he is said to have called up his boss and said, either make Rothman apologize publicly or fire him.

[Marvin]

They fired me on the spot.

[Emily]

Rothman says what really worried him about the Taj Mahal was how he says Donald Trump had financed it with an extremely high interest loan.

[Marvin]

The Taj would have to make close to a million three a day to break even. No casino in the world ever had that kind of number.

[Emily]

But Rothman turned out to be exactly right about the Taj. It could not bring in enough money. And a little over a year after it opened, the Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. And Trump's other two Atlantic City casinos followed suit the next year.

[David]

And then, finally, this is a contractor who tells the story how Donald Trump destroyed the lives of so many contractors in Atlantic City, screwed them over after defrauding them. Here, play this clip.

[Charlie]

Had I known that Trump was going to take over the job, I would have never done the job.

[Emily]

He says the Taj job nearly cost him his company, which was contracted to provide glass mirrors and doors.

[Charlie]

He promised if we did a good job, we would get paid.

[Emily]

He says Trump owed him over $1 million. And he wasn't alone. Rosenberg says Trump didn't honor the contracts of over 100 contractors who helped complete the Taj Mahal.

[Charlie]

The man didn't pay us because he didn't have the money. Bottom line.

[David]

So that was Donald Trump's excursion into Atlantic City. And doesn't it look a lot like what's going on right now?

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[David]

So let's take a look at right now and we'll compare a lot of the similarities. So before the election, remember what Donald Trump was saying? This was his message to the people in Nevada and elsewhere where he said that the reason the economy was doing so well before the election under former President Biden was that it was a fake economy, he said. And the reality, he said, is that everything was doing good because of him. This is what he said. Here, play this clip.

[Charlie]

Economy is not. This is just, it's like a fake economy. Some of the best, some of the best people on Wall street are saying the economy is only good because I think, I don't want to say this because other people have said it, that's not me saying it, but they think Trump is going to get elected. That's the only reason our economy's good. That's the only reason the stock market is up.

[David]

And of course Donald Trump was lying. He was defrauding Vegas right there because all they had to do in Vegas also and elsewhere is just take a look at Donald Trump's own financial disclos, signatures from the Trump media company that he controls. This is filed, this is by Donald Trump. I'm reading you the words of Donald Trump's lawyer in his recent annual SEC filing. A number of companies associated with Donald Trump have filed for bankruptcy. Entities associated with Trump have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past. The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned by Donald Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by Donald Trump at the time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. In the clip I showed you, the guy was like, why would you open up three casinos? It's going to cannibalize themselves. It's very similar to Donald Trump. Like, why are you going to tariff the whole world? Like they're going to retaliate and you're just going to screw Americans and make Americans pay more. Like, don't you see the parallels there? And it goes on to say thcr, which was founded by Trump in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 in 2000. Trump Entertainment Resorts, the new name given to Trump hotels after its 2004 bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy in 2009. 91, 9092-1995-2004-2009 casinos bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt. Screwed Atlantic City over so badly. Then you have companies that Donald Trump lent his name to, Trump Shuttle, Trump University, Trump vodka, Trump mortgage, gotrump.com Trump stakes all out of business. So horrible, horrible business person in Donald Trump right there. So what are the local journalists in Vegas talking about right now? Well, let's take a look right here and let's see what they've been saying recently about what's taking place. This is from ABC, NBC 3 Las Vegas right here. And here's what they have to say, or News 3 Las Vegas, rather. Here's what they have to say in NBC.

[James]

Play this clip.

[Kim]

Why are Canadians staying away from Las Vegas? Could it be the rhetoric out of the White House or is it the tariffs or is it both? Let's hash it out with the help of Nevada independent reporter Howard Stevenson Stutz. Thank you so much, Howard, for being here. And we have to think of ourselves here. What is it going to do to impact the local economy here in Las Vegas? What have you found through your reporting?

[James]

Well, Kim, thanks for having me on. What's fascinating was, is that international? You know, let's go back to the pandemic. We, we were looking to try to revive international travel as fast as we could, you know, because that's a big component in Las Vegas back in 2021, really pushing for it. Canadians were still coming then. They were, that was one of the few international flights we had, were coming in from Canada, you know, Toronto and Montreal because of the connection. And Canada is the number one international tourist destination, tourist market for, you know, coming to Las Vegas. So we saw this huge dip in February's numbers. International visit, international visitation went down, especially from Canada, I mean, where some of the flights are like 15, 12%, you know, down. And I first thought, well, it looked like the tariffs. And I wrote about it the week later. I had Canadians reaching out to me saying, it's not the tariffs, it's the disrespect. And you have to remember this was in, these are February's numbers that we got in at what, the end of March. And so, you know, they said we're not coming to Canada because of the disrespect. Like you said, the 51st state and all the, all the rhetoric coming out of the White House. And that was the end. So we'll see now next week we should see, you know, end of April, we'll see the February, the March numbers, I think they're going to be down pretty bad coming, you know, when we see the March numbers.

[David]

Okay, so in addition to the fact that there are massive layoffs in Vegas, revenues decreasing significantly, I think the recent stat is Las Vegas Visitor volume down 12 to 15%. Gambling down hundreds of millions of dollars down about 15%. Room rates are down in the $100. Trying to entice people. Things are not going good in Vegas now. Also it should be noted that the Las Vegas Review Journal owned by Miriam Adelson, a major Trump mega donor, also just came out with an op ed, scathing op ed criticizing Donald Trump because Donald Trump pardon someone by the name of Michelle Fiore who was a former Las Vegas politician. She was referred to as Lady Trump by lots of pundits and she was convicted of funneling money intended to build a statue for a fallen police officer to her own plastic surgery and to her own benefit. Let me just explain to you what went down. Talks about how a Nevada newspaper owned by Donald Trump mega donor Miriam Adelson has savage Donald Trump's decision to pardon a Republican Las Vegas councilwoman who was convicted of using donations intended to fund a statue of a police officer to pay for her cosmetic surgery. The Las Vegas Review Journal, owned by billionaire Miriam Adelson, described the decision by Trump as a debasement of presidential pardon power. And a scathing editorial published after Trump granted clemency to Michelle Fiore, a former Las Vegas councilman and Nevada state lawmaker. Fieri was convicted of fraud last year. Federal prosecutor said at trial she raised $70,000 for a statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter's wedding. The newspaper editorial says the pardon, which was brief and contained no explanation, is an affront to the federal jury that heard her case and sends precisely the wrong message to public officials. That's what's going on in Las Vegas right now. Utter destruction by the Trump regime. Trump's Encore, right? They have the hotel Encore. Trump's Encore after bankrupting Atlantic City. Shame, shame, shame. Hit. Subscribe let's get to 5 million subscribers.

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