Trump Backed Off of Hosting the G7 at His Florida Resort
More than 1,000 days into his presidency, it’s hard to be terribly surprised by Trump’s audacious corruption. But Thursday’s announcement that the 2020 Group of Seven meeting would be held at his Florida golf club Trump National Doral felt particularly shameless, and threatened to turn the global economic summit into free press for Trump’s struggling property. Now, thanks to the thunderous criticism the announcement sparked, Trump says he’s backing off and looking for other venues.
"I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders," Trump Tweeted Saturday night. "It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, has tremendous ballrooms & meeting rooms, and each delegation would have its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives. I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!"
Even his messages announcing the change of venue read like an ad for Doral. The resort's troubles are no secret—The Washington Post reported earlier this year that Trump Doral is “in sharp decline,” and that its net operating income plummeted nearly 70 percent in just two years. While the administration noted that Trump intended to host the summit “at cost” and would not earn a direct profit, the Doral just the sort of business that could use a massive global publicity opportunity—which is exactly what the G7 would have given it.
“Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020,” Trump concluded on Twitter. "We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!”
But while the announcement and subsequent backtracking may just be a blip in the history of this administration’s endless controversies, it’s not without consequences. Announcing that the G7 would be held at Doral is part of the reason acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney held a press conference on Thursday—the very press conference where he copped to quid pro quo in the ongoing Ukraine scandal.
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