Backlash to Trump comments hits where it hurts: wallet
Trump complained that he'd invested money in Scotland and that the British government is caving to political correctness.
International revulsion against Donald Trump over his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States has taken aim at his wallet.
A $6 billion golf community under construction in Dubai is removing his name from the project. Trump was tossed from a respected business network in Scotland, where the billionaire says he invested more than $300 million in golf courses and other developments. And Lifestyle, a retailer that does business in an enormous marketplace spanning the Middle East, India and Africa, stopped selling Trump branded products.
Dubai development drops Trump branding
Trump on Monday called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" because of terrorism perpetrated by radical Muslims, including a married couple who fatally shot 14 people and wounded 21 others in San Bernardino, Calif., last week.
His comments have been rebuked by politicians across the U.S. political spectrum, and by world leaders from Muslim and non-Muslim countries alike.
Scottish university strips Trump of honorary degree in wake of anti-Muslim rhetoric
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday said Trump's comments about Muslims were "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong."
On Thursday Trump was unapologetic.
"The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest," he said in a tweet.
While the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination has thrilled people who throng to his campaign events, Trump may soon feel the international rebuke in a dollars-and-cents manner he well understands.
"The Trump brand has become toxic since the billionaire reality TV star and Republican presidential front runner made his outrageous comments," according to Dubai-based newspaper The National.
DAMAC Properties this week pulled down signage bearing the Trump name on a large billboard and on the Trump International Golf Course sign displayed across the gate house in gold lettering.
"Obviously you can see what has happened, but I have no comment on it," DAMAC spokesman Raed Gerges told the newspaper. "We will replace the images but I cannot say what the images will be yet."
The Lifestyle division of Dubai-based Landmark Group said Tuesday it would no longer sell home décor products carrying Trump's name.
"In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the U.S. media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home decor range," Sachin Mundhwa, the chief executive at Lifestyle, told The National.
And the Scottish government revoked Trump's status as a GlobalScot ambassador, a position that conveys membership in a respected business network.
"Mr. Trump's recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland," a spokesman for Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, according to the Scotsman newspaper.
Sturgeon has referred to Trump's comments as "obnoxious and offensive," according to the newspaper.
Trump, who owns two highly rated golf courses in Scotland, also lost his honorary doctorate at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Scotland. In an op-ed published Thursday in Scotland's The Press & Journal, he complained that he'd invested money in a region that, he said, is caving to political correctness.
"If they — Nicola Sturgeon and RGU — were going to do this, they should have informed me prior to my major investment in this £200 million ($303 million) development, which will totally revitalize that vast region of Scotland," Trump wrote.