The strategies that Donald Trump’s now-defunct educational company used to woo customers have plenty of echoes of the presumptive Republican nominee’s current pitch to voters, based on newly disclosed court documents about Trump University.
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Days after Judge Gonzalo Curiel ordered some documents in one case involving the school to be unsealed, Trump called Curiel “hostile” and “a hater” and said he believed the judge was Mexican.
According to the documents, Trump University’s core customers were identified as male heads of households between 40 and 54-years-old with annual household incomes of at least $90,000, a college education and a net worth of more than $200,000. Though Trump has the lowest favorability of any GOP nominee in history according to public opinion polls, he eventually surged to a decisive primary win.
Among the harshest critics of Trump University were some of the people who used to work there.
Two examples of personal problems potential Trump University buyers may be experiencing included: “Are they a single parent of three children that may need money for food?”
“Much of the unsealed evidence, including declarations and surveys from former Trump University students, demonstrates the high level of satisfaction from students and that Trump University taught valuable real estate information”, said Jill Martin, vice-president and assistant general counsel for The Trump Organization.
But the testimony of both Schnackenberg and Nicholas are sure to offer Democrats further fodder for attack as they continue to develop their case in the campaign against Trump as a “fraud”. In promotional materials, Trump assured students that the school’s professors “are people that are handpicked by me”.
“You don’t sell products, benefits or solutions-you sell feelings”, Trump U salespeople were told. “It was a facade, a total lie”.
In sworn statements released this week as part of a federal class action lawsuit, former employees complained of unethical sales techniques, unqualified instructors and widely unsatisfied students.
Another salesperson with Trump U talked the couple into it, Schnackenberg testified. Schackenberg noted that the school had one goal and one goal only, “to make money as quickly and easily as possible”. “Other People’s Money”, in encouraging the use of credit cards to pay for tuition. Trump’s lawyers declined to release those depositions on Tuesday.
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The guidebook also prohibited students from speaking to the press about Trump University, even if they raved about the courses, and it said to refer any questions to professors or administrative officials. He will be less pleased to read the testimonials of former managers who say it was business as usual to strong-arm financially vulnerable customers into classes they couldn’t afford, reports the New York Times. When Schnackenberg failed to sell them on the program, “I was reprimanded for not trying harder” and another salesman took over and got them to sign onto the most expensive package, costing almost $35,000.
