“While Dubai-based Landmark Group said it would pull all Trump products from its 180 Lifestyle stores”, Damac Properties, a Dubai real estate developer that established a partnership with the Trump Organization to build luxury villas and golf courses said it would not stop doing business with the anti-Muslim candidate. However, on Thursday billboards at a golf complex the company is building with Trump were stripped of his image, Reuters reports. An adjacent photo of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, an executive vice president for his Trump Organization firm, was also removed from the billboard.
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The Trump International Golf Course sign that had been displayed across the gate house in gold lettering was also removed.
According to Sultan al-Qassemi, a Dubai-based social commentator, Damac is uncomfortable with Trump’s comments but they are bound to an expensive contract that would cost a lot to cancel.
“In the financial and business world, people don’t want to be associated with people seen as being extreme”, he said.
Damac began selling Trump-branded mansions with a starting price of 6.5 million dirhams (S$2.5 million) in March, the company said at the time. Billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, who described Trump as “a breath of fresh air among usual suspects” in August, retracted his comments. Trump is the consummate salesman so maybe they understand that Trump would say one thing to Muslims he’s courting for their money and another to American voters he’s courting for their votes. Before that Trump had called for depriving American Muslims of civil liberties simply due to their faith by way of warrantless surveillance of Muslim Americans, And he has even gone as far as to indict all Muslims by declaring recently that “worldwide the Muslims were absolutely going wild” cheering on 9/11.
“This can go rapidly, and I expect it should”, he said.
“We would like to stress that our agreement is with the Trump Organisation as one of the premium golf course operators in the world”, senior vice president Niall McLoughlin said in a statement emailed to AFP.
On Monday, Trump made a provocative speech asking for a prohibition on Muslims entering the United States.
Several days ago, Damac released a statement commenting on Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims.
Dubai’s Landmark Group on Wednesday suspended sales of Trump-branded home-decor products in its Lifestyle stores, the Gulf News daily reported.
Trump has long identified the Middle East as a major growth market for his business.
Trump, who owns two highly rated golf courses in Scotland, also lost his honorary doctorate at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Scotland.
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“I don’t know who Donald Trump is, but he can say what he likes about his country”. The Republican frontrunner said British politicians were “pandering to political correctness” after they queued up to denounce him over his latest outspoken remarks.
