Donald Trump Criticizes Mitt Romney, Calls Him “small-business guy”

Donald Trump, photo by Gage Skidmore

WASHINGTON – American business mogul and likely presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, has made headlines numerous times over the last few weeks after publicly lashing out at political heads, including both President Bush and President Obama.

In the latest outburst, Mr. Trump criticized Rep. Mitt Romney during an interview on the CNN show “State of the Union” that aired earlier today.

After being asked by the CNN reporter Candy Crowley why Trump is preferable to Mitt Romney for Republicans, Trump characterized Romney as “a small-business guy,” going on to say, “I’m much bigger than this man and have a much, much bigger net worth. I mean my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney,” when asked who was a better businessman.

During the interview, Trump suggested Romney’s business career wasn’t as successful to Trump’s, inferring Romney simply worked at more companies rather than creating them. Trump went on to say, “[Romney would] buy companies, he’d close companies, he’d get rid of the jobs,”

Although Trump has yet to publicly disclose just how big his firm really is since it is privately held, Trump said during the CNN interview, “If and when I announce…you will see how big my company is, because it’s much bigger and much more powerful…than anyone really knows…you’re going to see how strong it is. It’s a big, strong company that I built.

The former Massachusetts governor co-founded Bain Capital, a private equity venture capital fund, which is now one of the biggest investment funds in the U.S.

In 1986, Romney helped kick-start the office supplies company, Staples Inc., with rounds of investment, earning a significant return in the process given the success of the firm.

Although Romney took actions to maximize shareholder wealth (a key objective of every business) as a partner at the private equity firm, leveraged buyouts did result in lost American jobs.

Romney’s business expertise is widely credit for turning around a number of firms, including Bain & Company, which was facing financial distress at the time Romney was appointed CEO in 1991.

Although it could be true Trump’s aggregate net worth is in fact “many times” more than that of Romney’s, it is not reasonable to conclude that variable alone indicates any superior ability to achieve business performance. One could even argue Romney’s diversified financial and business experience is even more of an asset to the American people compared to Trump’s experience, which is largely in real estate.

To be fair, Trump’s business career hasn’t been purely fruitful.

In spring 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the third time, but Trump quit prior to the filing.

In late 2008, Deutsche Bank filed a massive $40-million lawsuit in a Manhattan court against Trump alleging the business magnet guaranteed a business loan.

In 2010, the CBC investigated Trump partner Robert Kiyosaki for unethical business practices surrounding get rich seminars that were nothing more than sales pitches to other expensive seminars that would cost upwards of $45,000.

Trump most recently topped headlines when he reignited the “birther movement” surrounding claims Obama was not actually born in the United States (despite confirming evidence), going as far as calling Obama’s presidency possibly the biggest scam in U.S. history. In a recent speech, Trump said Obama is simply a “good campaigner and a horrible president,”

Trump said he would prefer not to run for president, but would do so for the best interest of America.

Trump said he would announce whether he will run for president in about two months time.

We contacted the Romney camp for a comment, but have yet to receive a reply.