This sure seems metaphorical. Less than a month after Donald Trump left office, one of the buildings in Atlantic City that bore his name has been reduced to rubble.
Trump Plaza in Atlantic City comes crashing down. It’s so satisfying to watch! pic.twitter.com/r0ZB2B7rbX
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 17, 2021
The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino has been vacant since 2014 but wasn’t demolished until this morning. Trump no longer owned the building, but it was a symbol of an empire that has crumbled in more ways than one over the last several years. The New York Times writes, “The Trump Plaza has stood for years as one of the city’s most visible eyesores, occupying prime land on the boardwalk. Chunks of falling debris and metal contributed to its designation as an ‘imminent hazard,’ setting the stage for Wednesday’s demolition.” And the AP adds:
Trump Plaza was the last of four Atlantic City casinos to close in 2014, victims of an oversaturated casino market both in the New Jersey city and in the larger northeast. There were 12 casinos at the start of 2014; there now are nine.
By the time it closed, Trump Plaza was the poorest-performing casino in Atlantic City, taking in as much money from gamblers in 8 1/2 months as the market-leading Borgata did every two weeks.
This is the moment Trump Plaza, the first casino Donald Trump ever built and a faded vestige of Atlantic City’s glamorous past, came crashing down in a cloud of dirt, dust and noise https://t.co/wNyH6IhhZN pic.twitter.com/NI3YfLjsdt
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) February 17, 2021