Trump's brand, his life's work, is taking a beating

Trump is doubling down in other ways too, despite being declared persona non grata by the PGA, NBC, Univision and Macy’s department store. He only appeared to step up his anti-immigrant campaign when his Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, retweeted the message: “#JebBush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife.” He later told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he hadn’t authorized that retweet, but added: “Do I regret it? No, I don’t regret it.”

In a way, Trump’s life work is now on the line. According to Gwenda Blair’s 2000 book The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire, The Donald’s distinctive contribution to the Trump real-estate empire started by his father in low-income neighborhoods in Brooklyn was to move into Manhattan and figure out how to use his name to represent luxury— that way people would pay more, whether to buy an apartment in one of his buildings or to play at one of his golf courses. But in a viral age, it may not take long to unwind that hard-built image. “Controversy leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” says David Hagedorn, a former restaurateur and current chronicler of the Washington food scene. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone right now who wants to touch this. But, who knows? Attention spans can be short and money talks.”