Trump Laughs Off ESPN, NASCAR Headlines

Hours after news the Republican presidential candidate acknowledged that the PGA is pulling a tournament from one of his golf courses, Donald Trump lambasted two other ex-customers for cancelling their events.

In a press release bearing his corporate Trump Organization logo, Trump blasted ESPN for backing out of a separate golf event originally set for a Trump property, and NASCAR for canceling a banquet. The language was hardly corporate.

Written in the first person, the statement included notes of exasperation—“Give me a break!”— and a promise to re-book the “magnificent” spaces the two sporting groups, concerned about bad publicity over Trump's comments on immigrants, had bailed on.

“I get two fees instead of one,” said Trump.

Read the complete release, which ends with the real estate mogul's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again"—and an extra exclamation point—below.

The disassociation of ESPN and NASCAR with the Trump Organization was covered by the press in headlines all over the world as though it was a major setback for me. Really? What were the losses? One NASCAR banquet in a magnificent ballroom at Trump National Doral in Miami for which I will keep their very substantial deposit and rent the ballroom to someone else that night—in other words, two fees instead of one (NASCAR has already apologized to me)! In the case of ESPN, they cancelled a simple golf outing at my course, Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, perhaps the most valuable parcel of land in all of golf. Likewise, they lost a large deposit. I will now let people use the course on that day, receiving substantial additional greens fee income. Again, I get two fees instead of one.

This is the big deal built up by the press on ESPN and NASCAR—a banquet and a golf outing.

Headlines blared all over the world, “ESPN and NASCAR Dropping Trump”—Give me a break! All of this because of my strong stance on illegal immigration during my run for President...Make America Great Again!