WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's presidential bid often has dipped into a glitzy brand promotion, but perhaps never has the line between business and politics been more blurred than at his opening event Wednesday for his Washington hotel.
Trump's campaign insisted the ribbon-cutting at Trump International Hotel's storied Pennsylvania Avenue address was not a campaign event. Rather, it was a "corporate ceremony" convened in the hotel's gilded "Presidential Ballroom" 13 days before the election, as a record number of Americans are voting early.
"Today's a metaphor for what we can accomplish for this country," Trump said, flanked by his children as campaign supporters and aides stood nearby.
"Right now, just about everything our government touches is broken _ or they break it."
By contrast, his renovation of the stately old post office building, he said, was on time and budget.
"This building is a historical landmark, a true American original. It had all the ingredients for greatness, but it had been neglected and left to deteriorate.
"Now, I want to give back to the country I love so much," Trump said.
The GOP presidential nominee talked up his next campaign stop, later Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., to talk about urban renewal.
This election has shown that Trump can blend business promotion and political branding like no other candidate in modern politics.
The new hotel, situated between Congress and the White House, includes meeting rooms named after Founding Fathers and a bar in honor of the first postmaster general, Benjamin Franklin.
The scene that drew business and political supporters was not unlike one a day earlier at Trump's golf course resort in Doral, Fla., where he called a media event to showcase the political support of his employees _ and to promote the hotel's renovations. He noted, in particular, his use of the best fine marble.
The Trump brand, though, has taken a beating as his campaign rhetoric spooked corporate businesses and turned off customers.
Macy's swiftly dropped Trump's clothing line at the outset of his campaign when he called Mexican immigrants "rapists." And the makers of Skittles candies and Tic Tac breath mints have distanced their products from Trump-related comments on the campaign trail.
Protesters from unions and other groups filled the sidewalk outside the hotel Wednesday.
As Trump's chances for the White House dim, with polls showing him lagging behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, his brand may be what remains after the brutal campaign.
