Royal advice for Donald Trump: Drop out of race
Donald Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from the United States seems to play well among many Republicans, but not so much with at least one prominent billionaire.
The GOP presidential contender was told to drop out of the race on Friday by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. "You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S. presidential race as you will never win," Prince Alwaleed tweeted.
On Monday, Trump said the U.S. had no choice but to close itself off from all Muslims to protect itself from "people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life."
Alwaleed, the grandson of the late King Abdullah and widely considered to be the richest man in the desert kingdom, has much in common with Trump, as both invest in real estate with a specialty in hotels.
The prince also happens to have stakes in at least two former Trump properties. The prince in 1995 led a consortium of international investors in buying out Trump's remaining interests in New York City's landmark Plaza Hotel. Four years earlier, during a rough patch for The Donald, his 283-foot yacht that had been returned to creditors was sold to to the prince for a deeply discounted price of $18 million.
Trump's controversial words are costing him more than just good will in the Middle East.
On Thursday, his name and image were knocked off a billboard for a Trump-branded luxury real estate project in Dubai, according to GulfNews.com.
On Wednesday, Dubai-based Landmark Group said it would stop selling products from the Trump Home line of furniture, lamps and other furnishings at its chain of 190 Lifestyle department stores in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.