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Meanwhile, in the other precincts of the Camp Runamuck empire, we have a new way to monetize the brand while Pops remains a half-step ahead of the law. And, yes, it's as tacky as you might expect it to be. From the NYT:

On Monday, the Trump Organization announced plans for a new three-star hotel chain with a patriotic flair, echoing President Trump's campaign slogan about putting America first and reflecting the organization's promise to enter into new deals only in the United States. The intention is to differentiate the chain, called American Idea, by featuring artifacts of American culture in the hotels, such as an old Coca-Cola machine in the lobby or American-made sundries in the rooms.

Why do I see in my mind an endless queue of recent immigrants who bought franchises only to discover that the price of the American Sundries was a lot higher than they expected?

(Which reminds me, the president* can't seem to find an outside lawyer, because a lot of the usual high-priced D.C. mouthpieces are afraid to take him on as a client, because he will neither shut up nor pay up. Repping the president used to be the golden ticket to a career as a Beltway power player. Disruption!)

Apparently, one of the animal-murdering spalpeens found the complimentary breakfast at a Hampton Inn out of Froot Loops one morning and decided that there was an entirely new constituency of traveling rubes out there to be gulled.

And while the Trump Organization and its business partner say the down-market move is not about politics, the president's business is inherently viewed through that lens: The chain will make its debut in little-known towns in Mississippi, a state in the heart of Trump country that favored him over Hillary Clinton by a margin of 18 percentage points. The organization's business partner in Mississippi is a family-owned hotel company whose co-owner met Mr. Trump at a campaign event last summer and donated to his campaign. This new chain is an unlikely venture for a company commonly associated with luxury accommodations in upscale locations, and it indicates that the Trumps see dollar signs in the vast support the campaign received from conservative areas well beyond major cities. The first hotels are expected to come online quickly because they will involve rebranding existing properties like Holiday Inns and Comfort Inns.

And here's the interesting part of it all.

Mr. Danziger, a longtime hotel executive who previously led Wyndham Hotels, said the first American Idea hotels would open in the Mississippi Delta, but he rejected the idea that the electoral map of 2016 would become a blueprint for picking future locations. Mr. Trump sometimes hands out a version of the map to White House visitors, showing blue dots in and around major cities (indicating support for Mrs. Clinton) and wide stretches of red (signaling votes for Mr. Trump) nearly everywhere else.

Now, there is no greater Yankee devotee of the Mississippi Delta than me. If you haven't stood outside the iron gates of Parchman State Prison and been terrified, or watched as the loose cotton rides the breezes like snow, or heard a harp and guitar blasting from somewhere down the road, you haven't truly lived as an American. However, you know what else the Delta has these days?

Casinos.

A whole bunch of casinos.

Which have proven to be pretty much the scams they've turned out to be every time they've been sold as an economic panacea to distressed areas. The last time I was there I saw an enormous woman with oxygen tubes up her nose feeding quarters into the slots while wearing a T-shirt that read, "Jesus is the answer." I also saw a billboard that read, simply, "Sell your car for cash." No address. No phone number. I figured it was just a suggestion. So the family's buzzard-ish instinct for economic and social carrion remains pretty sharp. And there's always Russian and Saudi money if things get dicey.

Emolumentary, my dear Watson.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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