Seizing Private Property Is No Problem for Donald Trump

Despite the pushback from Tea Party conservatives in the Republican Party over the use of eminent domain, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump called the controversial act a “wonderful thing“.

However, Krauthammer said one instance that might raise the ire of Trump’s critics was the businessman’s argument that eminent domain, or the right of the government or a builder to take away property from its owner for compensation, is a “wonderful thing”. Just so you understand, nobody knows this better than I do, because I built a lot of buildings in Manhattan and you’ll have 12 sites and you’ll get 11 and you’ll have the one hold-out and you end up building around them and everything else, ok.

He added, “if you have a road or highway, you gotta do it. If you have a factory where you have thousands of jobs, and you need eminent domain, it’s called economic development”.

Trump stakes out more reasonable ground in claiming that the use of eminent domain for private development is necessary to prevent “holdouts” from blocking valuable projects by demanding exorbitant sales prices for their land.

Backlash on Twitter among conservatives was immediate. “One of the most important rights Americans have is private property”. He views their objections as selfish and illegitimate because they’re offered, in a few cases, much more than the estimated worth of their property.

Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruling decided in 2005, was blasted by both Democrats and Republicans as a matter of policy that could lead to abuse.

As a small government conservative, I found the remarks quite troubling. But sometimes you have people that want to hold out just for-most of the time-I’ve done a lot of out parcels. most of the time they just want money. He said the idea that people are forced to sell homes they don’t really want to give up is a myth. It’s very rarely that they say ‘I love my house.

Trump concluded, “I think it’s a great subject”.

He added that the spots are “not right” and do not accurately explain eminent domain. Marco Rubio joined the pile-on as well, telling The Weekly Standard that Trump was “wrong” about eminent domain. One involved a proposed amusement park in Bridgeport, Connecticut that resulted in five businesses’ land being obtained by the city and sold to Trump.

In short, Trump wanted the widow’s land to use for a park, a parking lot, and a limousine waiting area. “Now you’re employing thousands of people and you’re able to build a factory, you’re able to build an Apple computer center, where thousands of people can work. She fought in court and, with the assistance of the Institute for Justice, won”.

“Donald Trump’s been a big fan of this [eminent domain]”, 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul in September, according to CBS News. “I do think it’s a weakness [for Trump]”.