Donald Trump named Thomas Barrack — Colony Capital real estate mogul and former Santa Barbara polo padrone, vintner, and Neverland Ranch owner — to be the United States’ ambassador to Turkey last week. In sharp contrast to many of Trump’s more flamboyantly outspoken appointees, Barrack — a Southern California native of Lebanese descent — exudes a notably calm and deliberate style.
Barrack’s political action committee donated $32 million to Trump’s first presidential bid and spent another $107 million to underwrite Trump’s first inaugural event. In 2010, Barrack spent $70 million to bail Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, out of some toxic real estate investments then threatening Kushner with bankruptcy.
Barrack’s specialty as a venture capitalist was in purchasing highly distressed properties on the brink of foreclosure. That’s how in 2008 he wound up with pop star Michael Jackson’s 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch, famously — or infamously — located in Santa Ynez Valley. As a real estate deal, Neverland provide Barrack plenty of space to play polo but would not prove an obvious success. Barrack paid $22 million for the property and wound up selling it to supermarket mogul Ron Burkle — a major donor to Democratic candidates — for the same price after initially listing it for $100 million.
Barrack would emerge as something of a Trump whisperer during the president-elect’s early years, and his advice on who to hire for key positions within the presidential campaign and the administration would carry serious weight.
It was Barrack, for example, who strongly pushed Trump to hire political consultant Paul Manafort, describing him in the moment as a “genius killer.” Among Manafort’s clients had been the Putin-backed former Ukrainian president violently chased from office by independence-minded Ukrainian nationalists. When Manafort was later convicted on various corruption charges, Trump would issue him a pardon.
In 2020, the Justice Department would accuse Barrack of working as a clandestine agent for the United Arab Emirates and abusing his influence to dictate a party line in Washington, D.C., friendlier to his clients’ interests rather than that of the United States. Barrack would be arrested and held briefly on $250 million bail, but after a six-week trial, he was acquitted on all charges.
Given that the United States’ relationship with Turkey is among the most strategically challenging and important on the global geo-political military chessboard facing any White House, Barrack’s appointment is highly significant.
