Something you must remember about Trump-- he has over 40 years experience as...

[TreasonousBastard]

a master media manipulator.

His father amassed billions without public bragging. Lefrak, Levitt and others built fortunes in a booming postwar economy without losing focus.

Not Donald.

Trump was always the broke braggart. Owning apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Queens was never good enough for him, so he hit the boards to announce himself the greatest in Manhattan.

He was never an actual force in NY real estate. Ever heard of the Ratners, Dursts, Speyers, or Rudins? You probably have heard of Harry Helmsley (thanks to Leona) and maybe even of Cushman&Wakefield. All of them could buy and sell Donald at his "greatest" and none of them managed to go broke while hiring someone to write a book about how they do "deals".

Bruce Ratner was actually a good friend of Mayor Ed Koch and got his political legs working with Koch building service organizations. Didn't want to run for office, but tried to keep in touch with those who did.

Trump, however, was the one who never, ever shut up and was good for a headline on slow news days. He is said to have had a phone on his desk with 30 buttons for news outlets, and he would call every one of them every day. More if he wasn't mentioned.

And so it goes... Merv Griffin made the money From Resorts, NBC made out like bandits by conning Trump into thinking they might move into his Television City fantasy... But through it all, Trump kept on bragging about his genius.

And that fucking TV show kept up the lie that he had any idea what he was doing alive!

He is truly the reincarnation of P T Barnum, but the soul was left behind.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Well said! He sure did leave his soul behind...if he ever had one. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

2. This is why New Yorkers have always hated Donald Trump so much.

Even before he became political. He never shut the fuck up about himself. He never stopped bragging and bellowing and inserting himself into everything that was going on around him.

[PatSeg]

4. Too bad

the rest of the country didn't know what New Yorkers know about Donald Trump. Until he had his own TV show, I was barely aware of his existence. The few times I saw him on TV, he came across as very peculiar and more like a caricature of tycoon than a real one.

The constant bragging is so boring and grating, I can't believe that over 60 million people fell for it.

[Brother Buzz]

3. And it burns his butt the "Manhattan Elite" resoundingly shunned him, even today

And that's where the retribution, retaliation, reprisal shit kicks in. When you can't differentiate between status and class, you end up with tacky.

[smirkymonkey]

8. He runs on resentment.

He will never get over the fact that the elite have rejected him and he has a vendetta against them. HE will show THEM.

But no matter what he does, they will still never accept him as one of their own. He will always be nothing but vulgar trash to them.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. Ever seen pictures of his Manhattan apartment?

He obviously thinks that "glitz" and "class" are synonyms. He doesn't understand the concept of good taste.

[BobTheSubgenius]

5. At one time in the not-too-distant past (60's and 70s)

the largest commercial "landlord" in North America was a Canadian family, the Bronfmans. In addition to this vast real estate empire, they arewere the children of the founder of the Seagram's, Thomas Adams and Calvery distillers.

Do you remember ever hearing much from them?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Actually, I did hear a lot about them-- they were active in many things...

although I don't remember too many of the details. Some were agreeable, some not so much. But, like 'em or not, they were for real, not bullshitters.

And they built the Seagram building in NYC to be strikingly beautiful and innovative, which bit them in the ass when they got the tax bill.

OK, refreshing my memory...

Just looked up Edgar Bronfman. From his Wiki entry:

When former World Jewish Congress President Philip Klutznick stepped down in 1979, Bronfman was asked to take over as acting head of the organization, then was formally elected President by the Seventh Plenary Assembly, in January 1981.[8] Together with his deputy, Israel Singer, Bronfman led the World Jewish Congress in becoming the preeminent international Jewish organization that it is today. Initiatives such as those seeking to help free Soviet Jewry; expose Austrian President Kurt Waldheim's Nazi past; and to help victims of the Holocaust and their heirs to acquire compensation (including by Swiss banks); raised Bronfman's international profile during the 1980s and 1990s.

<...>

At his memorial held in January 2014, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of Bronfman, "Edgar was never shy of pressing an issue in the face of injustice," as she spoke about the many causes he championed in his lifetime.

<...>

In 1986 Bronfman was honored with the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour), from the Government of France.[65]

Bronfman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Bill Clinton in August 1999[66] and the Star of People's Friendship by East German leader Erich Honecker in October 1988.

In 2000, he received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice,[67] and in 2005 received the Hillel Renaissance Award.

Not Trump. Not at all Trump.

[George II]

6. I'll never forget back in 1986 when the October stock crash hit. The next morning....

....he was on the front pages of all the newspapers, bragging about how he made a killing by buying stocks low (don't know the "market" term for that)

Many lost their life savings, retirement income, etc., and that fucker was bragging about how he got rich off the suffering of average working people.

I've dislike that person since that day.

[KelleyKramer]

10. And on the DAY OF the 911 attacks...

He bragged that he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan

The guy is sick and twisted