_The Making of Donald Trump_
by David Cay Johnston
In the 1980s David Johnston had moved from his native west coast to the east
coast of the United States to work again as an investigative reporter for a
Pennsylvania newspaper. He was interested in researching the growth of the
gambling industry, originally as an outgrowth of licensing Native American
tribes to open casinos to give their people income, but eventually focusing on
the development of Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the Atlantic coast's answer to
Las Vegas. But as he came to know the various casino operators and backers, he
was increasingly advised to look into the New Yorker, Donald John Trump, who was
working on developing three casinos at the same time. He was warned that Trump
was clueless as to how to run either the gambling or the hotel side of the three
casinos, and wagers were already being laid as to how soon he would be run out
of town.
Johnston spent a good deal of time with Trump over the next few years, and
learned that those who questioned Trump's abilities to run his businesses
properly were right. Trump had no understanding of any of the games played by
his patrons, and no empathy with anyone associated with them--not the visitors
to the hotels, not those who ran the restaurants, not those who played on the
casino floor. And even though he started out with one of the best casino
managers in the city running the casinos, when the man warned him that he was
running the businesses into the ground Trump fired him, refusing to listen to
sound advice when it went against Trump's famous "gut feelings," which have no
appreciation for experience or hard-won wisdom offered by others. Who won the
pool as to how long Donald Trump would keep his casinos running was not revealed
in this book, but I bet the person won a mint!
The gambling commission in Atlantic City allowed abuse after abuse after abuse
to be made by Donald Trump, even punishing some of his biggest players as
surrogates for Trump's flouting of the laws. Similar blindness by those charged
with enforcing the law was granted him in almost every place where he set out to
develop resorts, hotels, and golf courses across the country, and even in
Mexico. He was known to conduct business with criminally run unions, and to
regularly wine, dine, even house, and bribe high mucky-mucks in a number of mob
families, including the Gambinos. The son of a Russian mobster ran his
helicopter fleet. Again and again this Sater had his enterprises closed down,
only to reopen them with Donald's help, finally living in Trump Tower in a suite
given his girlfriend by Donald and working out of Trump's own office, with new
business cards and credentials provided him by Donald himself, until one day the
man went too far and finally was indicted and prosecuted by the city and state
of New York, at which time Donald Trump assured those questioning him about
Sater's place within the Trump enterprises that "I wouldn't recognize the man in
a crowd of two," implying he barely knew the man who'd flown him repeatedly from
New York City to Atlantic City and elsewhere around the region. This is his
common reaction when he is accused by women he's abused, employees he's played
and discarded, and various business associates now under indictment, so his
disavowing of George Papadopolous is not a new phenomenon.
I found Johnston's book to be enlightening, and agree that Trump's inability to
behave in a manner proper to the man expected to be the Leader of the Free World
is anything but new. Johnston was amazed that his suggestions to other news
media reporters to press on all of the lawsuits charging Trump with fraud,
sexual abuse, and business abuses were not followed up upon. Perhaps had the
New York Times and Washington Post pressed him and his enterprises about charges
of fraud against the so-called Trump University and various proposed
developments in California, Mexico, Florida, and elsewhere around the nation he
would not have made it into the White House and made a mockery of the
Presidency.
I found this at Barnes and Noble, and note it is available from Audible in
audiobook format. Definitely a must for those who are trying to understand the
situation we find ourselves in today. He also has at least one other book about
Trump's irrational nature available through Audible, and I suspect I shall be
acquiring it soon.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very
wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!