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Trump now testing his pet theories about ‘Surviving at the Top’

John L. Smith
John L. Smith
Opinion
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The front of the White House. Public domain image.

“What separates the winners from the losers is how you react to each new twist of fate. You have to be confident as you face the world each day but you can’t be too cocky. Anyone who thinks he’s going to win them all is going to wind up a big loser.”

— From Trump: Surviving at the Top

Having reached the pinnacle of power, President Donald Trump’s survival skills are being put to the test these days.

On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines, 23-17, to forward two articles of impeachment against him alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A vote of the full, Democratic-majority House is expected to approve the charges with a likely acquittal at trial coming in January before the Republican-controlled Senate. A divided America will remain so as it enters the 2020 election home stretch.

Trump’s endless cries of “witch hunt” will reverberate through the Twittersphere. Somewhere in the darkness, a coven of witches is preparing a defamation lawsuit.

Trump successfully blocked key witness testimony during the House impeachment investigation in what Democrats allege amounts to obstruction of Congress. The abuse of power charge stems from Trump’s hustle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to get him to announce an unwarranted corruption investigation of likely presidential challenger Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The witnesses who managed to testify established the facts beyond much doubt, leaving only the question of whether holding up nearly $400 million in military aid to force a political favor amounts to an impeachable offense. Given the Republican majority in the Senate, such facts aren’t likely to matter much.

Sometime in January, the fourth president in the history of the republic to face impeachment will claim victory and return to business as usual. He will have once again survived at the top. In an intriguing book of the same name published in 1990, Trump with co-author Charles Leerhsen painted a portrait of a business titan in full, albeit one whose personal success story included separation from his first his wife and other setbacks that foreshadowed bigger financial trouble ahead.

With the advantage of hindsight, the book is revealing – if perhaps not in the way it was intended. It’s the tale of Trump the tough guy, the admirer of generals, car company executives, boxing champs and strong men generally. It’s the story of a man who illustrates how successful he is by showing off toys that range from the Trump Shuttle airline and Trump Princess yacht formerly owned by Adnan Khashoggi, to Mara Lago, New York’s Plaza Hotel, and a string of Atlantic City hotel-casinos highlighted by the Taj Mahal. Then he claims yachts and mansions don’t mean much to him personally; they’re just signs of his success on the way to bigger and better business scores.

The book is also informative in its reminders of Trump’s relationship with the media. He takes to task anyone who dares peek behind the curtain of his career and is especially vicious to the late Wayne Barrett, whose solid journalistic effort tormented Trump for a couple decades.

Although Trump describes himself as a tough guy, he spent no time acknowledging that many of the real tough guys he’d been involved with in business were members and associates of organized crime. First came the New York and New Jersey mobsters and their front men in everything from concrete and construction to banks and unions. In the new century, Trump’s world was filled with allies of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs and mob figures, men who made “Fat Tony” Salerno and Paul Castellano look like low-rollers.

Then, as now, Trump was particularly sensitive about the size of his bankroll. When Forbes explored the question in a May 1990 article, Trump replied, “The story painted a portrait of me as a besieged businessman who was getting by mostly on chutzpah.” He accused the magazine of being “willfully wrong” and damaging his reputation in an effort to sell copies.

So, what were Trump’s rules for surviving at the top?

Being “disciplined.”

No, really. He wrote that.

His second rule? “Be honest – even if the world around you is often dishonest.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

Then there’s rule three: “Don’t think you’re so smart that you can go it alone.”

Four: Be “reachable,” meaning it pays to advertise and return calls. Five? Stay close to home, meaning to remain focused in the office instead of distracted on the road.

Finally, there’s rule six: “Be flexible” in scheduling. These days that rule has translated into plenty of presidential “executive time.”

Lest one remain skeptical that Trump’s ego in 1990 might have gotten the best of him, Trump reminds the reader, “Toughness is knowing how to be a gracious winner – and rebounding quickly when you lose.”

What’s more: “I believe in being smart and not cute. I don’t respect cheaters. My admiration is reserved for those who have achieved greatness and then topped themselves.

“I’m never satisfied – which is my way of saying that there is a great deal I still want to do and should do.”

I suspect we are experiencing the deal he wanted to do.

In all, Trump: Surviving at the Top was an over-the-top portrait of a tough, confident guy who appeared to be at the top of his game. But it’s important to remember what happened in the wake of the book’s publication.

By 1991, weighed down by junk bond financing and 14-percent interest, Trump Taj Mahal filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with reports of $3 billion in debt. Trump himself had amassed a reported $900 million in personal debt.

In 1992, Trump Castle collapsed under the weight of $338 million in debt, Trump Plaza Casino sank under another $550 million. In New York, Trump’s prized Plaza Hotel was awash in red ink.

In 2004, it was a new century, but the same old tune: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts took a dive with into Chapter 11 with $1.8 billion in debt.

In 2009, sporting a new name but the same leadership, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 with a reported $1.2 billion in debt. Trump agreed to resign as chairman of the company that bore his name after reducing his control just 10 percent.

The Trump Shuttle and Trump Princess were part of corporate fire sale as Trump’s business genius melted like a clown’s makeup in the rain.

Surviving at the Top?

No, but he did run up debt to lenders and vendors before playing the bankruptcy laws like a Stradivarius.

That was a decade ago, before millions of Americans decided a confidence man-turned-reality TV celebrity was just what the country needed in the White House. Those who imagine he will depart quietly only kid themselves.

In the man’s own words, “Some people are always saying that I can’t go on like this forever, and that I’m at the beginning of the end. I’d rather see myself as being at the end of the beginning.”

If that doesn’t chill your blood, nothing will.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR. His newest book—a biography of iconic Nevada civil rights and political leader, Joe Neal—”Westside Slugger: Joe Neal’s Lifelong Fight for Social Justice” is published by University of Nevada Press and is available at Amazon.com. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith

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