Trump-A-Palooza: The Good. The Bad. The Billionaire President (Part 4) – Hour 1
Audio Transcription
Some people love him, some people hate him. Whichever side of the fence you fall on, Donald Trump was able to become president. How did he do it? Learn how with our business coach team.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill (He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955)
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.
You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.” – Winston Churchill (He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955)
1984 – Age 38 – FAIL – Trump Buys the New Jersey Generals
Trump’s football adventure began in 1984, when he bought the New Jersey Generals, part of the then-new United States Football League. The USFL, as chronicled in an excellent installment of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, was envisioned by founder David Dixon as a complement to the National Football League that would play in the spring, leaving fall to the NFL. For its first three years, the strategy seemed successful.
But it wasn’t enough for Trump. He pushed hard to shift the USFL to a fall schedule, where the USFL—with less talent and less public awareness—would go head-to-head with the bigger league.
The decision to switch to fall play immediately crippled several USFL teams, who wouldn’t be able to compete directly with local NFL teams. The league even turned down a lifeline in the form of lucrative TV offers to broadcast spring games.
But Trump’s plan was typically audacious and risky. Rather than organically grow a new league, he hoped to force an immediate merger with the NFL, which would provide huge returns for surviving USFL team owners. That goal hinged in part on an antitrust lawsuit alleging the NFL was an unlawful monopoly.
But things didn’t go Trump’s way. While the USFL technically won the antitrust case, the jury concluded mismanagement was mostly at fault for its problems. There was no merger and no buyouts. By 1986, the USFL was finished.
1985 – Age 38 – Donald J. Trump purchases cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post’s landmark Mar-a-Lago estate.
Years of wrangling with the Town of Palm Beach over the future of the property will finally result in a compromise that allows him to convert the historic property into a private club.
1986 – Age 39 – Trump Place – Initially intended to become “Television City” following years of negotiation, residential complex opened on the West Side.
“He planned to build a $4.5 billion project called Television City, later Trump City. It would have included 5,700 apartments and a 150-story skyscraper that would have been the world’s largest, had Trump not quickly abandoned that plan. He had also hoped the complex would become NBC’s new headquarters. To make the numbers work, he needed a $700 million property tax abatement, but Mayor Edward Koch wouldn’t give it to him. Trump waged a public relations war, saying Koch had “no talent and only moderate intelligence.” Koch called Trump “piggy, piggy, piggy,” then granted NBC tax incentives to stay in Rockefeller Center, as Trump chronicler Tim O’Brien wrote at Bloomberg View. In 1994, Trump defaulted on about $1 billion in loans for the project and had to sell a majority stake to Hong Kong investors, who built the condo complex now called Riverside South, paying Trump a fee to put his name on some buildings. In 2005, the Asian owners sold the whole thing for $1.8 billion to private equity giant Carlyle Group and Extell Development Corp., run by Gary Barnett. Trump, who retained about a 30% interest, sued, arguing he could have sold it for more. But ultimately he failed to block the sale. Trump’s profit: About $425 million.” – http://www.businessinsider.com/3-major-trump-real-estate-failures-2016-4
1986 – Age 40 – Trump purchases the twin-tower Plaza condominium buildings in West Palm Beach for $40 million in a foreclosure sale and installs a sign that says “Trump Plaza” in 5-foot-high letters atop each of the buildings.
1987 – Age 41 – Trump releases the smash hit and New York Times best-selling book, The Art of the Deal.
FUN FACT: The Art of the Deal (1987) – it was the first book published by Trump, and helped to make him a “household name.” It reached number 1 on The New York Times Best-Seller list, stayed there for 13 weeks, and altogether held a position on the list for 48 weeks.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Until several months ago, I would have said not all that different. He was then and is now always 100 percent self-absorbed, incapable of interest in other human beings, and completely self-referential. He viewed every event through the lens of its impact on him. Even 30 years ago, he had an incredibly short attention span. Lying was almost second nature to him; he did it as easily as most of us drink a glass of water. All of those things have turned out to be very similar all throughout his life, and he himself has said, “I’m pretty much the same person at 70 that I was at 7.” I believe that’s true.” – Tony Schwartz – The Nation Interview – https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-says-the-president-is-now-in-survival-mode/
FUN FACT:
Howard Kaminsky was a book publisher who died at the age of 77, and was the publisher behind the creation of Donald Trump’s first book, “The Art of the Deal.” Howard said that Donald Trump did not play role in the writing of his own book. Howard told the New Yorker, “Trump didn’t write a postcard for us!” Kaminsky said. – https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-07-18/behind-the-art-of-the-deal-trumps-ghostwriter-calls-candidate-a-sociopath
1987 – Age 41 – Publishes The Art of the Deal, which spends 51 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
1988 – Age 41 – March 27th – Donald Trump bought The Plaza Hotel
FUN FACT: “Donald J. Trump disclosed yesterday that he had bought the Plaza Hotel for $390 million and would upgrade it into ”the most luxurious hotel in the world.”
He said in an interview that his wife, Ivana, would become president of the Plaza – with a salary of ”$1 a year plus all the dresses she can buy.” Unlike most of his other properties, which carry the Trump name, the Plaza will remain the Plaza.
”It’s got the most important name in the world, and it’s going to remain that way,” he said.” – http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/27/nyregion/plaza-hotel-is-sold-to-donald-trump-for-390-million.html
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.” – Elon Musk
Business Cards
Website
Print
Billboards
One Sheet
Vehicle
Office Decor
1988 – 1992 – Age 41 – Age 45 – FAIL – Trump Airlines – Trump took out a $245 million loan to purchase the planes of Eastern Air Shuttle. Trump’s vision was to rebrand the blue-collar airline as a premium and upscale airline. 2 years into the business it was not making enough money to cover the monthly $1,000,000 interest payment and Trump turned the business over to his creditors.
During his period of financial difficulties in 1991, the airline was taken over by USAir, and Trump’s Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City declared bankruptcy. Two other casinos owned by Trump, as well as his Plaza Hotel in New York City, went bankrupt in 1992. Estimates of his net worth during that period ranged from zero to $2 billion.
1989 – Age 42 – January – Trump appears on the cover of Time Magazine. – http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19890116,00.html
FACT: Headline – This man may turn you green with envy, or just turn you off. Flaunting it is the game and TRUMP is the name.
1989 – Age 42 – The book, “Trump the Game” is mass produced.
1989 – FACT – “Five people, including three high-level executives of Donald J. Trump’s three casinos in Atlantic City, were killed yesterday when their helicopter crashed in pine woodlands on the Garden State Parkway near Forked River, N.J.
Moments before the helicopter plunged into the parkway’s wooded median from 2,800 feet at 1:40 P.M., its main overhead four-blade rotor and its tail rotor broke off the body of the craft, the state police said.” – http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/nyregion/copter-crash-kills-3-aides-of-trump.html
1991 – Age 44 – FAIL – Bankruptcy #1 – Trump Taj Mahal Casino
FACT: The Trump Taj Mahal casino sold for 4 cents on the dollar — here’s how Trump bankrupted it twice – Business Insider
FACT: He has filed for bankruptcy 4 times
DEFINITION – What is ‘Bankruptcy’?
“Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding involving a person or business that is unable to repay outstanding debts. The bankruptcy process begins with a petition filed by the debtor, which is most common, or on behalf of creditors, which is less common. All of the debtor’s assets are measured and evaluated, and the assets may be used to repay a portion of outstanding debt.” – Investopedia
DEFINITION – Chapter 11 Bankruptcy – A form of bankruptcy that involves a reorganization of a debtor’s business affairs, debts and assets. Named after the U.S. bankruptcy code 11, Chapter 11 is generally filed by corporations that require time to restructure their debts, and it gives the debtor a fresh start, subject to the debtor’s fulfillment of his obligations under the plan of reorganization. As the most complex of all bankruptcy cases and generally the most expensive, a company should consider Chapter 11 reorganization only after careful analysis and exploration of all other alternatives.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “According to documents made public on Tuesday, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City sold for 4 cents on the dollar, changing hands from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to Florida’s Seminole Indians.
They paid $50 million for it. The hotel, which Trump called “the 8th wonder of the world” back in the 1990s, cost $1.2 billion to build.
Icahn blew $100 million trying to revive the property before throwing in the towel back in August. Trump bankrupted the property twice as part of his public casino holding company Trump Entertainment Resorts.” – The Trump Taj Mahal casino sold for 4 cents on the dollar — here’s how Trump bankrupted it twice – http://www.businessinsider.com/how-trump-bankrupted-the-taj-mahal-2017-5
1991: Age 44 – Trump relinquishes the 33-story Trump Plaza condo towers in West Palm Beach to lenders after borrowing $60 million to complete the project. However, his name remains atop the structures.
1992 – Age 45 – Three Casinos- The Taj Mahal, the Castle and The Plaza go bankrupt.
1992 – Age 45 – FAIL – Bankruptcy #2 – Trump Castle Associates – He had to give up half of his ownership in the Plaza Hotel
Trump’s Castle owned Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City’s third-largest casino, which had 70,000 square feet of casino space and 725 rooms.
