Has Trump Changed Over The Years?

During his flu-mandated confinement last week, Wrongo read a 1990 Vanity Fair profile of Donald and Ivana Trump. 1990 wasnā€™t the best year for The Donald, he was up to his armpits in debt. Some of his real estate ventures were under water and his marriage was coming apart. He was involved in a very public extramarital affair with Marla Maples, whom he later married and still later, divorced.

The Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner, was written in the midst of all of that:

Trump isolated himself in a small apartment on a lower floor of Trump Tower. He would lie on his bed, staring at the ceiling, talking into the night on the telephone. The Trumps had separated. Ivana remained upstairs in the family triplex with its beige onyx floors and low-ceilinged living room painted with murals in the style of Michelangelo. The murals had occasioned one of their frequent fights: Ivana wanted cherubs, Donald preferred warriors. The warriors won.

Brenner continued:

For days, Trump rarely left his building. Hamburgers and French fries were sent up to him from the nearby New York Delicatessen. His body ballooned, his hair curled down his neck. ā€œYou remind me of Howard Hughes,ā€ a friend told him. ā€œThanks,ā€ Trump replied, ā€œI admire him.ā€

It is a very long piece, and provides insight and important history. In a follow-up article in 2015, Brenner gave us bullet points about the Trump character and elements that have remained true through the years:

  • Trumpā€™s views on women are still repugnant
  • He is still loves slinging bullshit.
  • He is still convinced that the public loves him, even if you find him repulsive.
  • When pressed on awkward topicsā€”such as whether or not he regularly read Adolf Hitlerā€™s speechesā€”he gets vague and inventive.
  • He has a long history exploiting undocumented immigrants on construction projects.
  • Loyalty has never been his strong suit.

In 2011, WaPoā€™s Richard Cohen recalled Brennerā€™s original Vanity Fair article: (brackets by the Wrongologist)

American political life [today] is [about] doing away with the back story. Increasingly, politicians are becoming religious types, Eagle Scouts who mastered all the knots, a monasticism leavened only by the occasional martini. They do not stray. They avoid midlife crises. They came out of the womb with certainty, avoided acne, married the first girl they dated and went on to make a fortune in something or other.

With Trump, itā€™s all back story. We know his flops. We know he curses. We know he fools around, that he isnā€™t religious. We know he lies. We know he has bad taste ā€” in buildings, in ties, in associates (the late Roy Cohn, for instance, and now, Roger Stone). We know about his support for Birtherism.

Heā€™s all these things, and he knows thereā€™s no bad publicity.

He even exaggerates his exaggerations, which is what all people in real estate do. After all, every condo in the building is sold, and the apartment you want already has a ton of offers.

How will that style work with Putin? With President Xi of China? Does The Donaldā€™s experience with borrowing money and then letting his projects go bankrupt animate his thought about welshing on our National Debt?

This from David Remnick:

Trump is no longer hustling golf courses, fake ā€œuniversities,ā€ or reality TV. He means to command the United States armed forces and control its nuclear codes. He intends to propose legislation, conduct Americaā€™s global affairs, preside over its national-intelligence apparatus, and make the innumerable moral and political decisions required of a President.

No, we are not in a Seth Rogen movie. That was North Korea. The movie we are in includes televised assurances of adequate genital dimensions. This is our political moment, a fact-free time where insults and bigotry are acceptable. Remnick reminds us of a story: (emphasis by the Wrongologist)

When Howard Kaminsky of Random House called on the real-estate developer and self-marketing master Donald Trump at his office on Fifth Avenue. Kaminsky brought along a cover design for ā€œTrump: The Art of the Dealā€. Trump seemed reasonably happy. Just one thing, he said. ā€˜Please make my name much bigger.ā€™

The Republican Party, having spent years courting the basest impulses in American political culture, now sees the writing on the wall. It reads ā€œDonald Trump,ā€ in very big letters.

Wrongo spoke today with a blog reader. His view was that the end game is set up for Trump, and that he canā€™t lose. If he wins in the General Election, he wins. If he loses in the General, he still wins.

Regardless of the outcome, Trump wins, but, apparently, we the people will lose.

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Little Jimmy

Think of it this way Wrongo. Before the dawn is the darkest night. You must find the bottom before you can climb to the top. A chicken in every pot….oh wait. I got on a roll there.

The political machine is so broken that you get idiots like Trump an Bernie. Two sides of the same coin. We need to find out how bad this can get before the people will rally and take their country back. The next few years will be rough no matter who wins. I just hope that we can find the required intestinal fortitude to see this through.

America can be great again. Just not yet.

BTW: I’m sure Trump will have us invading Canada by 2018. They are so passive up there.