Trump Profile from 1997
Commenter AndrewBW pointed me to a 1997 profile of Donald Trump from the New Yorker (Trump Solo). It is illuminating insofar as many of the behaviors we see from the President today are quite evident in the piece.
There were a number of striking passages, but this anecdote struck me:
We hadn’t been airborne long when Trump decided to watch a movie. He’d brought along “Michael,” a recent release, but twenty minutes after popping it into the VCR he got bored and switched to an old favorite, a Jean Claude Van Damme slugfest called “Bloodsport,” which he pronounced “an incredible, fantastic movie.” By assigning to his son the task of fast-forwarding through all the plot exposition—Trump’s goal being “to get this two-hour movie down to forty-five minutes”—he eliminated any lulls between the nose hammering, kidney tenderizing, and shin whacking.
If a person does not have the patience to watch the talky parts of a JCVD flick, it is not a surprise that the same person doesn’t want to read briefing papers and prefers his information chewed and digested by cable news hosts prior to consumption.
Really, it is all there on the page: the braggadocio, the shallowness, the crass flash, etc. It is not surprising to see, and I was aware of all of it well before he ran, but it is an odd experience to read knowing that the person in that 1997 profile is now President of the United States.
Having grown up in the NYC Tri-State area, I can attest to the fact that the Donald Trump of 2017 is no different from the Donald Trump of the mid-1980s.
@Doug Mataconis:
Even as far north as Boston you couldn’t escape him. I agree: He’s just as trashy, stupid, venal, narcissistic, and churlish as he always was. How depressing to think that these were the very qualities that got him elected.
I’m sure that assessment is soothing, but it demonstrates a lack of critical sense in regards to Trump.
I suggest reviewing this rational assessment of Trump’s intelligence by psychologist Jordan Peterson.
Like it or not, Trump has several great achievements in his life, any one of which would be considered a successful lifetime achievement by most. He revitalized Manhattan, NYC, NY when no one else was apparently able. He developed and starred in a successful primetime television show. He not only won the Presidency, but did it with a unique campaign and for far, far less money than any of the professionals would have thought possible.
Dislike his policies, tut-tut over his tweets, but underestimate Trump by ignoring reality is not a good strategy.
An interesting choice of word to describe a man elected by the “Deplorables” here on this 4th of July holiday celebrating our declaration of independence from the dominance of the aristocratic society of England.
Do you know from where the root word, churl, comes?
@JKB:
Yes, I know quite well from whence the word “churl” derives; I have a Ph.D. in English literature (medieval). I also know what the word “churlish” means in present-day English: boorish, rude, vulgar, impolite, surly.
Take your pick. They all apply to Trump.
He was utterly reliant on his family to do things for him even back then. Nice to see that things don’t change at all.
He hadn’t met young master Jared yet, who would doubtless have been able to get it down to 35-40 minutes.
@Gustopher:
I read somewhere that he can’t actually operate a personal computer; he has someone to Google things for him and print them out. He may also be incapable of operating a remote. I’m surprised he can access Twitter on his Android. Or maybe he dictates his Tweets.
@CSK: If he does dictate his tweets, how do I get that job?
I mentioned this last year, but Roger Ebert’s review of the movie Wall Street (which is worth a read in itself) made an intriguing observation about Trump:
Keep in mind that those words are from 30 years ago.
Never mind for the moment that Trump’s ghostwriter Tony Schwartz has revealed that the line about not caring about money was a load of bollocks. The above paragraph still gets to the heart of Trump’s entire value system, where he divides the world into winners and losers, and where his overriding purpose in life is to be (or at least be perceived as) the former rather than the latter.
In Trump’s universe it really is that simple. Most businessmen at least pay lip service to the idea of contributing to the world in some way. Trump uniquely strips away everything but the barest and most vulgar expressions of self-promotion. It’s always entirely about himself–and specifically about creating a narrative in which he’s conquering and destroying his enemies. That is, literally, the thing he values most in life, and it always has been.
@Gustopher: I have a friend who dictates his tweets. He uses Dragon Speak, IIRC. I would guess that Trump would do the same. It might even explain the typos, nonsequiteurs, and “covfefes.”
@Just ‘nutha ig’nint cracker:
Bigly.
@JKB:
It is anything but soothing.
Policies? What policies?
And, I must confess, in the annals of argumentation and evidence, “Here, go watch this YouTube video” is not impressive. Especially when what we are talking about is a two minute snippet of an interview.
Saw that coming. Well, there are policies that pundits and academia like on paper and they have lots to jibber jabber about them. Then there are policies that are presented in the doing. Trump has the latter policies. Less talk, more walk. Feel free to wait for the paperwork before noticing Trump’s policies.
I offered the video as an objective assessment. There is no need to offer argument or evidence of Trumps success in several difficult and complex venues. The evidence looms over Manhattan, over Hollywood, over Pennsylvania Avenue.
Perhaps, but you fail to see the irony of calling a man who won the Presidency by appealing to the “lower rank” free people and showing disdain for the supposed betters a name with a root that means “lower ranked freeman”.
@JKB: Yes he appealed to the minority of this country with his talks of giving everyone a unicorn and magical fairy dust..
He’s always been a conman/used car salesman and he conned just enough in the right place to win.
@Just ‘nutha ig’nint cracker: The reason people suspect Trump of having someone dictate his tweets is that Trump doesn’t know how to use a computer. That would put Dragon Speak out of the picture.
He uses an android, so he might just say “ok, google, tweet some offensive things”, and google might churn away and find some offensive things for him to tweet. But pictures… pictures seem hard.
Presidential tweeter seems like a great job. I wouldn’t mind being woken at 6am because Trump wants to tweet something, so long as he didn’t check the results very carefully.
Make America Grape Again!
Make Armadillos Great Again!
Make America Grrrrrrrrreat Again! (Tony the Tiger version)
@JKB:
No. The overwhelming irony–and tragedy–is that you think this sleazebag is your savior.
@JKB: He revitalized Manhattan, NYC, NY when no one else was apparently able. He developed and starred in a successful primetime television show. He not only won the Presidency, but did it with a unique campaign and for far, far less money than any of the professionals would have thought possible.
Read more: https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/trump-profile-from-1997/#ixzz4lxtHV85v
@JKB:
@JKB:
Well, if you saw it coming this is not an especially good response. Indeed, it is a non-answer (moreover, it veers into Poe’s Law territory–seriously, are you trying your hand at parody/satire here?–No. Seriously.).
@Steven L. Taylor:
Funny that while he “saw it coming,” he still failed to list a single policy. Even a “less-talky more-walky” policy. (A type of policy I must admit I didn’t know existed until now. )
@JKB: The one honest achievement I can give Trump is that when the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park was in terrible condition and, if I remember correctly, facing closure, Trump came in and remodeled it. He did it relatively quickly and on budget, and he did a good job. I thank him for that.
I always go back to the comments my nephew made a number of years ago when I asked if his Chicago based high-rise electrical system design and construction firm would get involved with the Trump tower there. He was a junior level guy there, a company that had projects all over the world on some of the tallest buildings. He said that he had brought it up, but the senior guys just laughed. They said that if Trump was actually involved in it, it couldn’t get built, because none of the firms of the size and heft necessary to get it done would ever work with him. They said Trump was well known as a) speccing the cheapest crap codes would allow, b) pointing the tenants to the contractors when they were dissatisfied with this junk, and c) stiffing them on the last payment, every time. They then told him that ever since Trump had been kicked out of NYC with his bankrupt a** waggling no “Trump” property of any size had ever been under his control.
@Steven L. Taylor: I’m not a political scientist. Can you explain to me what “policies that are presented in the doing” are?
@Steve V: I really cannot say. It seems he is asserting that whatever Trump is doing (whatever that may be) somehow constitutes policy. Just not that kind that can be written down on paper 😉