POLITICS: “I would hate to think that people blame me for the problems of the world. Yet people come to me and say, ‘Why do you allow homelessness in the cities?’ as if I control the situation. I am not somebody seeking office.”
– Donald Trump, Playboy Magazine, March 14, 1990
DONALD ON DONALD: “I know what sells and I know what people want.”
– Donald Trump, Playboy Magazine, March 14, 1990
DONALD ON DONALD: “I’m not the world’s happiest person.”
– Donald Trump, New York Magazine, March 5, 1990
TRUMP FAMILY: “I don’t like the concept of divorce, but sometimes it becomes necessary”
– Donald Trump, “The Larry King Show,” Jan 1, 1990
AFRICAN AMERICANS: “A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market. … [I]f I [Donald Trump] were starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I believe they do have an actual advantage.”
– Donald Trump, Transcript, NBC News, Sept. 5, 1989
JAPAN: “Who the fuck knows? I mean, really, who knows how much the Japs will pay for Manhattan property these days?” [The 15th used for date-sorting purposes only.]
– Donald Trump, TIME Magazine, January 1989
POLITICS: “I enjoy it, I enjoy the system. I doubt I’ll ever be involved with politics beyond what I do right now, but I do enjoy the system. I find it, a really, really beautiful thing to watch.”
– Donald Trump, CNN.com, August 15, 1988
DONALD ON DONALD: “You know, wealthy people don’t like me.”
– Donald Trump, CNN.com, Aug 15, 1988
BUSH FAMILY: “George H.W. Bush is “a great man. He’s a man I support.”
– Donald Trump, The Washington Post, April 21, 1988
BUSINESS/DONALD ON DONALD: “Sometimes, part of making a deal is denigrating your competition.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I rarely stop for lunch.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
TRUMP FAMILY: “We had a relationship that was almost businesslike.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “As I see it, critics get to say what they want about my work, so why shouldn’t I be able to say what I want to about theirs?”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS/DONALD ON DONALD: “I like the casino business. I like the scale, which is huge, I like the glamour, and most of all, I like the cash flow.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALDISM: “Sometimes it pays to be a little wild.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
MEDIA: “Sometimes they write positively, and sometimes they write negatively. But from a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I do it to do it.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I don’t do it for the money.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “The simplest approach is often the most effective.”
-Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS/DONALDISM: “One of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow. There are people – I categorize them as life’s losers—who get their sense of accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. As far as I’m concerned, if they had any real ability they wouldn’t be fighting me, they’d be doing something constructive themselves.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS: “Sometimes, part of making a deal is denigrating your competition.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
WEALTH: “And while I can’t honestly say I need an 80-foot living room, I do get a kick out of having one.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS/DONALD ON DONALD: “People think I’m a gambler. I’ve never gambled in my life. To me, a gambler is someone who plays slot machines. I prefer to own slot machines. It’s a very good business being the house.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS: “There are singers in the world with voices as good as Frank Sinatra’s, but they’re singing in their garages because no one has ever heard of them. You need to generate interest, and you need to create excitement.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “Most people think small, because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning. And that gives people like me a great advantage.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALDISM: “I’ve always felt that a lot of modern art is a con, and that the most successful painters are often better salesmen and promoters than they are artists.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
MEDIA: “One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better. … The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I can’t stand small talk.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALDISM: “You’re generally better off sticking with what you know.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz,”The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALDISM: “Sometimes—not often, but sometimes—less is more.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987,
POLITICAL FIGURES/RONALD REAGAN: “Ronald Reagan … is so smooth and so effective a performer that he completely won over the American people. Only now, nearly seven years later, are people beginning to question whether there’s anything beneath that smile.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
BUSINESS/DONALD ON DONALD: “I think of it almost as a controlled neurosis, which is a quality I’ve noticed in many highly successful entrepreneurs. They’re obsessive, they’re driven, they’re single-minded and sometimes they’re almost maniacal, but it’s all channeled into their work. … I don’t say this trait leads to a happier life, or a better life, but it’s great when it comes to getting what you want.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.”
– Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz, “The Art of the Deal,” Nov. 12, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD/POLITICS: “I have no intention of running for president.”
– Donald Trump, TIME Magazine, Sept. 14, 1987
DONALD ON DONALD: “I don’t even consider myself ambitious.”
– Donald Trump, “60 Minutes,” Nov. 17, 1985
DONALD ON DONALD: “I believe [the media] like making me out to be something more sinister than I really am.”
– Donald Trump, “60 Minutes,” Nov. 17, 1985
DONALD ON DONALD: “When I think I’m right, nothing bothers me.”
– Donald Trump, “60 Minutes,” Nov. 17, 1985
TRUMP PEOPLE/STEVE BANNON: “1983-85. Bannon got his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. [June 6, 1985]”
– Abigall Abrams, “The Age of Bannon,” Time Magazine, Feb. 13, 2017
DONALDISM: “Let people know what you’ve done. What good is it if no one knows about it? You’ve gotta be a promoter.”
– Tony Schwartz, “The Show Must Go Up,” New York Magazine, Dec. 24, 1984
DONALD ON DONALD/NATIONAL SECURITY/NUCLEAR: “It would take an hour and a half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles. … I think I know most of it anyway.”
– Lois Romano, “Donald Trump, Holding All The Cards The Tower! The Team! The Money! The Future!,” The Washington Post, Nov. 15, 1984
NATIONAL SECURITY/NUCLEAR: “What does it all mean when some wacko over in Syria can end the world with nuclear weapons?”
– Donald Trump, The New York Times, April 8, 1984
BUSINESS/DONALDISM: “I know how to sell. Selling is life. You can have the greatest singer in the world, but if nobody knows who he is, he’ll never have the opportunity to sing.”
– Donald Trump, Sports Illustrated, Feb. 13, 1984
DONALD ON DONALD: “I don’t like to lose.”
– Donald Trump, The New York Times, Aug. 7, 1983
TRUMP FAMILY: “Not many sons have been able to escape their fathers.”
– Donald Trump, New York Times, Aug. 7, 1983
DONALD ON DONALD: “I don’t like to lose.”
– Marylin Bender, “The Empire and Ego of Donald Trump,” The New York Times, Aug. 7, 1983
DONALDISM: “I look at things for the art sake and the beauty sake and for the deal sake.”
-John Taylor, “Trump’s Newest Toy,” New York Magazine, Feb. 11, 1983
DONALDISM/WEALTH: “Let me tell you something about the rich. They have a very low threshold for pain.”
– John Taylor, “Trump’s Newest Toy,” New York Magazine, Feb. 11, 1983
TRUMP BUSINESS: “I really value my reputation and I don’t hesitate to sue.”
– Donald Trump, The Village Voice, Jan 15, 1979
DONALD ON DONALD: “I really value my reputation and I don’t hesitate to sue.”
– Wayne Barrett and Jon Campbell, “How a Young Donald Trump Forced His Way From Avenue Z to Manhattan,” The Village Voice, Jan. 15, 1979
MARRIAGE/TRUMP FAMILY: Married Ivana Zelnickova Winklmayr on April 9, 1977.
– IMDB, IMDB.com, April 9, 1977
– Abigall Abrams,”The Age of Bannon,” Time Magazine, Feb. 13, 2017,
DONALD ON DONALD: “What do people say about me? Do they say I’m loyal? Do they say I work hard?”
-Donald Trump, The Village Voice, Jan. 15, 1979,
TRUMP PEOPLE/STEVE BANNON: “1953 [November 27]. Born into an Irish-Catholic family, Bannon grew up near a naval base in Virginia.”
– “The Age of Bannon,” Time Magazine, Feb. 13, 2017, Abigall Abrams, 11/27/1953
TRUMP FAMILY: Donald Trump born June 14, 1946
– biography.com Editors, “Donald Trump Biography,” last updated November 18, 2016
ABRAHAM LINCOLN/IMMIGRATION/NATIONAL SECURITY: “I regard our immigrants as one of the principal replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence to repair the ravages of internal war and its wastes of national strength and health.”
– “Fourth Annual Message” The American Presidency Project, Dec. 6, 1864, Abraham Lincoln, Transcript, 12/6/1864
ALEXANDER HAMILTON/IMMIGRATION/NATIONAL SECURITY: “Foreign influence is truly the Grecian Horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its entrance.”
– “Pacificus No. 6,” The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794, July 14, 1793, Alexander Hamilton, 7/14/1793