STYLE
LIFE
BODY
P L AY
turned in the early ’90s. At the same time, Trump was undergoing an expensive divorce to Ivana so he could marry his then-girlfriend Marla Maples. He had to sell it all. Or nearly all. He held on to the Trump Tower, but the planes, boats and other buildings (save the casinos) went. But he never filed for personal bankruptcy, which mattered greatly to him. One person said that if he’d been the Donald during this period he’d have thrown himself off a building. But Trump was chipper. “Survive through ’95” was his mantra. After ’95, his style was a bit different. He continued to build but was careful not to over-leverage himself again. And by the time Mark Burnett, producer of The Apprentice, decided to sign Trump as the host in 2003, his brand was recovering. Donald was ready for prime time. Which brings us to the Trump of the last decade. There really are two Donalds, agrees Pam Liebman, president and chief executive of the Corcoran Group and an old friend of Trump’s. There’s the public Donald with all the bravado—and then there’s the relaxed Donald whom you’ll see throwing a ball with a kid around the pool at Mar-a-Lago. “It might surprise people to know that he likes children. He’s produced three hard-working, unspoiled children, which, given their circumstances, is no mean achievement. That says a huge amount about him.” “He was and is a very hands-on father,” says daughter Ivanka, who oversees acquisitions in the family business. “Perhaps more educational than most. But our relationship with him is real.” Liebman says she often sees Donald driving Barron, his sevenyear-old son, around on the golf course. “It’s very sweet to watch. Of course he tells us, ‘Barron is the tallest, the best…look, he has the best golf swing,’ ” she laughs. “He can’t help it.” Bar ron is the progeny of Tr ump’s third mar riage, to Melania Knauss, 43, a Slovenian model he married in 2005 after a seven-year courtship. (He also has a daughter Tiffany with his second wife, Marla Maples.) In his office, Donald hands me an article about Melania’s new jewelry line. “She looks beautiful,” I say. He jumps in: “She’s a beautiful person with a great, big heart who’s also a tremendous mother—she loves Barron so much. She is beautiful, but ultimately that is much less important than other ingredients. You know the beauty is good for the first ten minutes, right?” It was Melania who put an end to his presidential ambitions in 2011 by telling him that of course he would win if he ran. The bigger question was, did he need to? “I thought Romney would win,” says Trump. “I really did. But he didn’t resonate. Even a lot of very strong Republicans did not get up and vote… I think the party is now very confused. They don’t know who they are anymore. And they’re falling into every single trap that you can fall into.” The possibility of a Trump bid dominated headlines for weeks, as did his critiques of Obama. His repeated calls for the president to release his birth certificate, even saying he’d give $5 million to charity if Obama also released his passport application and college records, struck many people as extreme. Does he think it was a mistake to have focused so hard on the From top: Donald Trump with his realbirther issue? Donald One is adamant: “Not at all. It was a real estate-mogul father, Fred, at the Trump question. It still is a real question. Most of the country really Plaza hotel, in 1988; Trump and third wife Melania Knauss attend the launch cares about this, and I don’t think we’ve got the truth. In fact, of daughter Ivanka’s book with their son, Vicky, you should look into it…you would win a Pulitzer….” It’s Barron, in 2009; Trump with contestants this doggedness that draws people close and also creates enfor Miss USA, which he also owns.
WORK
C U LT U R E
emies. During our conversation, he harps again on his nemesis at Vanity Fair. “I don’t even look at that magazine. He sends it to me every month,” he says, conjuring up an imaginary note. “ ‘From the desk of Graydon Carter.’ I don’t even read it. I just throw it away.” Does he really care about negative press? “I wouldn’t call him sensitive,” says Ivanka. “But he doesn’t like being used and he doesn’t like being hit. So if somebody goes after him especially for no reason, he will hit them back harder. It’s who he is.” Donald often asks those around him about social media. He finds Twitter a fascinating anthropological study. “The world is divided into two people: those who want the American dream + more @ and those who’ve failed.” The failures duJour.com are the ones who don’t like him or understand him, he believes. Before making his reality debut, he says Regis Philbin told him, “Trumpster, just be yourself on TV”—and that worked. It remains to be seen whether the public or media will ever accept both sides of Trump. But as our meeting ends, the Donald deep inside, Donald Two, wants to appear on the surface. “Just write a fair piece,” he says as he hugs me goodbye. Momentarily he looks wistful. But then the room fills, and Trump is off looking at f loor plans and buildings. Bankers are calling, and Donald is telling them all he can help…no need to repay the favor...
Trump’s gotten into a number of Twitter tiffs, including back-and-forths with Mark Cuban, Jon Huntsman and Michelle Malkin.
getty images (3)
92
“you know the beauty is good for the first ten minutes, right?”