The Evolution of Donald Trump and the Media Enablers
I live in the NYC metropolitan region and have watched as Donald Trump became a public figure.
In the early Eighties, readers of New York Magazine and the New York Daily News (Liz Smith) introduced Mr. and Mrs. Donald Trump as newbies to the city's social scene. Photos of their fabulous apartment. Stories about Donald Trump's fabulous deal-making with the Hyatt Hotel and fixing the Central Park's Ice Rink.
Mid-Eighties showed the introduction of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and the three cute little children of the Trumps. Donald Trump started showing up on shows like Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, both eager for interviews with the Wunderkind. They elevated him into someone famous and extended his persona outside NYC. He was a Player. They continued to keep him on the media radar as much as they could.
Late Eighties, Trump went on a spending spree, buying the iconic Plaza Hotel and building three casino-hotels in the same market, Atlantic City. Again, this elevated his status and his exposure to not only the country, but to the world. He was breaking all the rules and proving he could have it all. Including flaunting a mistress while still married. He told his wife straight out that he couldn't be seen as monogamous for the sake of future business. (Yeah, right . . . . . )
Fast Forward. Divorce with financial loss between divorce settlement and bankruptcy shortly thereafter. Involuntary paternity by and consequent marriage to Marla Maples. But divorce within 5 years after marriage because after all, marriage IS a business via pre-nup. New marriage. Enter Vanity Fair with more attention and validation of Trump.
NBC. The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. Moneymoneymoneymoneymoney!
So in the summer of 2015 when Trump announced his candidacy, he was well set. Name recognition. Average Americans believed they knew him already, an open book. Because the media promoted him and when it didn't, Trump would call them unsolicited and under the pseudonym of John Miller or John Barron, to keep his name alive.
Think about it. Why can we recite the above details? We have been "informed" by the media all these decades. Trump otherwise would have been unassuming and minimally known as another developer in NYC, Harry Helmsley.
Only Sinclair Lewis could have imagined such a figure in America. A secular Elmer Gantry on steroids.