All of the People, All the Time (1990 Expose of Donald Trump by the Legendary Spy Magazine)

[On the Road]

All of the People, All the Time
How Donald Trump Fooled the Media, Used the Media to Fool the Banks to Fool the Bondholders and Used the Bondholders to Pay for the Yachts and Mansions and Mistresses



"So, without audits, often without collateral, how did Trump manage to borrow all that money? Well, everyone knew that Donald Trump was a billionaire, and who wouldn't lend money to a billionaire? Banks are in the business of making loan, and in the overheated eighties, a banker couldn't wait to make a loan to Donald Trump...."

Full Article on Google Books

I remember this vividly from over 20 years ago. For anyone who never got the chance to read Spy, it was a NYC satire magazine that occasionally published some good investigative journalism. Especially if it was on their bete noir, the man they christened a "short-fingered vulgarian." Although opinions differed on its qualities:

Smart. Funny. Fearless. It's pretty safe to say that Spy was the most influential magazine of the 1980s. It might have remade New York's cultural landscape; it definitely changed the whole tone of magazine journalism. It was cruel, brilliant, beautifully written and perfectly designed, and feared by all. There's no magazine I know of that's so continually referenced, held up as a benchmark, and whose demise is so lamented --Dave Eggers

It's a piece of garbage --Donald Trump


The feeling was mutual. As an example of how much Spy hated Trump, they had an annual list of 100 Worst Things of the Year. In one edition, each of the one hundred items was assigned a factor based on how closely it was related to Trump.

[mulsh]

1. I have been posting "short fingered vulgarian" around these

parts ever since my fellow DUer's took the bait and started posting stuff about the "short fingered vulgarian". It fairly oozes meaning, doesn't it? I loved that title when I first encountered it in Spy; as Paul McCartney said re: his old band, "one can't re-heat a soufle".

That Spy's old editor Graydon Carter descibes himself as " a libertarian" and is pretty conservative in his political views is a plus.

[On the Road]

3. Yes, It's Been Years Since I've Seen a Copy

But all the issues are now on Google Books in their entirety. Pretty amazing.

I'm going to try to mine those issues for more Trump gold. But there was a lot more.

They had an article written by someone who sneaked in to Bohemian Grove, masqeraded as a guest, and even got Ronald Reagan to acknowledge a secret political deal from years before.

The funniest one IMO was their satirical article on Canadian Americans. I had a friend from Canada who loved that one.

[Imagevision]

2. Donald Trump Should Receive the Same Scrutiny He Sought for Obama

[DBoon]

4. I loved Spy magazine back then

nt

[Richardo]

5. Spy was the greatest magazine

Read every issue cover-to-cover. :patriot:

[On the Road]

6. Kick for the Daytime Crowd

:kick:

[sufrommich]

7. Spy magazine was one of the best in it's time.

I miss it.

[gratuitous]

8. Spy was a terrific magazine

And their accounts of T Rump and his exploits were the stuff of legend. Spy articles would provide the foundation of any muckraking on T Rump's career, and are probably the chief reason T Rump will never run for president. As soon as he had to face a financial disclosure form, T Rump would remember that he has something else to do next year, like organize his sock drawer (the biggest, most opulent, BEST sock drawer in the history of the universe, natch).

[On the Road]

9. The Article Itself is Long, Detailed, and Very Good

It was a real eye-opened for me in 1990. I'm almost regretting emphasizing the source rather than the content.

Now I just have to find a "Private Lives of Public People" illustration about Trump. I'm sure there's at least one.