Home > Articles

No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump

Donald Trump's propensity for self-promotion is legendary, and just might be the secret to his success. Find out how Trump's ostentatious strategies have served him well over the years in this sample chapter.
This chapter is from the book

Donald J. Trump's spacious office in Trump Tower on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is chock-a-block full of collector's items, action figures, building designs, and a movie poster parodying his hit television show, The Apprentice. It is a roomful of memories, an ode to the large-framed (6 foot, 3 inches) titan with the swept-backed blond mane seated behind his oversize rectangular desk. Surrounding him are ceiling-high glass windows, through which appears a Manhattan skyline on which Trump has placed an indelible stamp by erecting high-end residential towers bearing his name.

On the walls hang glass-covered magazine covers, all adorned with Trump's face, another ode to the man of superlatives, the real-estate developer cum casino owner cum television star who audaciously engages in "truthful hyperbole" (his phrase), one of his numerous techniques for attracting public attention.

Many business leaders seek such attention, but few receive it. Trump receives it in plentitude because millions of people delight in getting a peek into a billionaire's life—and he is very accommodating: Cheerfully, willingly, boastfully, he opens up his fantasy world of gilded mansions, sleek helicopters, lavishly accoutered jet planes, and beautiful women to friends and business acquaintances (often the same), with stunning disregard for his own privacy. Trump is certainly not the wealthiest American; Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates is. But few are interested in how the multibillionaire Bill Gates lives, other than to be curious about what high-tech gadgets he has in his ultramodern home near Seattle. By contrast, millions of people are interested in how Trump makes and spends money—and on whom.

Trump attracts attention because, even when he exaggerates, which is often, he is not far from the mark. He wants to be known as the best and the smartest—and, most important, the most popular. He often is the best and the smartest. And that very fact gives him his special charm and makes him an object of intense curiosity. Normally, one would not be curious about a man who openly engages in "truthful hyperbole," who constantly says he is the best in his field, and whose stadium-size ego dwarfs the egos of so many humbler business leaders. But one forgives the exaggeration, knowing that he is the most important real-estate developer in New York, he is one of the major players in the gaming industry, and he is a television star.

Unlike so many other business leaders, Donald Trump is comfortable seeking and attracting personal publicity; he has no trouble letting millions of people into the seemingly private aspects of his life. Speaking to a jewelry convention in October 2004, a group of total strangers to him, he spoke candidly of the problems of being engaged to a much younger women. He told the jewelers that when his newly affianced Slovenian-born Melania Knauss, 33 years old, asked him when he graduated from college, he replied, "Next question." Of his ex-wife Marla, he said, "She cost me a lot of money, but she's a wonderful woman." And of his newly engaged son, Donald Trump Jr., he noted, "He wants to give his fiancée a ring that will cost $65,000. That seems cheap to me." The audience loved the family disclosures, and Trump did not seem to mind divulging them.

He insists that he does not pursue celebrity, that celebrity pursues him. Yet, better than anyone else in the business world, he shrewdly understands the business value of bathing his persona in the klieg lights.

He is careful not to unveil every aspect of his business and personal life. He happily puts his assets at $6 billion but offers few specifics on how he arrives at that figure. To document his holdings with too much precision, he feels, would be tantamount to handing over a treasure trove of intelligence to others who could then exact larger sums from Trump in real-estate deals.

Whereas most business leaders detest personal publicity, Donald Trump thrives on it and is superb at knowing how to attract it. He is so good at what he does that some colleagues call him the greatest marketer around, or the greatest salesman in the world; but unlike others, who sell toothpaste and aircraft engines and software, Donald Trump sells himself as much as he sells his products. Therein lies his true uniqueness.

And, oh, how he knows how to sell himself.

Piles of newspaper and magazine articles, some of which Trump personally clips, sit on the desk. When he wants to illustrate a point, to buttress a claim, to cite a statistic, he quickly searches through the piles, like a diver searching for buried treasure. If he cannot find the article he wants, he shouts explosively to an executive assistant outside his door: "Rhona, bring me The Apprentice ratings," or, "Robin, bring me the best-seller listings." A clipping service locates articles in which his name appears. He often sends these articles to acquaintances along with a brief handwritten note explaining why he's sending it. Some recipients of these "Trump notes" cherish the thought; others (usually, they are journalists) enjoy tossing the articles into the wastebasket.

With lightning speed, Rhona or Robin appears with the requested article, their efficiency indicating that they know the boss's routine. They keep the often-requested ratings and best-seller listings close at hand because he cannot wait to boast to visitors about his recent successes. Virtually every conversation Trump holds on the phone or in person begins with him asking some variant of "Are you aware how popular I am?"

Seventy-Third Richest in America

It is the morning of June 3, 2004, 11 days short of Trump's 58th birthday. He is in an ebullient mood, and why should he not be? He is, according to Forbes magazine, the 205th richest person in the world and the 73rd richest person in the United States. He is pleased that, after much persuasion on his part, Forbes credits him with a net worth of $2.5 billion. He would like Forbes to report that he is worth $6 billion, but unless he spells out all that he owns, the magazine's editors will simply not make that leap. Most of the superwealthy play down their true worth, eager perhaps to ward off kidnappers or tax authorities, but not Trump: He urges Forbes' editors to use the highest amount possible. In September 2004, Forbes credited Trump with $2.6 billion for 2004, making him the 74th richest man in the United States. For Donald Trump, the Forbes designation seems to validate all that he has worked for the past decade even though Forbes fell short of what Trump regards as his true net worth.

Never before has his career soared so high. In a few days, he will be the star attraction at the annual Donald Trump "birthday bash" put on at his Trump Taj Mahal casino hotel in Atlantic City to celebrate his 58th birthday, his newly affianced Melania by his side. He has just returned from Ecuador, where his Miss Universe 2004 pageant topped all key television ratings categories in its time slot, garnering 10.5 million viewers. Nothing gives him more pleasure, however, than the surprising popularity of The Apprentice, his hit television reality show, which is among the highest-rated entertainment shows of the 2003–2004 television season. Finally, his latest book, Trump: How to Get Rich, the fifth one he has penned in the last 17 years, is atop The New York Times business best-seller list.

That summer and fall of 2004 Donald Trump appeared to be everywhere. He refused to slow down, to take time off, or to lower his profile. Business colleagues and friends advised him to cool it, insisting that the public would tire of him. But he refused to heed their advice. They might as well have asked him to dive off the roof of Trump Tower.

He knows all too well that he is at the top of his game. He was always widely known and, at least in certain quarters, quite popular. But he has now acquired a degree of fame that shocks him. He genuinely believed that he would do the television show for one season, have some fun doing it, and then go on to the next project. But, as he says about his newly acquired superstardom, "This is ridiculous. This is amazing."

All through the first season of The Apprentice (from January to April 2004) and in the months afterward, he chose to live life to the fullest, giddily taking in everything it had to offer. Trump knows that his sudden stardom is prompting all sorts of new possibilities for him. Every day people want to partner with him, offering to provide a product if he would provide his name, his persona, and his fame.

He might have turned them all away, saying he had no time or no wish to have his name exploited so broadly. Instead, he chose to listen to numerous proposals, to digest them, and then decide upon which ones to endorse. He wanted to know the true value of his sudden superstardom—no timeouts for him. He often cited the classic song "Is That All There Is?," wondering what more life had to offer a man who seemingly had already acquired or experienced all that there was.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020