Trump Is a Hustla, Yo?

I used to idolize Donald Trump. As a young man in Philly, Trump loomed large because he got stuff done. New York City (and Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC) were financial train wrecks and falling apart. Trump represented the “new way.” When the City of New York couldn’t build an ice skating rink in six years for $13 million, Trump completed the project in a few months for about $2.5 million.

Most business school students revered him and we ALL read Art of the Deal. He swashbuckled into Atlantic City and started buying and building casinos. As a young bond salesman, I pushed his Taj Majal casino bonds to pension funds because Trump was a proven commodity and investors could get 14 percent. Eighteen months later, Trump filed bankruptcy with the sole purpose of reducing the interest rate on those bonds.

I was still a fan of Donald Trump. He gave the bondholders a 50 percent equity stake and well, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch so… whattaya expect for 14 percent? Life has risks, I was young, and Trump was showing us “the new way.”

Fifteen years later, I was here, in San Diego, and working in mortgage banking. We had the ability to lend money to American citizens buying properties in Mexico. I sat in on a meeting about the Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico and was offered an opportunity to set up a mortgage product for the developer (I thought Trump was the developer). Trump was licensing his name to the project and, while his daughter assured all of us that he would be involved in every facet of the project, I thought he would be distracted with his new television series, The Apprentice. In the end, Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico went the way of Trump Taj Majal Casino: Trump made money, lenders took a haircut, and equity partners had to hope they’d get some of their money back.

Does this make Trump a crook? Absolutely not. Trump is indeed a builder, a man who can get difficult things done. But Donald Trump is a hustla, like the definition found in the Urban Dictionary. He plays hard and fast with his net worth, plays both sides against one another, and, most importantly, tells people what they want to hear. Donald Trump is an amazing promoter.

Here’s the challenge — Trump wants to be the Republican nominee for President. I don’t know if he really wants to be President but I know he wants to be the GOP nominee. He’s leading some polls at this point. How? He tells people what they want to hear. To wit:

1- Republican voters are fed up with this nation’s inept immigration enforcement; Trump tells them that Mexico is sending us drug dealers and rapists.
2- Conservatives are tired of Senator John McCain’s surrender to liberals on policy issues; Trump tells them that McCain has a long history of surrender.
3- Americans are losing jobs, Trump proposes a 20% import tariff, knowing full well that could cost more jobs than it saves.

Donald Trump doesn’t have principles, he has proposals. Like any good real estate developer, Trump sees every problem as an opportunity to erect something lasting and permanent, principles be damned. Remember, this is a man who supported the Kelo SCOTUS decision.

If you want a showman who can tap into the emotional frustration you have with the decline of the American Republic, the moderation of the Republican Party, and the conservative movement’s seeming inefficacy, Donald Trump is your guy. Be careful with your wishes, though. Donald Trump tells you what you want to hear, changes the rules in mid-stream, then blames you for not doing your homework.

Do your homework….yo?