1980s: How Donald Trump Created Donald Trump | NBC News

before he was a presidential candidate, I've been saying for years let's keep the oil, let's keep the oil, let's not let him have the oil before he was a reality TV star, he rocked it, Donald Trump was a fixture in the New York tabloids Throughout the

1980s

, Trump was busy building something new and it wasn't a skyscraper. Billionaire developer Donald Trump has put his name on a New York City hotel, shopping mall and apartment buildings, as well as a casino in Atlantic City and now he's putting his name on a large Eastern Airlines piece. Trump was creating a public persona that could be both funny and degrading, arrogant and somehow in touch with the common man.

I kind of love him and hate him at the same time. I mean, I think he has, you know, a monumental ego. he was very arrogant yes, he said he, he said he is hairy. I like it. You don't have a self. He has everything. He often did this looking for a fight. He said. I think Donald Trump is a cunning liar. I think he is a greedy, cruel and arrogant man. Is that supposed to be a compliment or not? I'm not sure he fought a year-long battle with New York City Mayor Ed Koch. I hope New York City has a different mayor at some point because I think I had a total disaster.

He has been a very bad man for the city. He helped launch an NFL competitor called the US Football League and then filed a lawsuit against the NFL when the USFL failed. The jury in the case returned its verdict ruling that the NFL effectively monopolized professional football. football, but he awarded damages of only one dollar and in one of his biggest fights of the

1980s

he took on media mogul Merv Griffin in a fight over a casino in Atlantic City. Now people realize that Merv made a bad deal; a fall, but he has suffered the fall, I can't do much about it.

Dom I love that perception, I won, I won that one, he's still, you know, a year later, standing in New York when I won, I won, I won, he wants to make sure everyone. America knows he won, but the Donald Trump we know today is more than just a boastful troublemaker, that's because there's one more tactic that Trump apparently learned in the '80s and uses to great effect in the current campaign. people guessing about any long-term strategy. plans mr. Trump what's left in your life you're 33 years old you're worth all this money you said you didn't say you want to be worth a billion now I really don't just want to stay busy and active a billion dollars could buy the White House what do you think?

Well, I won't run again I know a lot of the politicians I like a lot of the politicians his friends he Trump carefully cultivated speculation about his future in 1987 he published a full page advertisement in major

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papers that read like a political manifesto. An enlargement of the ad is now on display at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. The announcement was irresistible to the New York press and the move kept Trump's name in the

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. He said it quite seriously. who is a good enough negotiator to negotiate a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Russians this is not a rich country people think the United States you know well aren't the Japanese saying what a rich country I mean, Do they say it between laughs? country is losing 200 billion dollars a year we should go there the next time they fire even a bullet from one of our ships we should go in and take their oil with each of these cases Trump refined his playbook his attacks Steve Vas to have to start putting some pressure on these people now because as far as I'm concerned it's getting a bit ridiculous, these boasts will probably sell an extra 10,000 season tickets and that's a lot of tickets and their changing positions. the genes to be a successful politician, well, you never really know.

I think I'm pretty outspoken and that's probably not a good thing in terms of a politician, but it's good, if you're ever elected, you can actually do a job now. In the 80s, many found Trump's over-the-top personality off-putting, what may be most discouraging of all is that Palm Beach will accept almost anything if it has enough money, but somehow won't accept Donald Trump other than playing the role of a unpredictable. thug with the Midas touch Trump proved he couldn't be easily ignored I think maybe they portray me differently than I really am I think they portray me in a cruder sense than the actual product and I hope that's true because I hope He Actual product is much smoother than representation and that may be your greatest asset of all.

When people attack Trump, they reinforce the version of Trump that Trump wants people to see and inevitably that keeps Trump's name in the news, that doesn't matter because I'm not running for office, Hello NBC News fans, thanks for visit our YouTube channel, subscribe by clicking that button down here and click on any of the videos here to see the latest interviews, highlights and digital exclusives, thanks for watching.