Donald Trump: Make America Great Again!
By Adrienne Papp
What a great country! Every four years the political election machinery gets itself cranked up like a wheezing carnival calliope and those who aspire to lead the most powerful nation on earth throw their proverbial hats in the ring and run for president of the Unites States. It’s a show unlike any other in the world and this year the process has yielded an especially rich field of candidates, some who are familiar, some not so much and some who coming out of their corners so loudly as the bell sounds as to capture all the headlines, making for great campaign news, great television and great Twitter wars.
We’re talking about Donald Trump of course, or “The Donald, as he is colloquially known, and his candidacy has been something of anomaly, a meteor that runs so loud and so hot that it shouldn’t be able to last for any length of time at all, but he has defied the pundits, and it’s beginning to look like The Donald has staying power, something that excites a lot of Americans and probably scares more than one political party.
Maybe its time to get to know Donald John Trump a little better, understand a little about who he is and why has he become such a phenomenon. I was the Profile Editor at Celeb Staff when we put him on the cover, and I also have known of him back from the days in New York City, where I had lived since 1992. Although Atlantic Publicity is not expressing any political orientation at all, I felt I wanted to mention the fact that I have always admired his amazing achievemnts.
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) developed his wealth in real estate development and crated his oversized personality in television programming and, of course, politics. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump’s branding efforts, business career, outspoken manner, media appearances, and books have made him famous. He hosted The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, both television programs on NBC, where he created his signature line “you’re fired.”
Beyond his traditional ventures in the real estate, hospitality, and entertainment industries, Trump has established the Trump name and brand in other industries and products. While he has had his ups and downs, Trump has been successful marketing his brand on a large number of products, including Trump Mortgage, Trump Sales and Leasing (residential sales), Trump Restaurants (located in Trump Tower and consisting of Trump Buffet, Trump Catering, Trump Ice Cream Parlor, and Trump Bar), and the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection (a line of menswear, men’s accessories, and watches). If you’re a lover of beauty and pageantry you may have enjoyed his Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants, among the most recognized beauty pageants in the world, which Trump has owned since 1996.
He’s definitely a man with a lot going on, and we haven’t even mentioned Donald J. Trump: The Fragrance or Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Chocolate or any of the other dozens of business ventures that carry his name. But all of that has taken a backseat to his recent activities in politics. As
befitting a man who has accomplished so much, it only make sense that for his first elected position he should seek nothing less than the highest office in the nation, the U.S. Presidency. This is not a man who would be content with a vice-presidency or a second fiddle anything.
n 2011, Forbes??? financial experts estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. With that kind of bank account Trump is pretty much able to do what he wants in term of his candidacy, and it does provide him with some independence from contributors seeking favors once he is elected.
On June 16, 2015, Trump formally announced his candidacy for president of the United States in the 2016 election, seeking the nomination of the Republican Party.
He’s been a polarizing presence on the political scene ever since, refreshing and honest to some, saying the things that a lot of people feel but are afraid to because of political correctness, ( I applaud him for that! ) and to others a tone-deaf bloviating blowhard who rudely dismisses other people and fellow candidates like a schoolyard bully.
This year, some of those statements have been costly for Trump, as NBC and Univision both ended their business relationships with the Miss Universe Organization after Trump’s presidential campaign kickoff speech on June 16, in which he stated: “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems….When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with them….And some, 1 assume, are good people.”
Trump subsequently filed a $500. million lawsuit against Univision alleging a breach of contract and defamation.
In the first televised Republican debate, Trump famously got into a dust-up with Fox News host Megyn Kelly with an exchange that raised a lot of eyebrows. Kelly pressed Trump about misogynistic, sexist comments he made in the past, such as calling some women fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”
Trump slammed Kelly, saying her questions were “ridiculous” and “off-base.”
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, Trump told CNN’s Don Lemon after the debate. “Blood coming out of her wherever.
Then, in scorning Univision star newscaster Jorge Ramos during a press conference – and admitting that he didn’t even know who Ramos was – Trump showed a tangible contempt for the Latino community.
Trump’s campaigning now draws intense media coverage and he has consistently ranked as the front-runner among the seemingly Several dozen Republican candidates. Not a week goes by that Donald Trump doesn’t suck all the oxygen from the nomination race with provocative and headline-grabbing quotes.
Trump is not only the major subject all other candidates get asked about in interviews, he’s also been improving his position in the polls, long after most of the pundits had predicted he would flame out.
Like it or not, Trump’s views on immigration and exclusion are resonating with an increasing percentage of the Republican party’s base. But it doesn’t exactly bode well for any attempt by the Republican Party to reach out to Latino voters, for instance, or women.
It’s fascinating to watch as the campaign goes on, hearing the points he touches down on, the other Republican candidates scrambling to invalidate his candidacy, and the points he must make to establish credibility as a Politician who can run the country. He has to prove that he is capable of doing more that demeaning other candidates or wearing hats with threadbare slogans like “Make America Great Again,” He has to show that he can be taken seriously as a world leader, a negotiator, a diplomat and I honestly believe he can. After all the man has been proving and establishing himself his whole life. His children turned out great, no drugs, no drinking, but instead, aiming for success and reaching it. In a recent speech to the Freedom Summit recently and gave a speech that was very Trumpian, bouncing from point to point (the unscripted part is exciting, since you never know what he’s going to say next).
If you wanted to map out a list of talking points, that bouncing ball would have been all over the place, covering a range of elocution that has something in it for everyone.
You get the idea. There’s something here for almost anyone, and he’s not shy about delivering his message with the enthusiasm of a candidate who doesn’t say what some wants. There is nothing snobbish, bureaucratic, or an old-fashioned “official speech type of feeling about him. And maybe that is what this country needs. Well-calculated and formal speeches and appearances are tiring to most of us already, I believe.
I thought I would write this piece only because although I have heard of him in many ways from many sources, and he was on the cover of the magazine I was an editor of, I never thought that a business mogul would / could run for president. Just like I would not have thought Dr. Ben Carson would, despite of his unparalleled achievements in neuroscience as opposed to in politics. But, they are both running and the gap is closing between them quite fast now.
Things are going to be lively from here on out, and this is just the first politician (ironically he hates that word) and one could well guess as to why. Over the next few months and continuing on into 2016, as long as Donald Trump is campaigning we have a treat in store. Whether or not he’s the last candidate standing when the Republican National Convention, adjourns next year, The Donald is going to make for great television, great late night TV jokes, great Saturday Night Live sketches. Enjoy it, and if you have a Twitter account be sure to follow the action at
@realDonaldTrump. My take on it? If he could run business empires with this amount of recognized success, the man knows how to be successful. He will just apply that to a country that needs help now more than ever!
Adrienne Papp