As a person who does, in fact, pay attention to politics in some measure, I’ve taken note of the seemingly inconceivable rise of Donald Trump. The real-estate billionaire announced his candidacy in June of 2015 with a particularly scathing speech about illegal immigration that offended everyone. Donald Trump continued to make “mistakes” and “gaffes” that would fell lesser candidates, and yet he still remains on top of the polls nearly HALF A YEAR LATER. It’s utterly insane, in a way, assuming that you underestimate the man – this is exactly why the Republican Party can’t seem to get its act together and are simply hoping that a miracle happens sometime around the end of January.
A more astute person would read Donald Trump’s second favorite book (after the Bible, of course!), The Art of the Deal. Emblazoned with a typical 1980s playboy version of the Donald, the text presents Donald Trump’s greatest skill: deal-making. The money, he says, is simply a nice bonus for him; he just loves making deals, and making really complex ones. The book first details a day in the life of Donald Trump circa 1987, with a whirlwind of dozens and dozens of projects taking up his plate. It then proceeds into what makes Donald Trump tick, how he made his billions through eleven simple principles that guide his entire thought process for deals. They are, in order:
1. Think big
“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”
2. Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself
“I always go into the deal anticipating the worst. If you plan for the worst–if you can live with the worst–the good will always take care of itself.”
3. Maximize the options
“I never get too attached to one deal or one approach…I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”
4. Know your market
“I like to think that I have that instinct. That’s why I don’t hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don’t trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.”
5. Use your leverage
“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”
6. Enhance your location
“Perhaps the most misunderstood concept in all of real estate is that the key to success is location, location, location…First of all, you don’t necessarily need the best location. What you need is the best deal.”
7. Get the word out
“One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better…The point is that if you are a little different, a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.”
8. Fight back
“In most cases I’m very easy to get along with. I’m very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”
9. Deliver the goods
“You can’t con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don’t deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.”
10. Contain the costs
“I believe in spending what you have to. But I also believe in not spending more than you should.”
11. Have fun
“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”
Seriously, some of the deals in this book are impossible complex and crazy. A guy with zero experience in Manhattan real estate got into a market with zero reputation (other than his father’s good name in Queens) and somehow convinces dozens of people, from local and state governments to banks fearing economic recession to the owners of the real estate that he can fix things. The balls are all in the air, and it’s amazing he catches them, but he does. Just look at that big Trump Tower!
For Donald Trump, deal-making is an art form, a game if you will. He knows his market, he finds leverage, and he uses it while having a lot of fun. In the same way, the presidential campaign he is running is also a game; he makes controversial statements, the media covers him, and he’s framed the conversation for publicity AND to make sure he’s never called out on his statements by his followers (in his words, he’s just “having a bit of fun”). He barely spends any money on his campaign compared to his rivals, and he also is continually in the news for one reason or another. The man speaks from his gut, sees what works, and adjusts the script for the next time he comes out. He fights his rivals, and then they end up losing the exchange simply because Trump isn’t a politician with political baggage.
Because of this, Donald Trump voters don’t see his statements or ideas as problems; rather, they see them as part of a deal-making process wherein Trump says something controversial and immediately explains it to sound much less radical and crazy. Donald Trump wants to “make America great again”, and he keeps testing the waters to see what people want. He continues to do this over and over again; criticism of Donald Trump is impossible, because voters tend to explain it away as a temporary part of “the deal” (I’m sure there’s a political science or psychological term for this, but I don’t know what it is). Add the leverage over the Republican party in the form of a independent run, and you’ve found a guy here who knows how to win, and probably will win the Republican nomination, if not the presidency.
So yeah, if you really want to know how intelligent (or manipulative) Donald Trump actually is, I’d recommend reading The Art of the Deal. He’s a smart guy, maybe not the kind of smart you want, but the kind of smart that’s blowing through established politicians who aren’t wise to the game he’s playing.
