Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Donald Trump's 1980's U.S. Presidential Ambition Revisited

The 2016 Republican presidential candidate for "U.S. Business Deal-Maker-In-Chief"--Donald Trump--apparently first indicated during the 1980's that he wanted to seek the U.S. presidency and eventually occupy the White House oval office. As former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett's 1992 book, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, recalled:

"...Tom Fitzsimmons...a sometimes bodyguard and driver for Trump, had known Donald since the early seventies...Fitzsimmons...believed that Donald would become President. It was a notion the golden boy himself had begun toying with at least as early as 1985, when New York state Republican chairman George Clark visited with him at Trump Tower to try to talk him into running for governor.

"`Have you ever thought about running for high public office?' Clark asked. 

"Donald replied without a smile: `Yes. President of the United States.'

"By the end of 1987, he'd advanced this almost eerie ambition with a well-timed appearance in New Hampshire and the formation of a nascent Trump-for-President committee.

"`This is a serious test of the political waters,' his top casino executive, Steve Hyde, said at the time. `If things shake out, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he decided to do it.'

"Donald continued conscientiously planting the seeds, talking about the presidency quite seriously in wide-ranging interviews and buying full-page ads on national political issues..."

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