A quick little parable before I get on with my day.
There was a great article written around Trump's campaign where all his biographers were assembled to kibbitz - people who'd all written at various phases of his life, etc. One comment did stick out: In 1979, he was good.
There was a great article written around Trump's campaign where all his biographers were assembled to kibbitz - people who'd all written at various phases of his life, etc. One comment did stick out: In 1979, he was good.
To be clear, I mean good at BUILDING. Like, he was showing the same skills his grandmother had in restoring real estate and making back, something she passed to her son, Fred. The biographer said Trump was great in the 1970s at least, taking on the challenge of building well.
Granted, this is like being a really good film director when your dad bought the studio and handed it to you, but still, apparently he gave a crap about the idea of big tall buildings and putting the Trump name on it and being, I don't know, immortal? Loved? Something.
He did a few buildings but his big big idea was Trump City, where he was going to take a particularly crapped-up part of Manhattan and really sizzle it up with big tall buildings. The whole project went through multiple revisions and eventually became "Trump Place". 
He was super happy about Trump Place. It's important to note that Trump long ago did crazy shady deals on every level with these and all his other projects. (There's a small note here that almost all real estate in NYC is really shady to some degree, but he was extra-shady).
He moved onto other buildings, including Trump Plaza, that building we pay a lot of money to guard that he doesn't live in anymore. But you couldn't drive down the west side of Manhattan without passing Trump Place. He also bought a "sponsored by" sign near it.
Anyway, I noticed something odd a while ago - the Trump name seemed harder to see on the buildings. I looked up to see what was going on.
They were removing the name off some of the buildings. Petitioners within the building would bring it up with the board, and win.
They were removing the name off some of the buildings. Petitioners within the building would bring it up with the board, and win.
At this point, every single building in what was called Trump Place has removed the Trump name off and out of the building. They all have names like "Riverside Place" and so on. They wiped his name off his favorite, beloved thing, big gold buildings, within 2 years.
Just a quick little parable.
