By Rona Barrett
It all started with, “Would you like to be the President of the United States?”
“I really don’t believe I would, Rona,” replied the then 34-year old Donald Trump in his first national TV interview.
Who would have thought Donald’s current-day reversal would now generate thousands and thousands of Google hits on an interview I did with him more than (gulp!) 35 years ago?
But what puzzles me is why his answer to my follow-up question, “Why wouldn’t you dedicate yourself to public service?” hasn’t garnered more hits.
“Because I think it’s a very mean life,” said Donald leaning forward and fired up, “And I also see it that somebody with…the kind of views that may be … right, but may be unpopular, wouldn’t necessarily have a chance of getting elected against somebody with no great brain but a big smile.”
The interview in 1980 was from an NBC special I hosted called “The Self-Made Rich In America.” To which, a lot of my friends today say, “Self made? What about the money his father ‘loaned’ him?”
Like everyone else, including the IRS, no one will ever know what Donald was worth then or now. As the New York Times wrote, Donald Trump’s actual worth is self-measured in “verbal billions.”
I’m no psycho-historian but he had a hell of a lot of confidence and my impression was there was something very smart about him. I think his confidence came from the money his father “loaned” him.
And that could be what drives him: Let me show you I can be bigger and better than my own father.
And so now The Donald is running for the office of no-great-brain-but-a-big-smile-in-chief.
If I were to ask him today, “Who is the real Donald?”
I imagine he would answer, “You see him. I am who I am.”
And that’s what fascinates, no one knows the real Donald—the king of “All The King’s Men”-like contradictions.
I knew him as a big Democrat but now he’s the Republican front-runner.
He positions himself as a political outsider, yet most of us forget he campaigned for the presidency in 2000 and was seriously considered as a potential running mate for the elder Bush in 1988.
Many label him as mean and controlling, yet his children say he is the nicest, most wonderful father.
While his conservative foes label Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as entitlements or disability rackets, Trump believes it’s not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect to get their money’s worth.
He insists, “that’s not an ‘entitlement,’ that’s honoring a deal.”
Will that be his trump card that wins him the vote from the 65 years and older crowd? Only the ballot box can answer that.
For the record, I don’t think Donald is capable of mustering the last political trumpet call needed to resurrect his party. On the other hand, he knew then and he knows now what sound bites are all about.
Until next time keep thinking the good thoughts.
— For more than 30 years, Rona Barrett was a pioneering entertainment reporter, commentator and producer. Since 2000, she has focused her attention and career on the growing crisis of housing and support for our aging population. She is the founder and CEO of the Rona Barrett Foundation, the catalyst behind Santa Ynez Valley’s first affordable senior housing, the Golden Inn & Village. Contact her at[email protected]. The opinions expressed are her own.
