How It All Goes Down
The Donald Comes to Town
- Donald Trump is living it up. The dude is currently chilling on the bridge of his yacht (tastefully named the Trump Princess), staging a fake media scene in which Atlantic City welcomes him as a conquering hero.
- Trump's dad, Fred, was a bit of a real estate mogul himself. By the time Donald got out of school, his dad had built an empire "with rental income of more than $50 million annually" (12.10). Trump change ain't chump change, that's for sure.
- Little Donny wants to follow in dad's footsteps. Instead of focusing on the outer boroughs of New York, however, Trump the Younger focuses on Manhattan, buying up mega-expensive properties and making them more opulent than a Kardashian's birthday party.
- In fact, Trump only gets into the casino game on a whim. After developer Robert Maheu's plans for a casino fall through, Trump swoops in, buying his property on the cheap and building his first casino, Trump Plaza. Unlike his predecessors, Trump manages to be "licensed as a casino operator" (12.20) before he begins construction. This is quite unusual, and it shows just how much power this wig-wearing wacko wields.
- In 1985, Trump gets another big opportunity. In the midst of constructing its first $325 million casino, Hilton Hotels is denied a gambling license. Once again, Trump comes in and makes lemons out of lemonade. A year later, he does the same thing with Resorts International, opening his piece de resistance—the Taj Mahal.
- Thanks to a booming gambling industry and lots of hard work, "the rebuilding of Atlantic City" (12.49) is well underway. While it remains to be seen if this boom periods lasts, Atlantic City finally seems to be on solid footing.