This is an adapted excerpt from the September 17 episode of “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
In 2021, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City was demolished, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust and a pile of rubble. If you know anything about the story of Trump and his casino ventures… you probably know that story doesn’t end well.
But then there is this story, which probably fewer known:
In 1982, Forbes magazine published its first list of the 400 richest Americans. Trump made that list claiming he was worth $100 million — despite the fact that he was actually only worth about $5 million at the time… and he was also bleeding money.
But Trump had a plan. That year, he got a license from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to run a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And he found an investor to help finance the project. Holiday Inn — which owns the Harrah’s casino chain — would give Trump $50 million in cash to build the casino, and then Trump and Harrah’s would split the profits. Trump had only one thing to prove before his investors would fork over the money.
Here’s how New York Times investigative reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner tell the story in their new book, “Lucky Loser:”
Donald was about to make a great deal, a deal that would also get him out of trouble… Before he left, [the CEO of Holiday Inn] Donald told his board of directors that they wanted to see for themselves that construction was underway…proof that this young builder could make this happen.
But as Craig and Buettner write, there was one small problem with that request:
Donald kept the truth to himself. He didn’t get things started… because he didn’t have the money… [So] He instructed his construction supervisor to rent every piece of earth-moving equipment he could find… The day the Holiday Inn board of directors came to visit [the site]Dozens of bulldozers and excavators pointlessly pushed piles of earth around the 2.6-hectare site… in an elaborate ruse… with no other purpose than to fool the people [Trump’s] new business partner.
Trump then reportedly introduced himself to one of the Holiday Inn executives with a line he would never forget: “I think I am probably the most successful person my age in the United States.”
That’s how Trump started the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino: he bluffed his way into it. Trump created the myth of himself as a successful businessman and sold it to the public, so he could then sell it to his business partners. And that myth worked for a long time. Today, much of the country still believes that myth — and Trump still profits from it.
This week, Trump may be attempting one of his biggest plans yet, which is saying a lot — at this point, it’s hard to keep track of all of Trump’s cash gambles. On Monday, just 50 days before the election, he launched his own cryptocurrency platform. And before that, there were gold Trump sneakers, the Trump-endorsed Bible, the NFT Trump trading cards.
But this Thursday could be Trump’s biggest payout ever.
That’s the day Trump can finally sell his shares in Trump Media, the parent company of his website Truth Social. If Trump plays his cards right in that sale, he could rake in about $2 billion. Not because the company is doing well, but because Trump So many people that he is a successful businessman and So Many of those people have invested in the company. The reality is that Truth Social stock has been steadily declining since the company launched.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that he will not sell his shares in Trump Media, saying he “loves it.” But Trump has enormous incentive to say he won’t sell, even if that’s not true. Trump is bound by rules that say he can’t sell his shares until Thursday. as Trump Media shares remain above $12 a share. On Wednesday, they were trading at just over $15.
By the end of the week we will know whether this is another Trump scam, and whether the myth-making around Donald Trump will continue.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
