TRUMP

100 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
self into a different category than any ordinary businessperson. The
papers covered him as a heroic and fascinating American story.
Party of this came from Trump’s own limitless savvy about the
media. Even when he was in real estate, he knew he was really in entertainment.
As he said to Playboy in 1990, “the show is ‘Trump’ and
it is sold-out performances everywhere.” 367 According to Trump, the
glitzy trappings of his buildings are “props for the show.” 368 Parts of
Trump’s outsized personality and lavish spending are carefully crafted
for entertainment purposes. As many have observed, Trump is playing
the character of Donald Trump. And he “seems to have an uncanny
sense of the elements of a good story — conflict, money and sex —
especially when he’s the subject.” 369
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Of course, since the early days, Trump has attracted plenty
of negative coverage as well. But the stunning thing is that the press
consistently believe they are successfully criticizing him even as they
give him precisely what he wants. They believe that by “exposing”
Trump, they undo him. In fact, they make him even larger. 370 When
Tony Schwartz wrote a highly negative profile of Trump, he was
stunned to receive a phone call from Trump congratulating him on the
story. Schwartz couldn’t understand why Trump seemed elated, since
what Schwartz had written was so damning. But Trump was pleased,
because Schwartz’s story had gotten Trump’s image on the front cover
of New York magazine. To Trump, that was all that mattered. As Jane
Mayer recounts, Schwartz’s article was:
…what Schwartz described as “a fugue of failure, a farce
of fumbling and bumbling.” An accompanying cover
portrait depicted Trump as unshaven, unpleasant-looking,
and shiny with sweat. Yet, to Schwartz’s amaze-