PressEthic

At Sunday evening's Learning Annex Real Estate Wealth Expo Trump took his $1.5 million and delivered what several audience members noted to be the same speech he always gives.

With about 8,000 people in the crowd, Trump took the opportunity to belittle the New York Times with all his might. You see, on Sunday, the Times ran a selection from Timothy L. O'Brien's new book TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. According to Donald Trump, he received an advance copy of the article, and found it difficult to stomach. Claiming that he was misrepresented, he had his lawyer call the Times' lawyer. According to his speech, Trump's lawyer was told it was too late, and it would run in the Sunday paper. The Times lawyer allegedly called back on Friday and asked if Trump would like a correction in the paper, and he declined.

Trump went on to declare over and over that he reads the New York Post, especially their business section, and that the New York Times is complete crap. Trump noted that O'Brien made fun of his hair on his book jacket (I mean, that's hardly original), and tartly responded that o'Brien doesn't even have any hair.

This went on, and on and on. I thought he'd never stop. Oh, and in case you're wondering-- "everyone" knows that the New York Business pages are useless. All this for an article that Trump didn't even finish? He said: "When you can't even read an article about yourself, that's pretty boring," and then went on again about how bad the times is. The crux of this rant? Trump asked the audience if they'd ever heard of a guy named Jayson Blair. The rapt crowd (who paid up to $499 to see the man speak) applauded, noting that yes, they had. Yes, they could see how this was exactly the same. They will not buy O'Brien's book. (Though they will watch the Apprentice, and read Donald's books, and basically kiss the ground he walks on while extolling his PG-13 revenge wisdom.)

The thing is, I read the New York Times article, and I didn't find it to be so outrageous. Unflattering, yes, but not unbelievable. The article is fairly well supported, though snarky towards Trump. The main caveat is that Trump overestimates his wealth, using it to garner greater fame, trust, and fortune. Many of O'Brien's quotes are from discrepancies in statements Trump has made.

From what I can tell, from what I have heard from the mouth of the man himself, Trump likes nothing more than to brag, embellish, and blather on about how much money and property he has. He'll tell anyone who'll listen how wonderful he is. You'd almost start to think that Trump had some crazy rags-to-riches story, and wasn't a trust-fund baby who turned his millions into more millions.

As I was being paid (by the Learning Annex) to sit there, I dutifully sat out the rest of the speech in a moderately comfortable fold out chair at the edge of the VIP section. At my feet was a veritable sea of gold balloons, each adorned with a black-and-white screen printing of the Donald's face. I can't help but think of it as a sign: He's full of hot air.