Public Donald Trump and Private Donald Trump Are Different

A firsthand account of Donald Trump the Executive:

The first thing I noticed about Mr. Trump was that he was a stickler for detail. As a politician, he may affect a breezy platform style, but in the office, he was all business. Right off the bat, he corrected my team’s estimates of future financing requirements. He must have phoned an expert minutes before the meeting, because he said that by the latest market information he had, our current interest rates were off by 0.1%…

In the end, I can say that Mr. Trump drove a hard bargain. But he was honest, and he was a square dealer. When we were through—in less time than we had expected—we had reached an agreement that was ethical, profitable and fair to all parties concerned. It was also an agreement that meant good jobs for working people and healthy tax revenues for the local government.

If we didn’t come away from the table liking Mr. Trump, there’s no question that we came away with a lot of respect for him. He was a tough, shrewd, no-nonsense executive who knew how to get things done, and done quickly. He was also an adversary whom no one would want to mess with.

Isn’t that what really matters in a president?

Donald Trump is a fascinating machine, who understands that quality and presentation are two different, and vitally important qualities in the total package. But what really impresses me is that the private Donald Trump even seems to be a nice guy.

Stuttering John was a thirty-something guy with long hair who had a stuttering problem, who Howard Stern hired to do surprise, off-color interviews of celebrities at red-carpet events. He was really kind of a bit player on the Howard Stern radio show. Nevertheless, he met Donald Trump in passing when Trump was doing an interview on Stern.

Years later, he told a story. He had just looked at an apartment that looked good to him. The price seemed right, and he was about to buy it. At the last second, his mind flashed to Donald Trump, and he figured he would try to ask Donald what he thought.

He called Donald Trump’s office, told the secretary who he was, and in a minute, Trump had dropped everything and was on the line. Stuttering John laid out the particulars, and immediately Donald knew the neighborhood, knew what price apartments should have been going for, per square foot, and then Donald grabbed a calculator to perform some formula based on square footage, and other attributes of the apartment which Stuttering John had given him.

Trump’s immediate verdict was that it was too expensive, and Stuttering John should wait for something else. Stuttering John said he did wait, and the next week a much bigger apartment, for much less money, in a better part of the neighborhood presented itself.

What was striking was both Donald’s happiness to help anyone, no matter their station, and his apparent mastery of every nuance of his discipline.

It all highlights how rare an opportunity it is to have such a man running for public office – and just how craven all those who oppose his election, on the left, but especially on the right, are.